The Duck Breast

Surprisingly, duck isn't such a common meat in Singapore, especially for home cooking. Apart from the usual braised or roasted duck you find at hawker centres, or the Peking duck at Chinese restaurants, the next place you'll find it will be at French restaurants (which can be extremely pricey). Singaporeans hardly ever prepare duck at home. I have to admit that duck is quite a fair bit more expensive than chicken, harder to source and even harder to perfect.

One of my favourite cuts of meat is the duck breast. If done well, it'll be tender like a good beef tenderloin cut. You'll need lots of control and practice to get it cooked well and remain pink in the middle when you slice it. I have been cooking duck breasts for quite a while but never thought of marinating them before cooking, at least till yesterday. Marinating the duck breast gives it a lot of flavour, and with the right combination, the marinade will subdue the strong gamey flavour you usually find in duck. Here's the recipe I tried for a very French flavour, it's a good balance and I absolutely loved it. A great dish to whip up to impress your date, if you have one. 

Marinade:

1. 4 cloves of garlic, chopped

2. 1/2 red onion, chopped

3. 1 tablespoon of chopped candied orange peel

4. 1 tablespoon of roasted black peppercorns, freshly ground

5. 5 tablespoons of ketchup

6. 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce 

7. 1/2 tablespoon of sweet paprika

8. 1/2 tablespoon of honey

9. A pinch of salt to taste

10. A lug of olive oil

Other ingredients:

1. Duck breast

2. An orange

3. Some good vodka

4. Ground nutmeg and cinnamon

5. More honey 

6. Butter, unsalted

Steps: 

1. Mix the ingredients to create the marinade, and loosen with more olive oil as needed

2. Prepare the duck breast by removing the sinews. The duck breast should be between 200g to 250g

3. Rub the marinade all over and put in a ziplock bag. Keep in the fridge overnight. You can marinade a couple of days ahead for even better flavour. 

4. Remove the duck breast from the fridge about 20min before cooking. You need the meat to be at room temperature. Don't throw the marinade away. 

5. Use some kitchen towel to clean the skin of the duck breast of marinade. You won't want the marinade to burn and char on the pan. Score the skin in a criss-cross manner and be careful not to make the incisions too deep such that you're cutting into the meat

6. Pre-heat the oven to 210ºC. Heat up an oven-proof pan over medium-high heat

7. To the dry pan, lay the duck breast skin-side down. Allow the fat to render in the hot pan for about seven minutes. 

8. Flip the duck breast over and let it brown lightly for a minute on the meat side. 

9. Send the whole pan into the hot oven and let the duck breast continue cooking for another 6 minutes in the oven

10. While the breast is in the oven, mix the vodka, honey, nutmeg and cinnamon in a bowl. Add orange sections to the mix and let it sit. 

11. In another pan, heat up the remaining marinade and add a splash of vodka and orange juice. Take it off the heat, add a small knob of butter to make the sauce glossy. Mix well and strain. 

12. Remove the breast from the oven, and let it rest for 5 min. Slice into 2cm thick slices. 

13. Plate up the sliced breast. Add some sauce to the base of the plate first, followed by the 2-3 slices of duck breast (depending on how thickly you've sliced it) and orange sections. 

14. Enjoy a well-cooked and flavourful restaurant-worthy duck dish. 

p.s. you can try a marinade with a fermented bean curd and hoisin sauce base for a Chinese twist. 

More than just the ingredients.

I have an incredible passion for whipping up meals after meals for myself and my friends and spending hours in the kitchen. I've spent enough time trying out new recipes, coming up with my own improvisations to find the flavour that I am chasing after for a particular dish. I don't stay at home for the bulk of the week and most of my breakfasts and dinners are prepared by the caterer in University Town. It's my third semester here, and I am still dissatisfied with what I have been fed, both the quality and the price. Or rather, for the price paid, the quality could have been heaps better.

It is hard to part with $800 for the meals for one semester, especially when I know I could do it better at the same cost, easily. But, what is wrong with the meals? Is it the quality of the ingredients? No. I would say that Compass has got some great stuff waiting to be prepared. They have reasonable quality control over the ingredients they use for the meals. Yet, I can easily give you ten reasons why I don't like what they are serving me. What is really lacking is the taste, which is controlled by the 'chef' preparing the meals. I understand that it is tough preparing meals for 1200 hungry university staff and students, but it is not as though we are not paying. With a bit more patience in the kitchen, a little more effort in tasting every single tray that gets pushed out to the servers, and I'm sure you'll be winning people over. It is pointless to think of themed dinners when the non-themed dinners and breakfasts have barely met the standard.

Take today's dinner for example. I'm not sure if I chose the wrong stall, but it's bad anyway. I had Spanish baked rice for dinner. The rice was baked with cheese on top, it came with a few pieces of squid, mussels, fish, and broccoli. The whole dish was drizzled with a tomato and a white (cheese?) sauce. In my mind, I expected paella or something that is really baked properly. I checked the white sauce and the taste was funky with an odd consistency and colour. The tomato sauce was decent, could have been a wee bit more robust. Rice was clumpy and the cheese was only at the top. The dish lacked punch. Not enough cheese (could have been mixed into the rice) and the flavours not quite right, even though the ingredients on their own were alright. Baked rice should smell good and the whole kitchen should be filled with a very fragrant smell of baked cheese, and each rice grain can be separated from the next, yet coated with the tomato paste and has tones of sweetness from the seafood. The whole dish should be baked in on huge tray and served as it is.

I am generally not a picky eater, apart from the occasional complaints about really odd-tasting food. But, this caterer has got me complaining more than I have ever did about food.

Buck up, or don't make the meal plan compulsory.