Christmas duck in apples is a classic of the genre, it gives pleasure to everyone. But duck breast - a delight for connoisseurs. Very much this meat is capricious, whimsical, requiring a special approach. But with the right attitude duck breast - just a miracle! You can serve it with green salad, vegetables, rice, potatoes or as an independent snack.
Breast less calorie compared to the whole carcass, although very nutritious.
Vitamins, proteins, micro and macronutrients - and only 156 Kcal per hundred grams of duck weight!
This makes the breast suitable for a low-calorie diet, building muscles, restoring physical and intellectual strength.
Duck Breast - General Cooking Principles
Duck's finest hour - Christmas or New Year. However, duck breast will decorate any holiday table or a cozy family meal. The main thing is to make friends with this meat, that is, to know the main secrets of its preparation and heat treatment.
First of all, the meat must be prepared. From the duck breast should cut off excess fat and get rid of the specific smell. There are many options. You can soak the breast in milk, or coat with mustard, or pickle in an acidic medium (wine, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar) or sprinkle with vodka, brandy. The piece should be soaked or marinated for half an hour. Various recipes prescribe to free the breast from the skin or leave it, completely cut off the fat or cook the meat with it.
Then the meat should be washed, dried, rubbed with your favorite spices, dried herbs, seasonings to taste. You can cook it in different ways: bake in one piece, form steaks, cut into cubes, slices or plates, stuffed. For stuffing fit liver, mushrooms, olives, apples, cheese - everything that allows the hostess imagination.
If the duck is stuffed with apples and sauerkraut, they cook stews and pasta from it, then the breast is dried, stewed, fried, baked. To taste duck breast, recipes must include various sauces: berry, fruit, cream, mushroom, honey. It is convenient to cook the duck breast in the oven, after frying in the pan for four minutes. For perfect cooking of duck breasts, recipes should take into account the required degree of roasting. After eight minutes in the oven, you can taste the meat with blood. Ten minutes later, the breast will receive an average degree of roasting, after twelve - a strong one.
Dried duck breast “French”
Dried meat is always of increased interest among gourmets. The delicacy is very expensive, but you can cook it at home. It is cheaper and more useful. To wither the duck breast, you can take different recipes. One of them was born in France. It requires a minimum of ingredients: meat, salt, rosemary and pepper. Cooking meat will take a long time, three weeks, but it's worth it. Breast get fragrant, tasty, will be stored for a long time.
Ingredients:
• duck breast;
• two hundred grams of coarse salt;
• dried rosemary whole twigs;
• ground black pepper to taste.
Cooking method:
Cut off all the fat from the meat, leave the skin.
In a dry plastic container pour a hundred grams of salt, put back the breast, cover with the remaining salt.
Keep container tightly in the fridge for 12 hours.
Rinse the breast thoroughly, completely getting rid of salt, then dry with paper towels.
Grate with pepper and rosemary, wrap in a dry linen napkin and remove the wilting in the fridge for three weeks. Try a delicacy, if you really want, you can in two weeks.
Duck breast with blackcurrant sauce
Duck breast, the recipes of which include berry sauces, are practically restaurant. Juicy, tender meat is deliciously combined with sweet and sour sauce. Cinnamon, anise, and allspice add an extra flavor to the dish.
Ingredients:
• two duck breasts with a total weight of 800 grams;
• a glass of black currant;
• three tablespoons of sugar;
• two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar;
• two tablespoons of soy sauce; • juice of two oranges;
• a spoon of ground cinnamon or one whole stick;
• two pieces of anise;
• three peppercorns;
• two tablespoons of blackcurrant jam.
Method of preparation
Beat two thirds cup of currant with a blender and rub through a metal sieve.
Pour sugar into the mass, pour vinegar and soy sauce, mix.
Fry prepared breasts in a dry skillet at medium temperature, skin down until the skin is well reddened. If the draining fat is too much, part of it needs to be poured.
Turn the breasts down the inside, fry for two minutes.
Transfer the meat to a thick-bottomed pot or roaster, close the lid tightly. So the breasts will reach the desired degree of readiness on their own. Meat will keep juiciness, will become tender.
The melted fat for this dish is no longer needed, it should be poured into a separate container and used to prepare other dishes.
While the meat is resting, make the sauce.
Squeeze orange juice.
Pour the juice into the pan, put the remaining berries, jam, spices and cook with a slow boil until the sauce thickens.
As soon as the mass began to boil down, put in her breasts.
Raise the temperature to the maximum and fry the breasts together with the sauce for two minutes.
Divide into portions and serve, pouring over the sauce.
“Honey” Duck Breast
The honey flavor of duck breast, the recipe of which is given below, interrupts the specific smell of this meat. It turns out very fragrant and incredibly juicy with a minimum of ingredients. Spices can take any, focusing on your own taste.
Ingredients:
• one duck breast;
• a tablespoon of honey;
• spices to taste.
Cooking Method:
In the prepared breast from the fat side, make cuts in such a way that the meat appears.
Put the meat in a dry preheated pan with fatty parts down and heat the fat for about five to six minutes. Turn the meat over and fry for another four minutes.
Put the meat in foil, make cuts in it, not allowing the breast to fall apart, and pour (grease) honey.
Pack tightly in foil with seams upward so that the juice could not flow out and bake at 200 degrees for fifteen minutes.
Remove the meat, divide into portions and serve.
Duck breast in soy caramel sauce
Duck breast, which is really a lot of recipes, is good in soy-caramel sauce. Meat requires pre-marinating, which makes it particularly juicy, gets rid of the characteristic smell. Caramel gives the dish a fantastic taste. This recipe is used for breast preparation in France.
Ingredients:
• one duck breast;
• half a cup of soy sauce;
• three tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice;
• a clove of garlic;
• two tablespoons of honey;
• ground black pepper;
• berries for decoration (optional).
Cooking Method:
Remove the prepared breast from fat and cut into portions.
Make a marinade by mixing chopped garlic, lemon juice, honey, soy sauce, pepper.
Put the pieces of meat in the marinade, cover the container with a lid or foil, put in the fridge for an hour, and if you have time, then for a day. Long-term marinating will give the meat tenderness and matchless aroma.
Wipe the pieces with a paper napkin, peeling from the marinade.
Fry in a dry well heated pan. The breasts are fat enough; additional cooking oil is not required.
If you want to try the meat with blood, one or two minutes is enough. For full readiness, continue frying for five minutes. The meat in any case should turn pinkish inside.
Meat shift in a separate bowl.
Pour the marinade into the pan (throw out the garlic) and bring the caramel to medium-high heat for two or three minutes. Too long marinate marinate is not worth it, as the caramel thickens when it cools.
Pour the caramel over the meat and serve, garnish with raspberries, blackberries or currants, if desired.
Duck breast with spinach and mushrooms in puff pastry envelope
For duck breast recipes are easy to select. The main thing is to know exactly what the soul asks. If the family does not deny themselves home baking, the ideal combination of taste and benefit will be meat baked in puff pastry with spinach and mushrooms.
Ingredients:
• two duck breasts with a total weight of 350 grams;
• 250 grams of fresh champignons;
• 230 grams of canned mushrooms;
• two tablespoons of mustard;
• 20 leaves of fresh spinach;
• medium bulb;
• 300 grams of puff pastry;
• spoon of olive oil;
• three teaspoons of dried rosemary;
• freshly ground black pepper to taste;
• salt;
• egg.
Cooking Method:
Mushrooms are very finely chopped.
Grind the onion.
Grate the prepared breasts with salt, pepper and rosemary.
Heat the butter and fry the breasts in it for five to six minutes on both sides.
Put the meat in a separate dish, coat with mustard and wrap a sheet of foil.
Onions fry in the same pan until transparent.
Add mushrooms, salt and continue frying for another ten minutes.
Put the mushroom mass in a separate bowl to cool.
Spread cling film on the table. Put a layer of cooled mushrooms, then fresh spinach, finish laying duck breast.
Tighten the edges of the film, forming a “candy”. Put the convolutions in the refrigerator and leave for half an hour.
Roll out dough sheets half a centimeter thick.
Beat egg and smear the edges of the dough.
Remove the breast from the film, lay on the center of the dough.
Cover the meat in the mushroom mixture with a second layer of dough.
Gently form an envelope, pressing the dough along the edge.
Spread egg on the cake and bake for about twenty minutes at a temperature of 190-200 degrees. The baking time and temperature need to be adjusted based on the characteristics of the particular oven.
Duck breast stuffed with liver
For duck breast recipes allow and this method of preparation, as stuffing. The original taste has the breast stuffed with chicken liver. Bacon adds to the dish juiciness. Baked pumpkin, soaked with juice, it turns out fantastically delicious. Ingredients:
• one duck breast;
• one hundred grams of chicken or duck liver;
• 50 grams of bacon;
• 200 grams of pumpkin;
• two spoons of olive oil;
• two cloves of garlic.
Cooking Method:
Crush the garlic and rub them with chicken liver.
Salt and pepper, sprinkle with spices if desired.
Cut the bacon into thin slices.
Wrap the liver in bacon.
Release the prepared breast from the skin and make cuts so that pockets are formed.
Lay the bacon and liver rolls in these pockets.
Wrap the breast with the remaining bacon stripes.
Cut the pumpkin into small pieces. Salt, pepper, sprinkle with a mixture of Provencal herbs or other seasoning to taste.
Mix oil with chopped garlic, pickle pumpkin.
Put the pumpkin base on a baking sheet or in the form.
Roast the duck breast for two or three minutes in the pan, then lay on top of the pumpkin.
Bake at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. If the oven is “strong,” the roasting time may be less.
Remove the meat, cool, chop and serve with pumpkin garnish.
Duck breast under vegetables
The company to the duck breast recipes offer not only vegetables, but rice. Very quickly and tasty, you can feed the family or guests, if you cook the meat with peppers, onions, carrots, tomatoes. The aroma of this dish is amazing.
Ingredients:
• a pound of duck breast;
• one Bulgarian pepper;
• medium carrot;
• large onion;
• three spoons of butter;
• A slice of hard cheese (50 grams is enough);
• three tablespoons of corn flour for breading (you can take any);
• salt;
• allspice;
• sprig of cherry tomatoes;
• bag of steamed rice.
Cooking Method:
Breast cut into portions, beat and rub with spices to taste.
Breast the meat in corn flour, fry for three minutes in a hot frying pan on both sides.
Cut vegetables.
Fry some pepper and carrots, add onions and bring vegetables to readiness in five to six minutes. Add tomatoes, warm slightly with other vegetables.
Meat shift into shape.
Put on him a vegetable mixture.
Sprinkle with grated cheese.
Bake at 190 degrees for 15 minutes.
Duck Breast - Tricks and Tips
- For the proper preparation of duck breast recipes offer basic options for action. However, there are subtleties that you should know.
- Roast the duck breast without oil. If the need for it still arises, it is better to limit yourself to a small spoon. You can simply rub a drop of butter in a pan.
- It is better to fry the breast without removing the skin. When heated, the subcutaneous fat will melt, soak the meat and make it tender. Skin can be removed before serving.
- So that the skin does not tighten the meat during roasting, it can be cut with a grill.
- For perfect readiness, the breast should first be fried in the pan, skin side down. Then turn and bring to readiness in the oven.
