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Originally Posted by taxwonk
Score the skin and cook it skin side down first, at relatively high heat, to render out as much fat as possible and get a nice, crisp skin. Then finish it off on a rack over a baking sheet to let more of the fat drain off.
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I learned to go "low and slow" with duck breasts, both from the linked recipe (which actually overcooks the breasts, in my experience, if you follow their time recommendations) and from a cooking class I took a few years ago. I've accidentally cooked duck breasts at a higher heat (someone else's kitchen) and the fat splattered a lot more and they ended up more well-done inside and the skin was not as well rendered and crisped.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sidd Finch
I've done duck breasts in a similar way, though I don't use water -- I score the breasts with a knife and render the fat into the pan. (And then sometimes fry potatoes in the fat, for a side that is both delicious and low-cholesterol....)
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I think, as mentioned above, the water's function is minimize the splattering effect from an otherwise empty hot pan meeting fatty skin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sidd Finch
I've roasted whole duck a few times. The Robuchon cookbook had a really excellent recipe for this, that involved glazing the duck with spiced honey. It's not an easy dish -- among other things, you need to dismember the duck part-way thru cooking, so that you can cook the thighs and legs for some extra time while the breasts sit. But it's really, really good. (It also gives off a mother-lode of duck fat, which I shamefully failed to save last time I made this.)
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That sounds delicious but how do you remove the breasts part-way through without ruining the bird and roasting your own skin?
