Pan Fried Duck Breast Recipe with Berry Apple Compote

A romantic meal made for the woods

The deep silence of the woods, with nothing but the whispering of the rustling leaves around. The wind, whistling through the openings between the trees, playing its gentle flute-like melody with nothing but nature’s instruments. Your boots, crushing fallen foliage and bits of dried up earth, little stones and pebbles, and the bones of long-ago calcified forest creatures. 

This is the music of the forest, the sounds I live for, for which I make my way into the woods every fall. 

My love for the forest and for foraging is no secret, but what I haven’t written about before is my love of rustic cabin retreats - and of course, the campfire recipes and cast iron skillet recipes that come with them!

For me, half the reason for living in Canada is the ease of stepping out into the forest and bridging that gap between the wild and the urbane. I love how much space there is to roam here, to discover, to feel like a true pioneer of the true North, strong and free. 

But as you can imagine, what I love most about it all is the chance to cook some hearty cabin food!

During my last outing to a cabin in December, I came up with this dish: Pan seared duck breast with berry apple compote. It’s a gorgeous pairing of wild, gamey duck, cooked the old-fashioned way, and some sweet homemade Cosmic Crisp Apple compote. 

Why use a cast-iron pan for making pan-seared duck?

For best results when making your pan-fried duck breast, you will need to reach for your cast iron pan. 

If you are a cast iron aficionado, you already know what a truly versatile instrument it can be for your kitchen (I love using mine for cast iron pan salmon, and the perfect syrniki. It's also great for pan frying tofu and pan frying halloumi cheese). 

And if you haven't worked with one before, there is no reason to be intimidated and many reasons to incorporate it into your cooking style. 

From one, it is a natural non-stick pan made to withstand scratching and has a much better heat retention capacity. 

As a bonus, overheating a cast iron skillet does not come with the same dangers as other pans that can release toxic chemicals into the air. On the contrary, it adds an extra dose of iron to your food.

When to serve pan seared duck breast with berry apple compote?

Naturally, you want to make this beautiful pan seared duck breast with berry apple compote for valentine's day dinner.

The colours alone - the deep red and purple apple compote - are a clear association of passion, sensuality and desire. And to get the duck breast just right, you need to cook it on a cast iron skillet slowly and patiently… similar to the process of letting love grow! 

If you are thinking that I am getting a bit sentimental, you might be absolutely right. 

But I am a recovering Valentine’s Day hater, who has recently discovered the joy of embracing the beauty of this day. 

A perfect Valentine’s Day Dinner Recipe

They say couples who cook together, stay together and that might be at the core of why a romantic dinner at home is a preferred way to celebrate Valentine’s Day for so many. 

But I would also add that the act of cooking for that special someone you love is even better. 

While I am a firm believer that you don’t need a special occasion to celebrate love, there is something very fitting about the presentation and ingredients of this dish for Valentine’s Day dinner. 

For the best Valentine's Day presentation, the pan seared duck breast can be sliced thinly and arranged on a cutting board in the shape of a heart, with an apple kale slaw piled to the side and the beautiful red apple sauce drizzled on the top. Making heart shapes with your Cosmic Crisp apple compote is optional but recommended!

Ingredient Spotlight: Cosmic Crisp Apples

The secret to getting just the right balance of sweetness and tartness in this apple compote is using the right apple - and that is the Cosmic Crisp apple.

Any apple that gets my toddler son excited about eating fruit gets 5* stars in my book. 

And while being toddler-approved is a definite bonus, Cosmic Crisp apples also have 20 years of research and study by Washington State University to support their claim as the world’s “most perfect” apple. 

In my countless cooking and baking experiments with apples as a key ingredient, I have found Cosmic Crisp to be true to the “crisp” part of its name with a balanced sweetness that favours lots of dishes. 

These two attributes, together with their naturally attractive red skin, lend a rich and luxurious texture to the compote.

The secret to cooking your duck breast in a cast iron skillet is to do it long and slow on one side (about 15 minutes) and then use the flash-frying method on the other side for 1-6 minutes depending on whether you like your meat medium-rare or well done.

You start by laying the duck skin-side down in a cold pan, no need to add any oil. This will render much of the fat naturally (use them for duck fat potatoes). Take care to cook in on low heat - high heat will overcook the outside while keeping the inside raw and tough.

The result? A beautiful and evenly seared, perfectly cooked duck breast, that is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, just as it should be! 

Always make sure to cook duck less than what you think it needs. It is also very important to rest your duck meat for about 5-10 minutes before slicing. Can you use a non-stick frying pan for cooking duck?

You can also use a non stick pan for quick pan fried duck breast, but it will miss something of the flavor.

Score the duck breast

Using a sharp knife, score duck breasts into a crosshatch pattern (deep scoring will result in more rendered duck fat; score less, and you will preserve more of the skin intact).

Season the duck

Season both sides with salt and black pepper, more heavily on the skin side.

Pan fry the duck

Place the duck breasts in a cold frying pan, breasts skin side down. This should expose the majority of the breast skin surface area to direct contact with the pan - ensure the skin is in direct contact with the pan by pressing the duck down with a spatula.

Set pan to medium-low heat and cook the duck until the skin is golden brown and most of the fat has been rendered. This means you want to leave the duck in for about 15 minutes (duck should register an internal temperature of 125F on a meat thermometer). Remove the remaining fat with a spoon. 

Turn duck to the other side

Flip the duck breast over to the other side and cook for 1-2 minutes for medium rare (130F), 3-4 minutes for medium (140F) and 5-6 for well done (155F). Overall, the duck needs about 16-20 minutes in the pan

You should be left with duck with crispy skin and tender, pink red meat inside. The brown skin is the best part!

Serve seared duck breast with apples

To serve duck with apples, remove the duck breast from the pan and place it directly on a plate or a serving board. Arrange the duck skin-side up: you want to show off that golden brown skin!

Storage and Making in Advance

You can store your pan seared duck breast in the fridge for 2-3 days and reheat when ready to eat, in the stove or oven. The berry apple compote is fine to keep in the refrigerator for 5 days as long as it is in a sealed container. 

Substitutions 

This pan-fried duck is gluten-free. It can be easily adapted to suit other dietary restrictions:

Vegan

Substitute duck for a nice, big chunk of pan-fried tofu. Just cook it the same way, but you can also soak your tofu in a rich marinade prior to frying it.

Vegetarian

Slices of smoked cheddar or smoked Gouda would also work beautifully in place of the dock.

Paleo and Whole 30

Omit the sugar from the berry apple compote. Use erythritol, xylitol or monk fruit sweetener instead.