Duck is for the Birds!!!!

Duck! Yikes! Way to get right into making things that are scary. I attempted two recipes with this meal. Seared duck breast and Red Flaming Hash! The first task was to find and purchase the duck. Since last time it took 3 stores to find the meat product, I started at AJ's. For you California people, it is similar to a Whole foods. I went (with both kids which was a mistake and another story) straight to the meat counter to ask for help. They directed me to the frozen food section? I found lots of weird duck things including a Truducken but I just was looking for 4 duck beast. (The recipe did not give any other directions on size or what type of duck) I looked for the most simple looking packaging to help. I found them in titled "Mallard Duck Breast". I grabbed two thinking that the kids would not need their own and glanced at the price. $17.99 EACH!! As so as one went back into the freezer, I purchased one duck breast for all of us to share. For goodness sakes, who knows if I would even like it.

At the beginning of this recipe he states that it is a shame that in America we don't eat more duck. That it is an awesome product, yada yada, yada.... I can tell you why we don't. Look at the price. Anyways, on to the cooking.

So the goal was to SEAR the duck breast. I have seen them make a couple of duck breast over the years on TV and so off I went. Duck has a really thick fat layer on one side in which you cut into the fat little slices to (I guess) let the fat go into the meat to flavor it. Symon was excited about that because a big chunk of fat on a piece of steak is his favorite. (SOOOOO gross) I was to sear the fat side first to get a crispy skin and then flip. Feeling more confident because I have already seared steak (twice don't forget), I set up my ingredients and got to work. Heated the pan, placed in the breast skin/fat side down and let it go. Bring on the sizzle and smoke! Turned after 3 minutes as stated and the cook the other side. After the first flip I was so happy with the color and crispy look that the fat side that achieved as you can see in the picture.

Then as the 2nd side finished... it didn't looked finished. It looked raw. The duck breast was definitely defrosted (I've done that before) but I decided to get one of my new favorite tools out to check the temperature. In the past I would just cut it open but I have learned that all the juices just run out which includes all of the flavor. The temperature was not even 100 degrees. Yikes. Now what? Panicking, I call Symon in to look at at. (Not saying he knows more than me, I just didn't know what to do. It was $18 of raw meat) We tried to search the internet for doneness temp or what it should look like but of course our internet was down. I wanted to cook it more but didn't want burnt duck. We decided to cut it open and then take a look. Raw/red in the middle. Not good. Now, duck is a dark meat so at first it just looked like a rare to med/rare steak. But we quickly remembered that this was duck and needed to be cooked through. This pictures is after we butterflied open the duck to find the raw insides. Not good eats! :)

Back to the searing again. After cutting again and 10 more minutes of searing, cutting and searing again... we decided to just eat it!!!! Symon and I both tried it. Symon stated that it tasted like steak and he enjoyed it. He actually ate all his portion. I also thought it was good. It did have a steak quality but I could taste the gamey flavor. The more I ate, it became more like eating dark turkey meat. Overall, I would probably order it in a restaurant to see what it really is suppose to taste like then attempt to make again. Or as Symon stated, "if its in the book then we will make it again". Thanks babe.

The side dish for the duck was Red flaming Hash! It turned out great. Ingredients included beets, onions, garlic, red potatoes and seasoning. I will have to say that both of us enjoyed it. Reagan also loved it. I have never had beets before. (Another ingredient that scared me I guess) I roasted them and they were so sweet.

I do wish that I cut the potatoes up smaller so I could have gotten a better crispy outside on the potatoes. Overall a successful dish as you can see here.

Seared Duck breast over Red Flaming Hash

So far, three recipes in, I have learned a couple of things:

1. Recipes do NOT give enough directions including size of cutting things and of the proteins.

2. Beets are yummy but messy. (Alton Brown suggested pealing the beet under running cold water which worked awesome)

3. Duck is something I need to research a little more before attempting to make again. Especially at $18.00 a pop.

I wondered if there are different types of duck breasts and sizes because the one we cooked was pretty thick compared to ones I've seen on tv being prepared. Send me your experiences with duck breast!!!! See you next time for TOFU!!!!!!