The method for cooking the duck breast here is very simple and is employed by a lot of roast stations at kitchens organized in the classical French manner. The advantage is that you get a great sear on the outside, yet maintain a lot of control about how well done the inside is.
Since I mention a sear in almost every meat recipe, I should probably take a couple minutes out to describe what I mean and why it’s necessary. A lot of these entries – even the ones that are essentially cooking meat at a low temperature for a very long time – involve a sear as a first step. This means cooking something at a very high temperature and for a very short time. The result is a crust that forms on the outside of the meat, while the inside remains uncooked (or less cooked). This is not really a technique for cooking a piece of meat, but simply a way of cooking the outside of it. Essentially, when you lay a piece of meat in a very hot pan, you’re forming a chemical reaction between the caramelizing sugars and the amino acids. It’s called a Maillard reaction, and you can read more about it here – I don’t really understand the science fully, so there’s no point in writing about it at length. But the purpose of this step has to do with flavor and texture – some people will tell you that it “locks the juices in” or something foolish like that, and this is utter bullshit. There are other ways to end up with a juicy piece of meat, and the process of searing has nothing to do with it (in fact the opposite has been proven true).
Because you’re bringing the sugars to a point where they can caramelize, the flavor of the sear is a deeper, richer essence of the meat itself. Texturally it works well with a juicy center (hard crust, soft middle). Nowhere is that more true than in the case of the duck breast in this recipe – what’s better than deeply caramelized, crispy skin with a juicy, purple duck breast underneath? The sear in this case is also working to render the fat underneath the skin as quickly as possible without overcooking the meat, so that you don’t end up with a chewy layer between the breast and the skin. (Here’s another quick aside about fat: mammals, such as cows, pigs, and humans, have fat that streaks through the muscle; hence, the marbling on a nice steak. Poultry’s fat is separated from the muscle and tends to encase it by wrapping around it. That’s why chicken breast is virtually fat free – you can just cut or scrape away the fat, whereas to do this with piece of beef or pork, even from a lean cut, would have to be micro-surgical and therefore nearly impossible. In aquatic foul such as ducks and geese (and presumably swans, penguins, and seagulls too), there is a large deposit of fat just underneath the skin, especially around the breasts, neck, and legs, which acts as insulation.)
So back to the recipe: the searing method allows you to develop that excellent crust on the outside, render as much duck fat as possible, and cook the meat itself to the desired temperature. To aid with this, you score the skin of the breast, which helps on both counts. Don’t cut all the way through to the breast, though.
The two sauces here are meant to highlight complete opposite ends of the flavor spectrum: the duck sauce on one hand deep, rich, intense, sticky, and bursting with umami, the berry sauce on the other hand bright, tangy, slightly acidic. For this reason, I add very little sugar, or sometimes none, depending on the quality and sweetness of the berries. The two sauces are each meant to be simple and represent very intensely their ends of the spectrum so that the duck itself is the centerpiece. Neither sauce is meant to steal the spotlight – their role is a supporting one, and is designed to let the duck shine through first and foremost. Duck is often paired with fruit – as is its distended liver – and it is also often used as the canvas for salty and sweet to commingle.
The duck sauce is made with a technique known as fortifying a stock. Essential, you boil a stock with extra bones, then reduce it down till it’s thick and sticky. The berry sauce can be made with rasperies or blackberries, and it’s very basic and not too interesting. It’s just the way I’ve always made it and it works, although I imagine there are more inventive ways to make a berry sauce out there…so feel free to stray further afield in this case. Just don’t make it too sweet.
Ingredients:
Duck:
- 1 TBS safflower oil
- 2 duck breasts
- 2 large bunches of fresh thyme
- 1 large slap of butter (roughly 2-3 TBS)
- Salt and pepper
Duck sauce
- 1 pint of veal or chicken stock
- Bones from 1 duck, roasted
- 1 bouquet garni
- 2 TBS butter
Blackberry sauce
- 1 pint fresh blackberries (probably would work with frozen ones too), well rinsed
- 2 TBS butter
- 1 TBS tsp sugar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- pinch of lemon zest
- pinch of finely ground white pepper
- water as needed
Directions:
It’s easiest to make the sauces first, since you can hold them at temperature and the duck happens rather quickly.
Start by putting the stock in a medium size pot and bringing to a boil. You have roasted duck bones because you saved them in your freezer when you made roast duck. If not, go buy some chicken bones, rinse them off, dry them, lightly coat them in safflower oil, and roast on a sheet pan in a 450 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes until they’re browned but not burned. When the stock has come to a boil, add the bones and the bouquet garni (sigh…ok: 1 bunch of parsley stems, large bunch of fresh thyme, 12 or so whole peppercorns, 2 bay leaves, wrap them in cheese cloth, tie off the cheese cloth and then tie the whole thing to the outside of the pot, so it can be easily removed).
Keep the stock that you’re fortifying at a low boil – you do want it to reduce, so simmering it will take too long, but you don’t want to boil it so hard that the impurities in the bones get incorporated in the sauce. When they rise to the surface, you can skim them off, but you shouldn’t have to do this too many times or too often, as there won’t be much to begin with. Boil this down till it’s reduced by one third or even one half – then strain, return to a smaller pot, and reduce down by another third, mount with butter, season with salt and pepper, and hold. You can even make this any time and store in the fridge or freezer.
Assuming you’re making this all in one go, though, while the stock is reducing, rinse the blackberries, melt the butter in a small sauce pan over high heat, add the berries, and cook, stirring frequently and mashing them up with a wooden spoon as you go. Cook over medium heat, stirring and mashing (don’t let anything stick to the bottom) for about 20 minutes, until the berries are well broken down and the sugars have developed. If you have a blender, puree the berries at this point. Whether you have one or not (or you have one but don’t want to make one more thing to clean with this over-complicated preparation) pass the berries through a fine mesh strainer, pressing on the solids and squeezing out as much liquid as possible. Wipe out the pot so there are no seeds or crusty bits on the sides, then return the strained puree to the pot.
Add the lemon juice, zest, and sugar, stirring to incorporate. At this point, if it’s thick like a puree, add some water 1 tsp at a time so it thins out to resemble a sauce. Cook over a low heat until bubbling and reduced slightly. Taste and adjust seasoning – if it’s way too tart, add more sugar, but keep in mind that the sugar will thicken it up as well. Add the white pepper at the very end, cook for another minute or so, then hold at temperature.
Now, on to the duck. You can also begin to prepare this as the sauces are being made, if you’re not too busy running back and forth between them. First off, preheat the oven to 450. Next, I usually start by placing a heavy-bottomed sauté pan on high heat and letting it go. It needs to be screaming hot before you put the duck in it, so it can sit on the fire for a good 5 minutes or so. Obviously, if it starts smoking well before then, it’s not very clean and you should take it off the fire, clean it out, and start again. For this reason, you can’t use a cast iron pan – the cooking surface is essentially made up of polymers created from old food, and it will begin to belch smoke after a very short time.
Using a sharp paring knife, carefully score the duck breast skin on a bias, making cuts that are about a half-inch apart. Do not cut through to the breast meat itself. Then make a series of cuts that are exactly perpendicular to the cuts you’ve already made, the same distance apart from one another. You should end up with squares that are ½-inch by ½-inch all over the top of the duck.
Season the duck breasts aggressively with salt and pepper. When the pan is screaming hot, film it with safflower oil, distributing it evenly. It will likely begin to smoke on the edges – this is ok, but if the whole thing goes up like a pyrotechnic effect, it was just too hot and it will make everything bitter, so throw it out, wipe it out, and start again.
Add the duck breasts, skin side down, and do not touch them! Leave them there for a good 3 minutes before you even take a peek. When you do, gently lift one end and check the color of the skin. If it is a deep chestnut brown, you’re good to go, if not, let it sit without moving it for another minute or two. I’m serious: no shaking the pan, futzing with it with your tongs, etc. Just don’t touch it.
When that side does have a nice sear on it, flip it over, immediately add the butter. It will turn to brown butter almost immediately. Place a large bunch of thyme on each of the duck breasts, spoon the melted butter over each one (the thyme will crackle and release an incredible odor) and pop the whole thing in the oven. Cook until desired doneness (about 6 minutes for medium), basting it every couple of minutes by pulling the pan out and spooning the butter over it. When it is done, pull it out and let it rest for a few minutes, either wrapping it in foil or leaving it in a very warm place.
To serve, I usually slice the duck breast and fan the slices out on a plate, place a tiny pinch of fleur de sel on each slice. I tend to make a puddle of the duck sauce on the plate and fan the duck slices out in the middle of this, then drizzle the blackberry sauce over it. I usually accompany this with some sort of mashed potatoes.
The Grumpy Gastronome 
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