Pan Seared Duck Breast Recipe
Pan Seared Duck Breasts with Wild Mushroom Sauce
While visiting my best man in McCall, Idaho, we dined on wild duck breasts that were the best I’ve ever had. It may have been a combination of the atmosphere, the reunion, and the wine, but it certainly was a memorable night.
This is a quick and easy recipe. I served it with, what else, baked Idaho potatoes.
This recipe calls for demi-glace, a stock reduction made from brown stock. It is the ingredient used by professional chefs for preparing those velvety sauces we all enjoy.
You can make it at home but it is a lot of work. I prefer to purchase a commercial brand that allows me to make restaurant quality sauces in a fraction of the time.
Learn more about demi glace.
Reluctant Gourmet’s Tips
Remember to sauté the mushrooms properly
Never cook with any wine you wouldn’t drink!
A heavy duty cast iron skillet works great for this recipe.
You can substitute standard button mushrooms if wild ones are not available.
Ingredients
8 duck breasts
6 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons oil
1/4 cup chopped shallots
6 oz of wild mushrooms
1/2 cup of red wine
1 cup demi-glace
Salt and pepper
How To Prepare At Home
Chop the shallot and slice the wild mushrooms.
Season the duck breasts with salt and pepper.
Heat sauté pan (cast iron skillet if you have one) until really hot.
Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter with the oil and sear breasts quickly on both sides. Then cook an additional 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from your pan and keep warm.
Add the remaining butter and briefly saute the shallots.
Add mushrooms and sauté until translucent (approx. 4-5 minutes).
Add a bit of your red wine to deglaze the pan.
Add demi glace. Simmer for approximately 6 - 7 minutes until sauce has thickened enough to coat a spoon.
Serve over duck and if you're like me, save some for the potatoes.
I'm a work-at-home dad who enjoys cooking, learning everything I can about the culinary world and sharing it with you. To learn more about me...
Yum! Stan make this for me!!! Please?? LOL
I highly recommend this recipe and even make a little extra of the demi glace for potatoes, etc. You must use unsalted butter and we did not salt the breasts before cooking as it came out salty to our taste when we did salt them before cooking. The demi glace can be found online at Amazon and is well worth the price if you eat a lot of duck as we do!
Wild duck, salt, and pepper. That’s all you need for gourmet eating after the hunt. Don’t over cook the breasts! Leave them pink in the middle and you’ll be happy. If you overlook them they will be dry, chewy, and taste like liver. I love this recipe and try each time to get my wife to embrace the pink center. She’s getting there because it tastes SO good!