Crispy Skinned Duck Magret with Asian sauce

I love Duck, I cook it often whether a whole duck or duck breast it has such a lovely flavour and duck meat is very low in fat. Ducks have thick fatty skin a lot more than chicken or other poultry but when crisped up although naughty, it is oh so yummy. I am very fortunate as I live in Geneva very close to the French border so I can get very cheap duck magret.

You can use any duck breast for this recipe as duck magret is more expensive. Duck magret is the breast of a duck that has produced foie gras, by being force-fed unnaturally large amounts of high energy foods (mostly corn) to produce the fatty liver used to create foie gras. This tends to make the duck breasts themselves quite large, so if you are not buying magret duck make sure the breast is of good size. Duck goes well with a lot of sauces, more traditional are fruity ones like orange, fig or grape. But you can use duck in curries and stews which are great. I have posted this recipe as it is one of my son’s favourites but keep checking for other duck recipes.

Marinade

2 Duck Breasts
2 Tablespoons Soy sauce
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
3 Tablespoons honey
2 Cloves Garlic, crushed
11/2 Teaspoons fresh Ginger,grated
1/4 Teaspoon 5 Spice

Sauce

Reserved Marinade
2 Tablespoons hoisin (extra)
1 Tablespoon honey (extra)
1 Teaspoon cornflour

Method

1. Combine all marinade ingredients and add duck, marinate several hours or overnight.

2. Remove duck from marinade and prick skin all over, reserve marinade for later use.
Heat fry pan add duck skin side down and cook until browned and crisp (a lot of fat will escape from duck, drain fat from pan several times while cooking skin) remove duck and place on wire rack breast side down and cook in pre-heated oven 190c for
25 Min’s. Let rest for 5 Min’s after cooking.

3. While duck is cooking make the sauce. Add reserved marinade, extra honey and hoisin to a saucepan bring to boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Mix cornflour with a little water add to pan and stir until mixture thickens.

Serve duck with either rice timbales or vegetables and noodles I made both so you could see what it looks like.

Serves 2

Rice Timbale Recipe

1/2 Cup white rice
20g butter
3-4 mushrooms, chopped into small pieces
1/2 small red pepper, chopped fine
2 Teaspoons fresh coriander, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh chives, chopped

1. Boil some water in a pan, add rice and boil until tender.

2. Melt butter in a fry pan, add chopped mushrooms and pepper and cook until soft. Add chopped herbs and rice and stir until heated.

3. Butter the inside of two moulds and press rice mixture into them, leave them for 5 Min’s before turning out. You can also make these ahead of time and just reheat in the microwave before serving.

Vegetable Noodle Recipe

Olive oil
1 Large carrot, chopped into strips
100g Snow peas, chopped
100g Egg noodles
1 Clove garlic, crushed
1 Teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
3 Teaspoons soy sauce
11/2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 Tablespoon of water

1. Cook noodles in a pan of boiling water until tender, drain and set aside.

2. Heat oil in a fry pan or wok add garlic and ginger stir fry for about 1 minute. Add carrots and cook for another minute, add sauces and water and cook for a couple of minutes more. Add snow peas and cook until vegetables are just tender.

3. Add noodles and stir until heated through.

Photo’s taken by me unless otherwise stated

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9 Responses
  1. Frenchtoast says:

    Delicieux! Made it for DH last night and he loved it. I served it with the rice and I will have to try the noodle next time. The only thing is the skin of the duck wasn’t as crispy as I hoped for. I think I didn’t leave it long enough in the pan. How long should you pan fry it?
    Anyway, the recipe is a keeper. Yum yum!

  2. theflyingchef says:

    Thank you so much Frenchtoast for you kind words, I am so glad you enjoyed it.

    I fry my duck breast until when I touch it you can feel the crispiness of the skin, probably about 10 minutes.

    Most of the time this is fine, sometimes it can be quite crisp, then when cooking in the oven it looses some of that crispiness. In this case, just before it is finished, I turn on grill and crisps it right back up again. Hope that helps.

    Anyway, thank you for taking the time to make it and leave me a comment it is much appreciated:)

  3. Apprentice says:

    Nice recipe.

    When frying the breast, how hot do you set the element? It seems to burn up at anything more than minimum.

  4. theflyingchef says:

    Thanks so much for leaving a comment anything that may help others to make this is always appreciated..

    On my stove top which is electric I do it on a 5-6 setting I do move the breast around and drain the rendered fat every few minutes. I do this carefully as it is scolding hot.

    My stove top goes up to 9 so it is just over mid range.. I will say if you do not turn and watch constantly it will burn in certain areas, that have sat the longest on the heat.. When I say turn I mean the breast skin down moving it around not turning the breast over..

    I hope that helps and you get good results I have always had success with this.. I cook duck a lot and even I have burned it when I do not pay attention and move my breasts around in the pan..

  5. Apprentice says:

    I had a follow-up questions. Which oven setting should one use? Bake or Roast?

    Also, after the 25 minutes of oven cooking, the duck still come out somewhat “juicy” (one could say bloody). Do poultry rules (no blood) apply to duck and need to make sure it’s cook thoroughly?

  6. theflyingchef says:

    Hi Apprentice

    I am not sure what you mean on the bake or roast setting. I only have a fan forced setting or not fan forced. I do mine on non fan forced at 190 degrees Celsius.

    As far as cooking the duck goes it is supposed to be cooked still pink in the middle. Chicken rules do not apply.. It can be cooked rare, medium or well depending on your preference but like red meat it will get tougher if cooked more well done.

    We prefer our duck on the medium to medium rare side but you can cook it to your liking. Depending on how thick your breasts are 30-40 Min’s should get it more well done.

    Hope that helps :) and have a great weekend..

  7. Linda says:

    Amazing!! I love duck but rarely if ever cook it from scratch from fear of ruining it. Last night I prepared the magret and a leg from your recipe and I thought I was in a 5 star restaurant. The duck tuned out perfectly and the sauce was gorgeous. Thank you. This recipe now goes in my repetoire!

  8. TheFlyingChef says:

    HI Linda

    Thanks so much for making one of my recipes and taking the time to leave a comment.. I appreciate it very much
    I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe as much as my family does. :)

  9. Awesome post! I don’t know why Google doesn’t make it easier to find this kind of stuff…. Keep it coming though!

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