So, last weekend, as I'm oft to do, I spent Sunday in the parking lot at Met Life stadium where both the Giants and the Jets pretend to play American Football. As the Giants lose in spectacular fashion, even the cry of "but I've lived through 4 Superbowl wins" gets stale and boring. Instead, I'll focus on the fantasy play-offs where I'll be praying for a different outcome.
But, back to the lot. This weekend I decided that I was going to (again) make duck-breast on the grill. This is no easy feat. Due to the skin and layer of fat (read: extra flavor), and the inability to regulate a charcoal grill's constant temperature, I had to plan things out so that a) I don't overcook the duck but get a nice sear, and b) I don't dry it out because of the amount of time needed to cook the bird.
Duck isn't like other foul though, and in the U.S., while it's uncharacteristic to eat undercooked chicken and turkey, the prevailing theory on duck is that you cook it like you would a fine steak, with varying levels of "done." I prefer mine from medium to medium rare. And, any and all instructions for cooking an expensive piece of meat typically call for an internal temperature reading. Bah. I don't need that. I'm a man with meat. Roar.
Truth be told, cooking the duck on a grill or a flat top is actually fairly easy. Follow the instructions below and you too can enjoy delicious marinated duck breast at home.
Ingredients:
1 thawed Duck Breast (I like D'Artagnan ducks, which in the NY area are fairly readily available at both butchers and supermarkets)
1/4 cup of hoisin sauce
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1 heaping tbsp of ground ginger
3 tbsp of sesame oil
Trader Joe's Everything Seasonings (all the stuff you would find on an everything bagel, in a jar)
fresh ground pepper to taste
First order of business is to marinate that duck. Take all of the ingredients, except for the Everything seasonings, and mix them together and then pour over the duck in a bowl. Place in the fridge over night. Place the uncooked duck, skin side down into a "cold" cast iron skillet, saving the residual sauce for use later. Place the skillet on the stove or grill at a medium to medium high heat. This is important, because that layer of fat is difficult to chew if it's undercooked and unrendered. One must render the fat of a duck. You'll let that come up to temperature and get a good sizzle going. Also, you'll notice a little smoke when your sauce starts burning a bit around the duck. I let that thing get good and cooked, about 10 minutes without moving it. Really let it sizzle. Once the skin has browned nicely, turn it over and give it about 5 minutes on the other side. At this point, pour the rest of the sauce over the top. I also like to cook it on its ends to brown those up as well, about 3-5 minutes on each. This gets you to medium rare. Let the duck rest for about 5 minutes, and then slice. If it's still a bit rare, you can throw those pieces back onto the skillet for seconds, just to toast them up on each side. And you're done.
Now, serving it in the parking lot is as simple as cutting it up. But, if you're trying this at home, I like to place the whole breast on slightly wilted mustard greens (lightly wilt first either on the grill or skillet, but cook really fast; you don't want to "cook" it past crisp), and then slice and serve. As the flavors are more Asian in nature, serve with bok choy and some sticky rice to complete the meal.
That's it. I don't know why our society has gotten away from duck where it's a bit more extravagant, however, it's really not that hard to cook. Roasting a whole turkey is definitely more complicated. And, it's frigging delicious. This wraps up 3 consecutive posts about Asian ducks. I promise to write about something else in the next post. Until then, I hope you're having a great holiday season. Me, I'm off to Wegman's to get another duck breast for New Year's! So good!
