Duck is decadent. It has the elegance of a perfectly cooked New York strip steak but with a distinct gamey duck taste.
This Duck Breast with Orange Cranberry Sauce makes a great holiday centerpiece or main dish for your next dinner party. The tart and sweet flavor combination of the orange cranberry sauce balances out the rich duck.
A pan-seared duck can be intimidating to cook at home but if you can cook a steak, you can easily cook duck. To cook this Duck Breast with Orange Cranberry Sauce to perfection, you’ll want to use an instant-read thermometer.
Pan-Seared Duck Breast with Orange Cranberry Sauce
Equipment
- Instant-read meat thermometer
Ingredients
- 1 lb duck breast
- salt
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 12 oz whole fresh cranberries
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp orange zest
- 1/2 orange juiced
Instructions
Pan-Seared Duck Breast
- Pat your duck breast dry.
- Score the skin by carefully cutting diagonally into the skin, being mindful not to cut too deep. Score diagonally on both sides to make a criss-cross pattern. Scoring the skin helps render down the fat.
- Salt the skin side of the duck liberally.
- Place 1 lb duck breast on a cold pan before turning on the heat. Turn up the heat to medium-low. Staring in a cold pan will gradually render the fat on the skin down evenly.
- Cook the duck breast for about 15 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 125 degrees. Throughout the cooking process, the fat will render and gently bubble. Adjust your heat accordingly to keep the fat at that gentle bubble.
- Flip the breast over once your skin is a crispy golden brown and cook for 2 more minutes on the other side until the internal temperature reaches 130 for a perfect medium-rare.
- Transfer to a cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes while you make the orange cranberry pan sauce.
- Pro Tip: Reserve any leftover duck fat in the pan before making the pan sauce.
Orange Cranberry Sauce
- Reserve or wipe out leftover duck fat in the pan.
- Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup white wine, scraping up any brown bits.
- Add in 12 oz whole fresh cranberries, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp orange zest, and the juice of 1/2 orange.
- Cook down for 10 minutes. The cranberries should pop as they cook down. Use the back of your spoon to crush any cranberries that didn't pop.
- Cut your duck breast and serve with orange cranberry sauce.
Where to find duck breast
You can source duck from your local butcher shop or farmers market. Look for duck from the Hudson Valley, a region just north of New York City where many restaurants source their duck from.
You can find frozen vacuum-sealed duck breast at grocery stores or order it online directly from a farm like Hudson Valley Foie Gras Duck Products. Whole Foods sometimes sells a whole duck in its freezer section with other specialty meats.
When shopping for duck look for Mallard or Duck Magret. Magret is a term for a Mallard duck breast. Mallard ducks are larger, giving you more meat. I prefer to cook one large breast rather than multiple smaller ones. This way, you can cut the duck like a steak and serve it with a pan sauce, as this recipe calls for.
Medium Rare Duck
So, why can you eat duck medium rare and not other types of poultry like chicken?
Duck is raised differently than chicken which makes it less prone to the bacteria that causes salmonella and other diseases.
According to the USDA, it’s still a risk to eat duck under 165 degrees. But, it’s the same way that it’s a risk to eat a medium rare steak or a raw oyster. If you typically take these risks, eating a medium-rare duck is in your wheelhouse.
Fair warning that if you cook duck breast above 130 degrees, it will be tough and dry. Medium rare is the ideal temperature and tenderness for duck breasts.
Need a side dish for your duck breast? Serve it with these Creamy Garlic and Herb Mashed Potatoes.
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