Duck Breast With Braised Belgian Endive, Shaved Cauliflower and Green Peppercorns
- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:Serves 4
- 2whole duck breasts, about 7-8 ounces each (4 halves)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2heads Belgian endive, trimmed
- 1tablespoon green peppercorns, in brine
- 2cups shaved cauliflower “pebbles”
- 1large shallot, finely minced
- 1cup chicken broth or stock
- ¼- ½ cup dry sherry or dry vermouth
- Splash of sherry vinegar
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
146 calories; 3 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 15 grams protein; 687 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Split and trim the duck breasts to yield 4 individual breasts. Some people remove the “tenders,” as there is a small span of unchewable silver skin within, but I just leave them intact and deal with it when eating, like the fat or gristle in any steak or chop. It’s just part of the deal.
- Step 2
Season the duck with salt and pepper generously on both skin and flesh sides, then place breasts skin-side down in an extra-large heavy-bottomed steel pan.
- Step 3
Set the pan over medium-low heat, and gently cook the duck breasts 20 to 25 minutes, skin-side down the whole time, pouring off the rendering duck fat many times along the way so that the duck does not poach or steam in its own fat. Save all of that duck fat.
- Step 4
In the meantime, split the endive heads in half lengthwise, and remove any limp outer leaves. Crush the green peppercorns with the flat side of your chef’s knife, then mince the crushed peppercorns further, sometimes dragging the mince under the flat side of your knife to make it into a paste, as you might with a clove of garlic.
- Step 5
When the duck skin is dark golden brown and crisp and most of the white fat has rendered out, turn the breast flesh-side down. Increase heat to medium-high (you want to get a true sear and not a gray “steam”), and sear for 2 to 4 minutes, or until the flesh is golden brown. Remove the duck breasts from the pan, and set them aside in a warm place.
- Step 6
Add a nice spoonful of the rendered duck fat back into the hot pan, and lay in the endive halves, cut-side down. Cook until you get a dark golden sear on the cut sides of the endive, about 3 minutes. Turn the endives over onto their rounded backs, and add the cauliflower, shallot and peppercorn paste to the pan.
- Step 7
Add back in another nice spoonful of the rendered duck fat, and stir together as best as you can without disturbing the endive. You can move it to the side and give yourself some room for stirring and cooking the cauliflower. You want to make sure the cauliflower and the shallots have contact with the fond (the fat, salt and pepper that have been left behind from the cooking of the duck breasts) in the pan.
- Step 8
Add the chicken stock and the sherry or vermouth, and partly cover the pan to simmer the vegetables until soft and cooked, about 4 minutes. The liquid will be absorbed, the high note of the alcohol will burn off and a loose sauce will remain when finished cooking.
- Step 9
Season the vegetables with salt and pepper as needed, and drizzle some more of the rendered duck fat over the whole deal if that moves you, as it does me.
- Step 10
Slice the duck breasts across at a slight bias, approximately the thickness of your pinkie, and serve each with endive and cauliflower. Sprinkle a few drops of sherry vinegar over each serving to finish.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Jack
What are shaved cauliflower pebbles?
Minda
steel or cast iron pan - or does it matter?
Randy
As she states in the accompanying article, scoring the fat is OPTIONAL. You will get much better fat rendering if you do score the skin in a 3/4 inch diamond pattern. Be very careful to NOT score all the way down to the meat. The skin & fat layer on duck breasts of this size is typically about 3/8 inch thick...so you want to score it only about 1/4 inch deep so you leave a 1/8 inch layer protecting the meat. Before scoring, the skin should be cold and dry and the knife must be VERY sharp.
Walter
I can't help but believe that this would be wonderful way to deal with these pesky Canada geese that abound around here, too. Thanx.
EB
Use a grater (large hole) to grate the cauliflower to pebbles.
Peanuts
God, I love your writing. I haven't tried the recipe yet but just reading your writeup of it is a great pleasure.
Alex
I have found using a cold cast skillet renders duck breasts perfectly. Place ducks on skillet cold, warm to med and cook the skin as you would bacon. I typically finish on the meat side for a minute or two. Do not cook ducks anything past medium.
Walter
Learned to cook duck breast in France. My butcher sells them separetely, thank goodness. Just beat them with a heavy knife, score them lightly, put them skin down in a heavy pan, turn over after six minutes, six minutes on the other side, let them rest six to ten minutes. Serve with a savoury or sweet sauce, some celeriac puree simple potato puree, some vegetable in season: asparagus, or even stewed mandarin slices. Which is to say: the attached recipe is far too fussy and time consuming.
Boxplayer
However, my favorite way to prepare a duck breast is in a slow cooker, done as confit (covered with and slowly simmered on low for several hours in duck fat). If you don't have enough, lard will do. And you can also use duck fat to do confit potatoes in the oven. Same idea -- cover very thick slices in fat, cook slowly at 250 for about an hour, then 15 minutes at 450. And it's an amazing way to cook sweet potatoes, too!
Carla
I would think a cast iron pan would be ideal for this purpose. Any reason why not?
PeppaD.
use a utility knife (box-cutter) to score the skin. It takes no time at all, and they are always very sharp.
Suzanne Douglass
Cooking for two, used one moulard magret, followed the recipe and the duck was perfectly cooked. To reproduce the "pebbles" shown in the photo, "shaved" the cauliflower head with a knife. Roasted the remaining head (sans heavy core) with a Yukon Gold potato for 40 mins. at 375 (both cut up and tossed with EVOO). Pulsed them and a couple of garlic confit cloves in the food processor. No complaints about double servings of cauliflower! Endive was a nice touch.
Boxplayer
It helps to use a sharp knife to cut a criss-cross pattern into the skin before it goes into the pan -- fat renders faster and you get an attractive pattern as the edges brown a bit darker.
Miriam
Cook the breasts exactly as directed to render all the fat and they will be perfect. Turn your heat down if the breast skin is crisping up too fast. Letting the breasts sit while the veg cooked gave us plump and tender duck. We subbed sprouts and some radicchio for the endive because that was what we had and they worked well. I think you can be creative about what to pair the cauliflower and shallots with.
Eleanor
I used a smoked duck breast, skipped the cauliflower, and served it with an arugula salad. Everybody loved it.
Jules
I took inspiration from this recipe. I didn't have endive but had radicchio, which also has bitter notes. Subbed parsnips and turnips for cauliflower. Sublime, easy, colorful, romantic!
Kate
I love this recipe. I dried the skin with a hair dryer and scored it with a fresh blade in my lame; just dragged it over the skin. I find there's too much liquid in the pan at the end and will reduce the amount of broth to a half cup. Lusciously good!
Mary Buford
Have made it twice now, again to rave reviews. directions are long and involved, but the second time you get the hang of it. Next time will be courageous and score the skin to release more duck fat!
John Golden
This is one of those cheffy recipes that should only be had at the restaurant. It was tasty but not something I’d pay $45-$50 for at table
Lauren
During the time of Covid, I couldn’t find either Belgian endive or green peppercorns so I used radicchio and capers. Next time I’ll double the vegetables, especially the cauliflower. We made this for our monthly FT dinner with friends in CA. We plan the menu and then cook together over FT. It took Covid to get us started but we will continue our FT dinners until we are too old to cook!
NK
I think way too much liquid at the end to be absorbed. Would do half next time.
Suzanne Douglass
Cooking for two, used one moulard magret, followed the recipe and the duck was perfectly cooked. To reproduce the "pebbles" shown in the photo, "shaved" the cauliflower head with a knife. Roasted the remaining head (sans heavy core) with a Yukon Gold potato for 40 mins. at 375 (both cut up and tossed with EVOO). Pulsed them and a couple of garlic confit cloves in the food processor. No complaints about double servings of cauliflower! Endive was a nice touch.
Jake
Tried this method for the third time this week and I'm getting a little frustrated over my resulting rubbery skin...I understand the concept of scoring the fat and have had success when using a similair technique for pork belly but I'm thinking something is off about "medium-low" as a recommended temperature--has anyone had success cooking at a very low heat for longer? I really don't want to destroy another beautiful farmers market duck breast.
Walter
Learned to cook duck breast in France. My butcher sells them separetely, thank goodness. Just beat them with a heavy knife, score them lightly, put them skin down in a heavy pan, turn over after six minutes, six minutes on the other side, let them rest six to ten minutes. Serve with a savoury or sweet sauce, some celeriac puree simple potato puree, some vegetable in season: asparagus, or even stewed mandarin slices. Which is to say: the attached recipe is far too fussy and time consuming.
Brendan
The best way to make this French standard, magret frites, is to dry marinade them for two days in the fridge, with a chopped garlic/pepper/salt/bay leaf marinade and then roast them for ten minutes at 240; rest for ten minutes, serve with hot salted allumettes
Hayford Peirce
I hope you mean 240 degrees centigrade!
PeppaD.
use a utility knife (box-cutter) to score the skin. It takes no time at all, and they are always very sharp.
Roger Downey
I can’t help thinking that those “pebbles” are florets that have been rendered roundish by trimming their stalks. Grating would make them cook up into a purée. What does Chef say?
Carla
I would think a cast iron pan would be ideal for this purpose. Any reason why not?
m
Would be perfect
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