18 December 2018

Magret de canard aux mogettes (et aux navets)



This is a duck breast filet (un magret de canard) that I roasted in a pan in a hot oven. In other seasons, Walt would cook this morsel on the barbecue grill. Whether you plan to roast it in the oven or on the grill, the first thing to do is to score the duck breast's skin and fat using a sharp knife.

The term magret is related to the French word maigre, meaning lean or meager, because the duck breast is less fatty than other parts of the duck. Still, the magret is the breast of a duck that has been fattened to produce foie gras, which is a holiday treat in France.
First I heated up a heavy pan in a very hot oven, and then I put the magret in the pan skin-side down so that the skin would be seared. I slid the pan back into the hot oven. At high heat, the magret cooked in about 10 minutes. Then I took it out of the oven, put the meat on a platter, and covered it with aluminum foil and a kitchen towel to let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes. That way, it continued cooking, but slowly. Magret de canard is good cooked rare or medium-rare.
Letting the meat rest once it comes out of the oven allows residual heat to spread from the outside toward the inside of the roast, so it will be evenly cooked through and the outside won't be burned.

To accompany the magret, I heated up some big white beans called mogettes, which are grown in the coastal Vendée area where we spent a week back in October. The beans were put up in a jar and we bought them at the supermarket here in Saint-Aignan. Beans, water, and some salt — that's all there was in the jar.
Beans, white or green, are a classic accompaniment for duck. I also had a few already-cooked Italian flat green beans in the fridge, so I cut those up and added them to the mix. And I had some left-over sauteed turnips in the fridge too. Turnips are another classic side dish to have with duck, so I added those. As you can see, the duck was cooked fairly rare — medium-rare, anyway — and was very juicy. Searing the skin, which covers a generous layer of fat, produces a lot of melted graisse de canard, which is perfect for seasoning beans and other vegetables (including potatoes). Besides duck fat, all I needed to add was a grinding of black pepper.

10 comments:

  1. So... did you use some kind of carbonated water for the beans? Isn't that what you decided was best? Or was it the opposite?

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    1. These were cooked beans from a jar (like from a can). All I had to do was heat them up. I've decided that the best water to cook dried beans in is either mineral water (not bubbly) or distilled water. But this was easier — just heat up beans out of a can/jar.

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  2. The duck looks very good. I have been cooking duck breast for many years, either on the grill or in a pan on the stove, but never in the oven. Maybe I should try that. I assume you set the oven very high; at least 450, or maybe even higher.

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    1. I cooked it at a little higher than 450, but then the fat in the bottom of the pan started to brown. So I just took it out of the oven and let the duck breast rest at that point. The fat wasn't burned, just browned a little, so it was good for seasoning the beans.

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  3. That duck looks cooked to perfection! I'm guessing this is not a common item in US supermarkets, although I love it.

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    1. It's pretty hard to get in US supermarkets. There is one near us that for several years was stocking them every week from D'Artagnan, and at a very reasonable price. Then they suddenly stopped a couple of years ago. Now I order them directly from D'Artagnan, usually when they're on sale. But even then they cost a lot more than I used to pay. When we're in France, they're everywhere; supermarkets, butcher shops, and outdoor markets.

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    2. Thanks very much for this info Bob! I'll check out D'Artagnan.

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    3. Here's the web site: https://www.dartagnan.com/
      They have frequent sales (I just bought duck breasts last week at 30% off), and it also makes sense to buy larger quantities because the shipping cost is the same for a certain number of items.

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  4. Maybe I'll make that for Tony's birthday; he loves duck. A local cafe serves duck breast, so it must be available nearby. We're lucky to live in a place where you can get almost anything you want.

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    1. I imagine Draeger's or Andronico's (assuming they are still in business) will have duck breast in stock. Hope Tony enjoys his birthday.

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