Sunday, December 6, 2009

Spiced-Crusted Duck Breast with Orange-Honey Glaze and Cumin-Scented Carrots

This recipe comes from Eric Ripert's PBS show, Avec Eric. It's a great, informative show, providing easy and delicious at-home recipes at the end of each episode. Because it's game season, and I love me some delicious birds, I decided to give this recipe a go.

I followed the recipe verbatim, and everything turned out wonderfully. My only minor adjustment would be to cook the skin side of the duck breast for slightly longer than is suggested, maybe closer to 12-14 minutes, rather than 8-10. For both breasts that I cooked, the fat was a little too chewy, and not quite crispy enough. It was really close, but not there. The meat, however, was a perfect medium-rare, as the recipe suggested. Here's my review of each component. . . .

Duck Breast: I bought two duck breasts (Mary's 100% Organic, California grown) at Whole Foods. As I mentioned earlier, the fat could have been cooked a little more. Aside for this, the seasoning of the fat was mild and just lent a hint of its flavor to the meat. The meat was very ducky, which I love.If you don't love duck, you will not love this dish—it definitely showcases the unique flavor of the duck. Luckily, it was not chewy at all.





Orange-Honey Glaze: I really enjoyed this glaze, both by itself and atop the duck breast. I mean, what's not to love? Duck fat as a base? Ok, great. Honey as a sweetener—plus fresh orange juice! Alright! Add some shallot in there for extra flavor . . . what a wonderful glaze. 'Nuff said. Recipe was perfect, but it takes a little while to cook (20+minutes).



Cumin-Scented Carrots: These cooked up perfectly, still retaining some firmness, but with a rich honey and butter glaze. The cumin also really comes through, and brings out the cumin in the crust of the duck breast. I used baby carrots for this recipe, and I thought they were great.



All in all, this recipe was easy, delicious, fast, and unique. It's always refreshing to realize how simple recipes can be both delicious and sophisticated.


No comments:

Post a Comment