Broiled Muscovy Duck Breast

I actually made this before I made the Braised Muscovy Duck that I posted a while back. Once I had the duck broken down and the stock cooking, I decided we should make a start on eating the duck that night. It was a big duck - just shy of 9 pounds - and I figured we might as well get going. I won't get into the details of cutting up the duck here; you can refer to the Braised Duck recipe.

My Mom came over to help us eat it, and there was still enough left over for a good serving. Muscovies are big ducks. They are not even the same species as other ducks, and their meat is very beef-like. However, the breast meat is still best served quite rare.

This is basically the technique from this recipe at Epicurious, although my duck breasts must have been almost twice the size of the ones they called for. They did need more time to cook, but not twice as long, because not all the increase (or perhaps even that much of it) was in the thickness.

Since I was serving it with the Rye Caraway Spaetzle and Braised Belgian Endive with Ginger-Clementine Sauce I felt there were already plenty of flavours going on, and it did not need a sauce. Duck generally goes with robust fruity flavours and acidity to help balance out the richness of the meat, or the drippings under the pan could be used to make gravy, although I just added them to the duck stock.

3 to 4 servings
30 minutes 10 minutes prep

1 breast from 1/2 of a 4 to 5 kilo (8 to 10 pound) Muscovy duck
salt & freshly ground black pepper

Take the duck breast from the refrigerator 20 minutes to half an hour before you cook it. About 5 minutes before you cook it, put enough water into the bottom of a broiler pan to cover it, and put it in the oven about 4" or 5" from the broiler (not that you will have much choice; hopefully this is the distance when using the top rack.) Preheat the broiler and pan.

Meanwhile, pat the duck breast dry with a paper towel and cut a diamond grid into the skin. You don't need to cut it completely through in every place, and you should avoid cutting into the meat as much as possible. The cuts should be about 1/2" apart.

When the broiler pan is hot remove it from the oven - I suggest you have some trivets set up to receive it as the odds are good your stove-top is fully occupied at this time - and place the prepared duck breast on it skin side down.

Cook the duck for 8 to 10 minutes under the broiler... make sure your fan is running on high. Move the pan to the trivets again and turn the duck breast over with a large spatula, checking that it is loosened completely before turning it. Season it generously with salt and pepper and return it to the oven for a further 8 to 10 minutes. Exact times will vary depending on how thick the duck breast is and how rare you like it. If you wanted it only just pink though, I would give it another 2 or 3 minutes on each side.

When the duck comes out of the oven after being cooked on both sides, cover it loosely with some foil and let it rest for 5 to 6 minutes before carving. Serve at once.




Last year at this time I made Brussels Sprouts Zeytinyagli.

Posted in: Ontario Food