Five Fantastic Sous-Vide Duck Recipes

If you fancy trying out one of the more high-tech cooking methods out there, why not check out sous-vide cooking?

Championed by the likes of Heston Blumenthal, sous-vide basically involves sealing the ingredients in a vacuum pack, and cooking it for a long period of time in a water bath, at a consistent (and usually quite low) temperature.

This results in a much more tender meat, evenly cooked right through, and the method is starting to creep into home kitchens as well as those of the professionals.

This is in no small part due to companies such as Sous Vide Tools providing all the necessary equipment, and we've decided to take a look at five of their best duck based sous-vide recipes to give you a flavour of what is possible with this method.

Duck breast with celeriac choucroute, bulgur wheat and cherries
This recipe is taken from Icelandic Michelin star chef Agnar Sverrisson. The duck breast is cooked sous-vide at 62°C, along with a mixture of bulgur wheat and herbs and a celeriac choucroute (similar to a sauerkraut).

The dish is finished off with crispy duck skin which can be cooked using a plancha (an extremely hot metal plate which cooks food very rapidly) and a heavy weight to keep it flat.

Of course, if you don't have a plancha you can always use a large flat frying pan to achieve a similar result, or alternatively, roast the skin in the oven in-between two trays.

The result is a perfectly tender duck breast, the richness of which is balanced out by the sweet and sour choucroute and the bulgur wheat and cherries.

Sous-vide wild duck, apple, foie gras and smoked eel

This recipe from chef Laurie Gear is on the slightly flashier end of the scale, but the results are just as tasty!

The duck breasts are roasted for 30-40 minutes before being cooked sous-vide 25 minutes at 60°C.

They are served with a foie gras yoghurt, smoked eel, and a duck sauce. It's one of the more complex recipes but if you can pull it off, you'll blow your guests away!

To make it a tiny bit easier, while the recipe specifies wild duck, you can use any type of duck that suits you.

Confit duck
Thinking for an alternative to your usual Sunday roast or even Christmas dinner? Why not try this confit duck recipe?

The duck leg is cured the old fashioned way and then slowly cooked in a water bath cooker at 63.5°C for as long as 24-48 hours.

One of the great things about this long cooking time is that it allows you to crack on with the rest of the preparation in the knowledge that your duck will come out perfectly cooked.

Foie gras with mushroom duxelle

After something a little different to use as a starter? How about this foie gras recipe from Colin McGurran?

The fois gras is sealed in a vacuum pack and cooked in a sous-vide water bath at 50°C for 25 minutes.

It is then sautéed in a very hot frying pan to finish. This is common with sous-vide recipes as the method doesn't give the crispy finish on the outside of meat that you'd be used to, so it can look a little strange when it comes out looking a little pink, but be rest assured it is fully cooked.

The result is a wonderfully tender piece of foie gras with a delicate centre and caramelised exterior, finished off with pickled onions, mushroom duxelle and an Amaretto jelly.

Sous-vide duck eggs and Peking-style duck leg, spring onion purée and pancake crumb

This recipe from chef Ollie Moore takes a classic Peking duck, and brings it bang up to date in the 21st century, making great use of the sous-vide method.

The duck eggs are cooked sous-vide at 64°C for 70 minutes, resulting in a great creamy texture, finished off with silky spring onion purée.

So now you've seen what sous-vide can do, how about giving it a go for yourself? Once you taste the results you'll wonder how you ever lived without it!