Duck is a common ingredient in this part of France so I've had some fun (and frustration) familiarizing myself with the different cooking methods for it's various parts.
It took me a few tries to get the magret de canard (duck breast) right (seemed like it was always undercooked) but now that I've gotten the hang of it, we enjoy this rich, juicy, delicious meat a couple of times a month. If you've never tried magret de canard, I highly recommend it!



Magret de Canard With Apples and Honey
serves 2

3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
3 tablespoons honey
2 Golden Delicious apples or other cooking apples (I used little, local cooking apples)
½ cup white wine + 1/4 cup for deglazing
1 cup chicken stock or duck stock
2 tablespoons butter
1 large duck breast, about 14 ounces
Salt and white pepper
fresh parsley or thyme

Keep going for the rest of the recipe...


For the Sauce: Peel, core and slice one apple.
In a medium saucepan on a low heat, boil vinegar and honey and cook for about 5 minutes until it caramelizes.
Add the sliced apple, and deglaze with white wine, stirring with a wooden spatula and reducing the liquid by cooking for about two minutes.
Add the stock and cook on low heat for 15 minutes
Season to taste with salt and pepper.

For the Duck: Make crosswise cuts into the fat side of the breast, making sure not to cut into the meat.
Season with salt and pepper and heat up a dry frying pan over medium-high heat and sear the duck breast, fat side down for just a minute.
Lower the heat and cook for several minutes to render the fat, being careful not to burn it.
Pour the fat off. Save it for cooking with!
Turn meat over and cook gently until the breasts are tender. Peking duck breast are only about 6 ounces so will take about 7 minutes to cook medium rare. Mallard or Barbary duck breasts weigh somewhere between 12 to 16 ounces each so will cook in about 20 minutes.
Remove the breasts from the pan and tent with foil to keep warm.
Peel, core and cut the other apple in 6 slices.
Place in the pan with the duck fat and cook the apples until golden brown and reserve.
Pour excess fat from the pan, deglaze with the 1/4 cup white wine by scraping the bottom of the pan to dissolve the duck juices and strain this into the apple sauce.

To Finish the Apple Sauce: Away from the heat, stir in the cold butter until completely melted.
Strain and press on the apples to extract all the juice.

To Serve: Slice the breast diagonally with a sharp knife and divide between two plates, shaping them like a fan.
Arrange with apples and drizzle the honey apple sauce over the apples.
Garnish with fresh parsley or thyme.