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Simple Duck Breast

Here’s a delightfully straightforward recipe to try with your next duck breasts. I used a mallard breast for this recipe, but you could do this with most ducks and geese.

Ingredients

AmountIngredient
2 teaspoonpeppercorns and salt ground in a mortar and pestle (or just salt and pepper to taste)
1/4 lemon per breast
1/4 - 1/2 tablespoon butter per breast
1 chopped clove of garlic + ½ clove of garlic for each additional breast. Really just put however much garlic you like.
2 sprigs of rosemary (1 for cooking, 1 for garnish)
mushrooms (I used some wild oyster mushrooms I found)

How to Prepare

  1. Coarse grind pepper and salt and season each breast on both sides.
  2. Heat a pan (I used a 12″ cast iron) over medium high heat with the butter melted.
  3. As the butter starts to brown, add the garlic, rosemary, and lemon juice and stir to combine. About 30-60 seconds.
  4. Add the duck breast, skin side down. Flip after about 5 minutes. The cooking time will vary greatly depending on the size of the bird, but I did this with an average sized mallard, and it took me about 5 minutes each side. I strongly recommend an instant read thermometer for checking the meat doneness. I pull it at 125⁰-130⁰ for rare/medium rare.
  5. Once you flip the meat, sauté your mushrooms. You can add them to the pan if there is room.
  6. You can use a plate with a soup can on it to help weigh the meat down and even it out/prevent the breast from curling.
  7. Plate and serve with any remaining sauce from the pan and garnish with a sprig of rosemary.