Cooking a Perfect Duck: A Layered Approach to Flavors and Techniques

When it comes to cooking a duck, there are many techniques and methods that can be used to achieve a perfect, tender, and flavorful dish. In this article, we will explore one such approach that involves layering flavors and using a combination of low and slow cooking, reducing sauces, and adding various garnishes.

To start, the duck is seasoned with a blend of herbs and spices, including cumin, cilantro stem, and bay leaf. The back end of the duck is then set aside to hang out while it cooks in a dry pan over very low heat for a long time, allowing the fat to render and crisp up. This slow cooking process helps to break down the connective tissues in the meat and infuse it with flavor.

As the duck cooks, we prepare the sauce by reducing a gastrique made from vinegar, sugar, and aromatics such as onion, thyme, and pink peppercorns. The gastrique is then used as a base for our sauce, which is built upon through the addition of other ingredients such as red wine, demi-glace, and toasted hazelnuts.

To add another layer of flavor to the sauce, we will be using apricot, which will also serve as an ingredient in the garnish. The apricots are diced and added to the sauce, where they will continue to cook down and infuse their flavor into the mixture. This process is repeated with the addition of other ingredients such as eggplant, which is cooked in duck fat until it's tender.

As the sauce continues to reduce and thicken, we prepare the duck for serving by basting it with a pat of butter and brushing it with a sprinkle of honey. The duck is then rested while the sauce is finished by whisking in a tablespoon of sugar and adjusting its consistency as needed.

Finally, the duck is sliced and served on top of the garnished eggplant, garnished with hazelnuts, microgreens, and a spoonful of sauce. The combination of flavors and textures is truly impressive, with each bite showcasing the tender meat, crispy skin, and rich sauce.

One of the key principles behind this approach to cooking duck is the importance of reducing sauces. By using a gastrique as a base and building upon it through the addition of other ingredients, we can create a rich and complex flavor profile that elevates the dish beyond the sum of its individual parts.

Another important technique in this approach is the use of fat as a medium for cooking and serving. The duck is cooked in its own fat to achieve tender and flavorful meat, while the eggplant is also cooked in duck fat to add another layer of flavor to the dish. This emphasis on using fat as an ingredient rather than simply as a cooking medium helps to create a truly rich and satisfying sauce.

The use of microgreens and other garnishes adds an additional level of visual appeal to the dish, making it more appealing and appetizing. In this case, we will be using microgreens in addition to hazelnuts, apricots, and eggplant as garnishes.

Finally, one of the key principles behind cooking with herbs is the debate over whether they should be placed specifically on top of the dish or allowed to fall naturally into place. In our approach to cooking duck, we will be using a combination of both techniques, allowing some of the herbs to fall naturally onto the plate while also placing others in specific positions for maximum visual impact.

By combining these various techniques and ingredients, we can create a truly exceptional dish that showcases the beauty and flavor of the duck. Whether you are an experienced cook or just starting out, this approach provides a useful model for building layers of flavor into your cooking and experimenting with new techniques and ingredients.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enall right recruits today i'm going to be showing you how to make a cumin and cilantro duck breast apricot juice and eggplant hey and we're going to put them together so easily first thing we're gonna do is remember what we're gonna do i'm just kidding first i'm gonna toast my cumin we want the oils to open up we're not looking to burn the spices while that's toasting lightly i'm going to grab my duck breasts actually these are pretty nicely trimmed sometimes on the bottom of the duck breast there's a little of this sinew go right underneath and trim that off now i'm going to score the skin it's basically going to create cross hatches i want to cut through the fat i don't want to cut into the meat i'm going to season it fairly aggressively and the tiniest bit of pepper okay so our duck breast it's a nice beautiful layer of fat and then underneath that is a layer of meat i'm going to cook it fat side down in a dry pan very very low and slow so that we render or cook down that fat and that fat will start to crisp up and then the duck will start to cook while it's in there i'm going to season the back end and let that hang out look how i've ground this cumin it's not super fine so the cumin is gonna get mixed with cilantro stem and that's gonna be the crust that we're gonna finish our duck with okay those are set and ready for me to cut half a cup of hazelnut 300 degree oven i just want to lightly toast that hazelnut i'm gonna set a timer for 10 minutes sauce work let's get all the things so we're gonna make a gastrique does anyone know what a gastrique is vinegar and sugar reduced so we're gonna take this gastric base as the base for our sauce and then build our flavors on top of that one bay leaf two sprigs of thyme we're gonna sweat this out tablespoon of pink peppercorn just make sure i have enough fat to get that onion translucent to this i'm going to add two tablespoons of sugar and one half cup of sherry vinegar so i'm gonna cook this down until there's barely anything left while all of these nice things are happening and i'm gonna mince my cilantro stem this is about a third of a cup of cilantro stem cumin i'm gonna take one tablespoon i'm gonna add this to my cilantro stem now i'm gonna add a half a cup of red wine and we're gonna do the same thing all over again building layers of flavor in there so we're checking our duck brush okay nice and low nice and slow straighten off some of this i'm gonna reserve that duck fat right there cause i'm gonna cook the eggplant in that duck fat i'm gonna dice a quarter cup of apricot now these apricots you're going to see them in the sauce so i do want them cut evenly make sure that everything looks the same reserve that inside come and look at our red one this is how i want you to reduce it now to this i want you to add one cup of demi we can call it one one and a quarter cup nuts toasted hazelnut a little bit of oil just gonna waken up my apricots a little bit so i'm using eggplant i'm just gonna trim up my eggplant a little bit i'm going to score my eggplant like i season my eggplant slightly larger pan for my eggplant i'm gonna meet my apricot here i'm gonna add another half cup of demi checking our duck breasts that duck is just chilling up there i love that that duck is just the duck's just hanging out doing its own thing so i'm gonna take some of this beautiful duck fat sauce reducing our duck is almost ready so the only other thing i'm going to need with my sauce is a tablespoon of butter ready to go my hazelnuts i'm going to split them check our duck fat eggplants i'm going to pull these i'm going to rest them i'll turn my duck breast over now in goes my knob of butter lightly season it two sprigs of thyme in there we're gonna baste the duck in its own fat how do you gauge when it's ready to come out and rest a meat thermometer so if i render the skin properly i want to cook it to about 130 degrees while our duck is resting i'm just taking a spoonful of honey i am lately brushing this duck with honey cilantro stem crust spread it out stick it to everything all the mixing crannies because that's the kind of person i am so on the back side of the duck sometimes there's a little tenderloin i'm gonna trim my end creating a flat surface i want three nice slices there's one there's two there's three now our eggplant garnish drop a couple hazelnuts and our sauce it's a touch too thick so the sugars and the apricot are coming out and the pectin that's in the apricot and it's really thickening up that sauce so sometimes it's necessary to go back and adjust slightly we're gonna dress a little bit of sherry a little bit of salt now i'm gonna sauce my plate making sure that i have sauce a little bit of that apricot and sauce the eggplant a little bit i try not to sauce the duck and just let the sauce kind of pool on the plate just have some beautiful microflowers there's two schools of thought on herbs so it's either they're they're specifically placed or they just fall are you uh specifically placed depends on my mood it really really does great great great great okay so here is your duck look at that youall right recruits today i'm going to be showing you how to make a cumin and cilantro duck breast apricot juice and eggplant hey and we're going to put them together so easily first thing we're gonna do is remember what we're gonna do i'm just kidding first i'm gonna toast my cumin we want the oils to open up we're not looking to burn the spices while that's toasting lightly i'm going to grab my duck breasts actually these are pretty nicely trimmed sometimes on the bottom of the duck breast there's a little of this sinew go right underneath and trim that off now i'm going to score the skin it's basically going to create cross hatches i want to cut through the fat i don't want to cut into the meat i'm going to season it fairly aggressively and the tiniest bit of pepper okay so our duck breast it's a nice beautiful layer of fat and then underneath that is a layer of meat i'm going to cook it fat side down in a dry pan very very low and slow so that we render or cook down that fat and that fat will start to crisp up and then the duck will start to cook while it's in there i'm going to season the back end and let that hang out look how i've ground this cumin it's not super fine so the cumin is gonna get mixed with cilantro stem and that's gonna be the crust that we're gonna finish our duck with okay those are set and ready for me to cut half a cup of hazelnut 300 degree oven i just want to lightly toast that hazelnut i'm gonna set a timer for 10 minutes sauce work let's get all the things so we're gonna make a gastrique does anyone know what a gastrique is vinegar and sugar reduced so we're gonna take this gastric base as the base for our sauce and then build our flavors on top of that one bay leaf two sprigs of thyme we're gonna sweat this out tablespoon of pink peppercorn just make sure i have enough fat to get that onion translucent to this i'm going to add two tablespoons of sugar and one half cup of sherry vinegar so i'm gonna cook this down until there's barely anything left while all of these nice things are happening and i'm gonna mince my cilantro stem this is about a third of a cup of cilantro stem cumin i'm gonna take one tablespoon i'm gonna add this to my cilantro stem now i'm gonna add a half a cup of red wine and we're gonna do the same thing all over again building layers of flavor in there so we're checking our duck brush okay nice and low nice and slow straighten off some of this i'm gonna reserve that duck fat right there cause i'm gonna cook the eggplant in that duck fat i'm gonna dice a quarter cup of apricot now these apricots you're going to see them in the sauce so i do want them cut evenly make sure that everything looks the same reserve that inside come and look at our red one this is how i want you to reduce it now to this i want you to add one cup of demi we can call it one one and a quarter cup nuts toasted hazelnut a little bit of oil just gonna waken up my apricots a little bit so i'm using eggplant i'm just gonna trim up my eggplant a little bit i'm going to score my eggplant like i season my eggplant slightly larger pan for my eggplant i'm gonna meet my apricot here i'm gonna add another half cup of demi checking our duck breasts that duck is just chilling up there i love that that duck is just the duck's just hanging out doing its own thing so i'm gonna take some of this beautiful duck fat sauce reducing our duck is almost ready so the only other thing i'm going to need with my sauce is a tablespoon of butter ready to go my hazelnuts i'm going to split them check our duck fat eggplants i'm going to pull these i'm going to rest them i'll turn my duck breast over now in goes my knob of butter lightly season it two sprigs of thyme in there we're gonna baste the duck in its own fat how do you gauge when it's ready to come out and rest a meat thermometer so if i render the skin properly i want to cook it to about 130 degrees while our duck is resting i'm just taking a spoonful of honey i am lately brushing this duck with honey cilantro stem crust spread it out stick it to everything all the mixing crannies because that's the kind of person i am so on the back side of the duck sometimes there's a little tenderloin i'm gonna trim my end creating a flat surface i want three nice slices there's one there's two there's three now our eggplant garnish drop a couple hazelnuts and our sauce it's a touch too thick so the sugars and the apricot are coming out and the pectin that's in the apricot and it's really thickening up that sauce so sometimes it's necessary to go back and adjust slightly we're gonna dress a little bit of sherry a little bit of salt now i'm gonna sauce my plate making sure that i have sauce a little bit of that apricot and sauce the eggplant a little bit i try not to sauce the duck and just let the sauce kind of pool on the plate just have some beautiful microflowers there's two schools of thought on herbs so it's either they're they're specifically placed or they just fall are you uh specifically placed depends on my mood it really really does great great great great okay so here is your duck look at that you\n"