Author: Thomas Sixt is a chef, food photographer, cookbook author and blogger. Here he shares recipes, answers cooking questions and helps with cooking.
I would like to write a little technical information about this particular species of duck, since the usual sources give little information.
The Muscovy duck is originally at home in the tropics, which is why it was also known as the “barbarian duck” or “Canard d’Inde”.
This species of duck is native to the New World West Indies and Amazon, where various sources indicate that it lived on trees.
This duck is important today in gourmet cuisine, it is a delicate muscovy duck (also musk duck or warty duck) that has only been bred in France since 1871.
She became popular and famous for her spicy and firm meat.
Compared to the German domestic duck, which always has to be well-done, the Muscovy duck, here only the breast, is served soft pink.
If you are preparing a Barbarie duck whole, it is advisable to serve the tender pink breast as the first course, and then the cooked legs as a second course.
But that should be saved for another article because otherwise we would sink too much into gourmet food.
You can dip and eat the carrot green pesto with walnuts with carrot sticks.
4. Prepare the Duck Breast Skin, Cut Into It and Season
After unpacking the duck breast…
I wash them off under cold running water
The breast is dried
I then use tweezers to remove any remaining quills
Clean the back (cut out veins)
Then score the skin in a diamond shape.
Carefully cut the duck skin, not the meat – this way the fat can fry nicely and the skin will be crispy!
Cutting duck skin Tip from chef Thomas Sixt
Clean duck breast and remove veins.
Score the skin of the duck breast.
Now the breast is seasoned with salt and pepper. Personally, I love black pepper, although we only ever used white pepper for Alfons Schuhbeck.
I think white pepper tastes pungent. That is why black pepper is used. I’ve gotten picky about the salt.
In the video I use black Hawaiian salt and recommend either Fleur de Sel or a real, unpurified ancient salt or Himalayan salt.
These types of salt are healthier, if you want to know more about them, you can read more about them in this book .
Place the breast skin-side down in the roaster and continue with the vegetables.
Ingredients Lexicon: Find out why Himalayan salt is a healthy ingredient.
5. Prepare Duck Breast Made Easy
First of all: If you prefer to leave the oven cold, you can roast the duck breast in the pan . I show that in detail in the article How to Fry Duck Breast !
I use a fresh Barbary duck breast for this dish.
This special duck breast should be tender pink on the plate, at best crispy and there are one or the other trick to ensure that it always works.
The most important thing is a preheated oven – I tend to have high temperatures, so I use the hot air setting at 220°C and preheat the oven accordingly.
The oven temperature should really be reached when the prepared duck breast goes into the oven, as this is the only way to ensure optimal cooking.
Duck breast and vegetables cook in the oven at the same time – that’s practical and saves time!
Tip for roast duck from chef Thomas Sixt
Duck breast roasted with thyme and garlic.
Duck breast in the pan while seasoning with salt and pepper.
6. Duck Breast Whole or Slightly Crispy
Everyone likes it differently, I like the breast slightly crispy with this dish, it’s not a fried Chinese duck but a fine French duckling.
If you like to follow my recommendation, do the preparation exactly as explained in the video.
The breast remains on the skin side and after 30 minutes the dish is ready.
But if you want the breast to be really crispy, then please set the alarm for 20 minutes and then switch the oven to hot air grill.
First turn the breast once – correct – skin side up, add salt and cook for another 10-12 minutes.
The breast should now be crispy and crunchy, calming even the last critic.
The cooking time of the duck breast depends on the one hand on your oven and on the other hand on the thickness of the duck breast.
If the breast is particularly small, the cooking time must be reduced slightly, if the breast is larger it takes a little longer.
After one or two attempts you always get the hang of it. I just want to encourage you here so that it works really well.
Duck breast roasted pink and sliced.
8. The Vegetables for the Duck Breast – a Bit Mediterranean
I love the Mediterranean cuisine and therefore I prepare fennel, potatoes, peppers, olives and garlic as side dishes.
Cut the potatoes into quarters or eighths, ideally peel them first
Clean the fennel and cut into quarters, leaving the stalk on, so the fennel pieces remain whole and do not fall apart.
Halve and deseed the peppers, I only use red or yellow peppers for this dish so that the play of colors is right.
Then add black olives without pits and at least 5 whole cloves of garlic.
By the way, in the video the order is the other way around, I show the vegetables first, then the preparation of the duck breast – but it doesn’t matter how you do it yourself.
Prepared, raw oven-roasted vegetables in a roast beef. Alternatively, the vegetables can be placed on a baking sheet with or without parchment paper.
Colorful, roasted, Mediterranean oven-baked vegetables with plenty of delicious aromas.
9. Duck Breast Sauce and Juice and Sauce
In this preparation I “only” work with the gravy.
On the one hand, this is the fat from the duck breast, plus the resulting roasted ingredients and, as can be seen in the video, fresh thyme.
The fresh thyme is added to the hot gravy shortly before serving and develops its incomparable aroma over a gentle heat.
Drizzle the gravy over the vegetables and duck and serve quickly!
Below you can write to me directly. Please don’t forget the star rating on the recipe, 5 stars means you liked it!
Step by step… to duck happiness. 🙂 Nice recipe!
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Hi Back!
🙂
Thank you dear Ulrich for your nice feedback! Kind regards Thomas
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Simple, fast and great – that fits like a *** on bucket! Simply wonderful recipe
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Hello Vladi,
thanks for your praise, you just barely missed the spam cooking pot filter. I wish you continued success,
Greetings Thomas
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My duck breasts all weigh 360 grams each. How long do they have to go in the oven? I wanted to try your recipe for Christmas.
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Hello Stefan,
thank you very much for your comment and the query.
Chef Question Cooking time duck breast in the oven
Chef Answer: I can't give you an exact time.
–> The cooking time depends on your oven and how well it heats. –> The longer you leave the duck breast in the pan, the shorter the cooking time in the oven. –> The duck breast roasts faster in the iron pan than in a coated pan. The solution: –> Preheat the oven at 200-210°C for hot air. –> First fry the duck breast on the skin side for 5 minutes. –> The skin of the breast should already have a nice color. –> Season the skin with salt and place in the oven. –> Make a pressure test after 8 minutes –> If red juice escapes, the duck breast is usually cooked exactly medium.
Step by step… to duck happiness. 🙂 Nice recipe!