The Wild South

Ridiculously Simple and Delicious Duck

Breast fillets, salt, fruit, and cast-iron add up to one crowd-pleasing appetizer

A plate of roast duck

Photo: T. Edward Nickens

Crispy-skinned duck slices in a tart fruit sauce.

Duck, salt, and fruit. You will not believe how well they play together. This duck appetizer recipe is as easy as falling off a beaver-chewed swamp log, and it’s wowed fellow hunters, guides, and even unsuspecting dinner guests, from the Mississippi Delta to the Olympic Peninsula. A buddy of mine exported it to Argentina and told me that the lodge owners there were begging for the recipe. They were probably floored by just how simple it was.

biscuits
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It’s quick to prepare, inexpensive, requires kitchen gadgetry found in the most basic galleys, and demands the culinary skills of a third grader. The rendered duck fat mixes with the tart fruit preserves and pan fond to make a savory-sweet sauce that you’ll wish you didn’t have to share. And you can eat this with a toothpick or your fingers. In other words: It’s perfect.

Duck breasts sizzle in a skillet.
Duck breasts sizzle in a skillet.
photo: T. Edward Nickens
Sizzling duck breasts.

Ingredients

  • Duck Candy (Yield: About 4 to 8 appetizer servings)

    • Breast fillets from 2 to 4 ducks, plucked, with skin on

    • Coarse salt

    • 3 to 6 heaping tbsp. chunky, tart fruit preserves or chutney, such as blackberry or cherry


Preparation

  1. Using a sharp knife, score the skin side of the duck breasts in a crosshatch pattern. Salt the skin side of the breasts, a bit heavier than you think you should. Let sit for a half hour, then pat with paper towels.

  2. Place breasts skin down in a cold cast-iron skillet and bring to a sizzle over moderate to medium heat. You might toggle between settings, or slide the pan off the heat every now and then. The trick is to cook the breasts hot enough to get a crispy skin, but not so hot that they overcook before it’s ready. Depending on the duck species, this could be 3 minutes or 6. Lift the breasts every now and then for a look. A burger press helps to keep the breasts flat and in contact with the skillet.

  3. When the skin turns brown and crispy, turn the breasts and cook skin side up for 2 to 3 minutes. Then use tongs to stand the breasts up along the sides of the pan to get a good sear on the sides of the breasts. Remove from skillet.

  4. Add fruit preserves to the pan, and mix well with the rendered duck fat. Cook 2 minutes, scraping well to release the pan fond. 

  5. Slice breasts across the grain. Pour fruit mixture over the meat, and serve. 


T. Edward Nickens is a contributing editor for Garden & Gun and cohost of The Wild South podcast. He’s also an editor at large for Field & Stream and a contributing editor for Ducks Unlimited. He splits time between Raleigh and Morehead City, North Carolina, with one wife, two dogs, a part-time cat, eleven fly rods, three canoes, two powerboats, and an indeterminate number of duck and goose decoys. Follow @enickens on Instagram.


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