Saturday, January 24, 2009

Wild Duck Breast Bigarade

My husband brought home some ducks the other day and finally picked them. There was a mix of Green wing Teal, Sprig and Wigeon. I decided to cook the larger breasts and froze the others.
I got the recipe from Hank at Hunter Angler Gardener Cook — Finding the Forgotten Feast. It turned out wonderful and it was delicious. I cooked some collard greens, since I had some in the fridge as a side.

Here is Hank's recipe:
Duck Breast Bigarade
1 domestic duck or one from a large wild duck, such as mallard,pintail, gadwall or canvasback
A smidge of duck fat lard or olive oil
1 tsp flour
2 tsp brown sugar
1Tbsp cider vinegar (I didn't have any so used Balsamic)
Juice of an orange (or tangerine)
1 shot glass of Grand Marnier (optional)
Grated orange zest
salt.
Salt your duck breasts at least 1/2 hour before you begin. Let them rest at room temperature during that time.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Heat an oven proof pan over medium heat, then add the oil or fat. Let it heat up, then place breasts skin side down and sear until lovely and brown. This could take 5-10 min. Don't rush it.
Turn the breasts over and put into the oven. Domestic ducks will take about 10-15 min. wild ones less, they are smaller. The internal temperature should be about 130 degrees. Once you get that, take the duck out of the oven, remove them and let the breasts rest under foil.
Make the Bigaragde: Put the flour in the pan stir to combine, making a roux over medium heat. Let it become a tan roux, which will take a few minutes. Add the sugar,a pinch of salt and stir to combine, then add the orange juice and the Grand Marnier. It will splatter but whisk and combine until it gets to a consistency you like. You may need more or less than the orange's worth.
To serve, lay down some sauce, top with slices of the breasts. Garnish with the orange zest. It's excellent with wild rice pilaf.
It was easy and turned out well.. it's a keeper recipe.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Wowza Eileen...that looks perfect! Nicely done chef.

Hunter Angler Gardener Cook said...

Nice job! Looks basically like the way I do it. Did you use the Grand Marnier? Next time don't use balsamic, as it is too dark and distinctive for bigarade; I'd suggest white wine vinegar or even straight distilled -- lemon jounce would be even better...

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