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Seared Duck Breast with Pinot Noir Reduction

The acidic, fruity flavor of Pinot Noir perfectly matches the fatty, slightly gamey taste of the duck.

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France

Known as a French recipe, with similar versions prepared across other nations.

Ingredients 6 ingredients

  1. 4 ea. (28 oz) boneless duck breasts
  2. Salt
  3. Freshly-ground black pepper
  4. 1 ½ cups Pinot Noir wine
  5. 1 shallot, very finely minced
  6. 1 tbsp olive oil

Cook safely

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

  • Hot oil. Never put water on an oil fire: turn off the heat and cover the pan with a lid or a damp tea towel. Pat food dry before it goes into hot oil, and lower it in gently, away from you.
  • Oven and hot trays. Use dry oven gloves for trays and dishes: a hot tray looks just like a cold one. Open the oven door away from your face and let the first rush of heat out.
  • Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.
  • Flambéing. Pour the alcohol off the heat, never straight from the bottle, and light it with a long match, leaning back. Keep a lid close to put the flames out.
  • Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.

Method

  1. Score skin of duck in a diamond pattern, being careful not to cut into the meat. Sprinkle on both sides liberally with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
  2. Heat a large stainless steel skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 duck breasts, skin side down, and cook until skin is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Flip and cook 3 minutes. Move to a greased roasting pan and repeat with remaining duck.
  3. Bake at 400°F for 12 minutes for medium rare. Remove and keep warm.
  4. Pour most of the fat out, leaving 2 tbsp. Place pan back on medium high heat, add shallot, and sauté until translucent. Deglaze pan with wine and ignite carefully with a firestick, if desired. If you ignited it, wait until flames die before continuing. Bring to a boil.
  5. Cook wine until reduced by ⅔. Slice duck on the bias and drizzle with sauce. Serve immediately.

Plating

Cookware for this recipe

  • Frying pan
  • Saucepan
  • Roasting tin
  • Chef's knife
  • Cutting board
Source CC-BY-SA-4.0
Credit

"Seared Duck Breast with Pinot Noir Reduction" from the Wikibooks Cookbook (https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Seared_Duck_Breast_with_Pinot_Noir_Reduction, revision 4514584), by its contributors (https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Cookbook:Seared_Duck_Breast_with_Pinot_Noir_Reduction&action=history), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

Revision 4514584

What was changed: Reformatted by FoodByNation from the wiki page: ingredients and steps extracted, links and templates removed, diet notes detected from the ingredients. This adaptation is also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.