According to the Escoffier Complete Glossary of Cooking Terms for the Culinary Arts:
"Sear: to seal in the juices of meat by quickly browning it on all sides in a very hot pan"
This is how a beef steak is prepared. This is how a veal chop is prepared. This is not how a duck breast is prepared. This closest official cooking term for how best to cook a duck breast, according to the same definitional source would be:
"Pan Broiled: cooking food in a heavy pan without added fat and removing any fat that is produced as you cook the item"
And no, that is not the same thing as Pan Fried:
"Pan Fried: to cook in a moderate amount of fat, uncovered"
Nor is it the came as Sautéed:
"Sauté: A French word that describes a method for cooking foods in a shallow pan using high heat. The food is cooked in an uncovered pan and a small quantity of butter or oil."
To properly cook a duck breast, you use no added fat and you cook it over low heat, starting in a cold pan (preferably made of cast iron). I give credit to the Serious Eats website for telling the truth:
"Calling this a 'seared' or 'pan-roasted' duck breast feels somewhat misleading, because both those terms imply high heat. Instead, this method cooks cold duck breast in a cold pan over low heat...."
I would argue that even this statement is watered down and moreover, if calling his recipe "Pan Seared" is "somewhat misleading," then why do it (which he does)? Calling this dish "Pan Seared" is not only misleading, it is categorically incorrect.
Even "Pan Broiled," as cited above, doesn't quite tell the whole story and so, in an effort to apply the correct culinary nomenclature to this dish, I have simply titled it, Duck Breast in the Pan, with the last three words in French just to give it a little panache. I could have put the whole title in French: Magret de Canard dans la Poêle but that sounded too pretentious.
Speaking of nomenclature, technically, this is not a recipe. This is a method. The recipe part comes with whatever sauce you might decide to put on, under or along side of your duck. The rendering of the delicious duck fat also would lend itself to a wide array of possible side dishes. And this time, they would indeed be sautéed.
I won't go into any of that, except to give a few suggestions on a pan sauce to serve on the plate with your perfectly cooked duck breast, including the one I made last night.
So here, then, is the process for properly cooking a duck breast:
- Score the fat side of the breast with a very sharp knife, cutting through the skin and fat layer only; do not cut into the meat of the breast. Make a diamond pattern by scoring in opposite directions diagonally across the skin.
- Season both sides of the duck breast with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
- Place a cast iron skillet on the stove. Do not add oil to the pan.
- Place the duck breast in the pan, skin side down.
- Turn the heat on low to medium low.
- Listen. In about three minutes, you'll begin to hear the duck breast sizzle a bit. You want the sizzling sound of a babbling brook. In other words: gently sizzling.
- Leave it alone. Allow it to do its thing. It's going to take a good 10-15 minutes before the skin of the duck begins to show signs of a crispy, golden brown. Don't rush it.
- If grease is splattering everywhere, you're cooking it too hot and too fast. (This is the mistake I made last night. Although the duck breast came out perfectly cooked in the end, I had a hell of a mess to clean up afterward.)
- Once the skin is browned and crispy, flip the breast over, and cook only for another 2-3 minutes for a nice medium rare, which is not only perfectly safe for duck (unlike chicken), it is actually preferable. The longer you cook duck meat, the tougher it will become.
- While the duck meat is cooking, spoon the hot duck fat over the skin to further crisp it.
- Remove the duck breast from the heat, tent with aluminum foil for ten minutes while you prepare whatever sauce you might like.
- Slice the duck against the grain into nice, equal-sized slices, fan out on a dinner plate and spoon your sauce on top and around the meat.
Here are a few suggestions for a pan-made sauces, the first of which is what I did last night. In all cases, drain off all but two tablespoon or so of the rendered duck fat. You can save the fat and refrigerate it for later uses.
Orange Maple Glaze
De-glaze the pan with the juice of one navel orange, scraping up all the delicious brown bits. Add two tablespoons of whole grain mustard (like, Maille), two tablespoons of maple syrup and 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme. Stir well and bring to a simmer for a couple of minutes allowing it to reduce slightly.
Shallot and Port Wine Sauce
Place 1/2 of a finely minced, medium-sized shallot into the hot duck fat, and sauté for 3-4 minutes over medium high heat until slightly caramelized. Add 1/2 cup ruby port wine and bring to a simmer for a couple of minutes until the sauce thickens.
Honey Soy Glaze
Place a teaspoon of fresh, grated ginger in the hot fat and sauté for a moment. Add a teaspoon of finely minced garlic and sauté a moment more. Add a dash of chili paste, a tablespoon of lime juice, 3-4 tablespoons of soy sauce and a half cup of chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and add 3-4 tablespoons of honey. Allow the sauce to reduce and thicken slightly. Sprinkle a few toasted sesame seeds over the duck as you ladle on the sauce.
Red Wine Balsamic Reduction
Add 1 teaspoon finely minced garlic to the hot duck fat and keep the garlic in motion so it does not burn. When it becomes fragrant, add 1/2 cup of dry red wine to the pan and scrape up all the brown bits. Add 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of ground rosemary. Simmer for 4-5 minutes to reduce the volume of liquid by half. Add a pat of cold butter at the end, and whisk it into the sauce as it melts.
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