So a while back I bought a Sansaire Sous Vide. I am in love with it. Perfectly cooked eggs and fish and even more awesome: duck breast.
To get the fat to render and the skin to crisp up, you need to score the skin and fat with a sharp knife in a criss-cross pattern. Be careful not cut into the meat
Place 3 of 4 sprigs of thyme on each side (skin and meat)
Once sealed, form the breast with your hands to make the skin side as flat as possible; this will help after it’s cooked to crisp the skin and render out some of the fat.
Place duck breast into the preheated water and cook for at least 45 minutes or up to 4 hours (I do about an hour)
Remove and let the breast from the bag, discard the herbs, and pat dry with paper towels. Sear skin/fat side down in a medium cast iron skillet until most of the fat has rendered and the skin is crispy (about 3 minutes) Keep the temp low-ish since we just want to render the fat and crisp the skin, not cook the meat. remove the breast and crank the heat. Once the rendered duck fat is good and hot, sear meat side down for 90 seconds. Rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Duck Breast Sous Vide
Perfect Duck Breast
Ingredients
1 ~1lb Duck Breast
6-8 sprigs of thyme
salt
pepper
Instructions
Set your sous vide to 128f for very rare up to 135f for more medium well.
Dry the duck breast with paper towels.
With a sharp knife score the fat of the duck breasts in a criss-cross pattern. Be careful not cut into the meat.
Salt both sides of the breast.
Pepper the meat side only (not the skin/fat side).
Place 3 of 4 sprigs of thyme on each side (skin and meat).
Place the duck breast in a vacuum bag and seal.
Once sealed, form the breast with your hands to make the skin side as flat as possible; this will help after it's cooked to crisp the skin and render out some of the fat.
Place duck breast into the preheated water and cook for at least 45 minutes or up to 4 hours (I do about an hour).
Remove the duck breast from the water and remove it from the bag. Save the bag juice to add to any sauce you want to make.
Dry the breast with paper towels and remove the herbs.
Preheat a flat bottom pan to medium heat
Place the breast in the pan skin side down and cook on medium heat until most of the fat is rendered and the skin is crisp.
Remove the breast from the pan and increase the heat to medium high.
Flip and cook the meat side for 90 seconds or just until it browns.
Remove and let the breast rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
Don't forget to save the duck fat!