Duck breast is one of our signature products at D’Artagnan, and a perennial favorite. We often get the question: how should duck breast be cooked? If you can cook a steak, you can sear a duck breast. Read on for the easy how-to and some tips.

The Dawning of the Age of Duck Breast

When Ariane Daguin founded the company in 1985, she was uniquely qualified because she grew up with a famous chef father in Gascony, a region of Southwest France known as duck country. She missed eating duck after settling in the United States and jumped at the chance to establish D’Artagnan as the first company to market fresh foie gras from the moulard ducks she knew so well, along all the other tasty parts of the duck – including the meaty breast.

Decades ago, her father, Chef André Daguin, was the kitchen pioneer who first seared the duck breast – known as magret in French – and served it rare, like a steak. Today there are countless restaurants around the world serving his pan-seared magret (check the menu the next time you eat out).

Quick and Easy Duck Breast Dinner

Searing duck breast is easy enough for a weeknight meal, and elegant enough to serve when guests come over. The first step is to choose your duck breast. We offer four types of duck breast as you can see in this graphic:

Our exclusive Rohan™ duckling is very popular with chefs and is great for first-timers because the flavor is not as intense as the moulard duck, and there is less fat on the breast. Speaking of duck fat, be sure to save what renders out as you cook. Duck fat is glorious – our preferred cooking fat – and we’ve discussed its merits and uses here.

3 Easy Steps to Perfect Seared Duck Breast

Whichever duck breast you prefer, the process is the same. Timing will depend on the size of the breast you are cooking, of course.

Here is our downloadable PDF Duck Breast 101, a guide to choosing and cooking the best duck breast for your needs.

Ariane demonstrates the cold pan, slow-heat fat rendering version of the classic duck breast recipe in this short video for Saveur.

Now you’re ready to cook duck breast! Choose the type you want at dartagnan.com – and note that we also offer smoked duck breast and dry-cured duck breast. Both make great additions to a charcuterie platter and very ducky snacks.

Explore our duck recipes for more ideas and inspiration. And please share your duck creations with us on social media.