Duck Breast with Hoisin & Figs
Yield
4
RECIPE Ingredients
- 1 Pekin Duck Breast, split
- 1/4 cup Shaoxing cooking wine
- 1 quart Duck and Veal Demi-Glace
- 1 stick of cinnamon
- 1 piece star anise
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 4 fresh figs
- 1 Duck Leg Confit, meat and fat shredded and combined
- 1 tablespoon scallions, thinly sliced on the bias
- 4 moo shu wrappers
- 2 scallion, green parts only, sliced lenghtwise into thirds and blanched
- Salt and pepper
Recipe notes
In this Chef Anita Lo recipe, seared duck breast is served with a beggar's purse of fresh figs stuffed with duck confit.
RECIPE Preparation
- To render the fat from the duck breasts, start by scoring the skin in a cross-hatch pattern to facilitate the melting of the fat. Be careful not to pierce the flesh as you score the skin. Season both sides of each breast with salt and pepper. Heat a sauté pan. When hot, add the duck breast skin side down and immediately turn the heat to the lowest setting. As fat accumulates, pour excess from the pan. You will need to degrease the pan several times before the fat is fully rendered. When the skin is light brown and shrunken, but the meat is still raw, remove the breasts to a rack, skin side up to cool.
- To make the sauce, bring the rice wine to a boil and reduce by two-thirds. Add the demi-glace, cinnamon and star anise. Reduce until thickened slightly. Season with Hoisin sauce, salt and pepper. Strain, taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
- To make the fig beggar’s purses: Blanch 1 scallion stalk, refresh in ice water, pat dry then shred into 4 long strings. Cut the tips off the figs and starting from the top, make 3 incisions two-thirds of the way down to the base of the fig to open the fig up like a flower. Mix the shredded confit meat and fat with the scallion and stuff each fig. Wrap in the Mu Shu crèpe and tie with the scallion string to form the purses. (To simplify, omit the crèpe wrapper).
- Just before serving, heat a pan, add oil and when smoking add the rendered breasts skin side down. Recrisp to a dark brown, turn and finish to desired doneness. Remove from heat and rest for 10 minutes and then carve lengthwise into thin slices. While the meat is resting, steam the beggar’s purses over boiling water.
- To serve, place 1 1/2 to 2 ounces of sauce on each plate, place a beggar’s purse off center and fan the duck breast next to it.
