How to Cook Duck Breast in The Oven
This question comes up all the time: Can I cook duck breast in the oven? Absolutely, but you’ll have to consider a few important aspects of cooking duck breast.
Choosing your duck breast
We are biased when it comes to this step, but seriously, better duck means better results. In the US, people usually eat Pekin duck breast. It’s good. But the Moulard duck is an entirely new duck breed to most folks and the difference in flavor is tremendous. With DUCKCHAR Moulard Duck Breast, the rich and bold flavor you’ll achieve will have you questioning why you never took duck breed more seriously. Think of it as choosing between a choice and prime ribeye. There’s a big difference.
Rendering the duck fat
When duck breast is oven roasted properly, most of the fat is rendered out leaving a thin, golden, crispy layer of skin. The first step to ensure this perfect finish is to score the skin of the duck breast. Scoring allows all of that extra fat to escape during the cooking process. When the fat escapes, an incredible texture contrast is achieved: crispy delicious skin on the outside of duck breast coupled with juicy, rich meat on the inside. With DUCKCHAR Moulard Duck Breast, the natural flavor and richness of the Moulard duck enhances this benefit even more.
Here’s the funny thing. If you want to oven roast duck breast, you’ll need to start the recipe on the stovetop with an oven safe pan. This step will ensure that most of the fat is rendered out before the duck breast goes into the oven. There are two reasons to so this. First, it’s important to ladle out the rendered fat as the duck cooks. This step is problematic for an oven since opening and closing an oven door over and over is not ideal. The direct heat you get from a stove makes it easier to focus on just rendering the fat without cooking the rest of the duck breast. With Moulard Duck Breast, there is thick layer of skin. And you’ll want to render out as much fat as you can. With Moulard Duck Breast it will take about 8 - 10 minutes to complete this step.
Cook the duck breast in the oven
Okay, NOW it’s time to oven roast the duck breast. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Flip the duck over with skin side facing up and place that same pan in the oven. Cook until the internal temperature reads 131 degrees F. DUCKCHAR Moulard Duck Breast should always be cooked medium rare. After oven roasting the duck breast, place it on a cutting board and loosely cover with foil. After about 5 minutes the internal temp will rise to a perfect 135 degrees F or medium rare.
So to answer your question, YES, you can cook duck breast in the oven. You won’t regret it.