Perfect Asian Meal for The Summer

Spicy Duck Breast with A Blackberry Recipe

You don’t have to go to a restaurant to have duck for dinner. Many home cooks leave duck cooking to the professionals, but once you know the technique, cooking a large Muscovy duck breast is no more difficult than cooking a steak.


The Muscovy duck is a large bird compared with the Peking, which is sometimes called Long Island duckling because of the many duck farms that once dotted that region.

Muscovy Duck Breast 

Peking is the bird widely sold in Chinese restaurant, typically roasted. Muscovy duck is what you get in high-end restaurants, sometimes with the moniker “magret de canard,” sliced and sauced. The breast fillets are large, often weighing up to a pound, enough for two or three servings.

Blackberry Sauce...A bit Sweet N Sour

They are relatively simple to prepare; trim them a bit and season to your taste. It’s best to do this in advance of cooking but if there’s time, I like to do it a day ahead to really allow the flavors to penetrate.

Fragrant Chinese five-spice powder — a heady mix of Sichuan pepper, fennel, clove, star anise and cinnamon — is the ideal seasoning. Both sweet and spicy, it complements the meat perfectly, even if the preparation is, like this one, in the French style. Make your own or buy it in an Asian market.

Sweet Green Spinach

A cast-iron skillet works well to sear and crisp the skin side of the breast. On the stove top, it will cook in 10 to 12 minutes. (Grill the duck if you prefer, but make sure to keep dripping fat from igniting and scorching the meat.)

After you flip the breast skin-side up, look for the same clue as when cooking a steak: When juices appear on the surface, the meat is medium rare. Use a thermometer to be sure; it would be a shame to overcook it. Muscovy breast meat is quite lean despite its fatty skin, so it is best cooked to medium rare or it will be dry.

For an accompaniment, consider Asian greens stir-fried quickly with ginger and garlic. I found beautiful sweet-potato greens at the market, but the dish is just as nice with uncooked arugula or watercress, lightly dressed.

Whether the meat is served warm, at room temperature or cold, it’s the fat, juicy blackberries that make this a brilliant summertime dish. Some go into the sweet-and-sour pan sauce, while others look gorgeous perched atop the rosy meat.  

 ENJOY trying out this dish.