Duck breast

Magret de canard

What it is

A cut with a birth certificate: in 1959, chef André Daguin at the Hôtel de France in Auch first cooked a fattened duck’s breast rare, like a steak — scandal, then triumph. So particular is the magret that French law reserves the name for breasts of ducks raised for foie gras.

In the kitchen

Score the skin in a diamond pattern, start in a cold pan skin-down, and render patiently — most of the cooking happens on that side. Rose inside, mahogany outside.

Goes with

Honey Orange Cherry Fig Black pepper

Also used with

Armagnac

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us