How to cook Duck Breast (Magret de Canard)

 

This post explains how to cook a duck breast easily. And when I say easily, I mean that you just need to put our duck breast in a pan and wait. You have perhaps seen a cooked duck breast before, and you have noticed that sometimes it has a cross on the skin. The method I describe here does not use the cross, it is a little longer while cooking, but it prevents cutting too much the skin by accident. With this method you will always get a perfect point of the meat without any effort.

1. First of all, the magret must be at room temperature. Take it out of the fridge at least one hour before cooking.
2. Then, clean the duck breast by removing the fat from the edges that it could possibly have, as well as cut possible veins, tendons or nerves flush. Dry excess paper with absorbent paper.
3. In a pan or cold grill place the duck breast with the skin upside down.
4. Bring the pan to medium-low heat and let it brown slowly so that it loses the fat for about 10 or 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the layer of fat.
5. When the fat has almost disappeared from the piece and a thin layer of skin is left, remove all the liquid fat and raise the heat to medium-high.
6. Brown the skin a little until it is crispy, but without burning. This can last a couple of minutes.
7. Add salt and turn the duck breast. Season the skin side too.
8. Cook it on the other side for 2 minutes for a pink dot, 3 to 4 minutes for a cooking point and 5 minutes for very done.
9. Remove the magret from the heat and wrap it in papillote with baking paper. Let stand about 10 minutes. This will make it more juicy and easier to cut.
10. Finally, cut it into slices 1.5 cm side and season with a little more salt flower and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
11. And that’s it. Enjoy!

And you, do you like the duck? You usually cross the skin? If you wish, you can leave a message in the comments section.