Crispy Grilled Duck Breast & Duck Fat Fried Green Beans

This episode of the #FOGOlife is a collaboration with DUCKCHAR who sent us a couple of their duck breast to try out. To be honest I hadn’t grilled duck breast before I didn't know what to expect. DUCKCHAR  told me to cook the Moulard duck breast like a NY Strip steak - medium rare - and that's what I did. I put some Green beans in a tray under the duck breast so that they would cook in the duck fat, and that didn't disappoint...we ended up with green bean duck fat fries!

We love to work with another small business, the story of DUCKCHAR is very cool! They are bringing a special type of breed of duck, the Moulard duck, which is pretty much unknown in the US. The characteristics of the duck breast of Moulard duck are very similar to steak - it has a deep and red color very similar to steak, the size of a steak and it actually looks like a NY Strip with 16-18 ounces. It cooks like a steak and has a very similar texture. They say it's a duck at its best, and it really was awesome. Check out their website to find out more about this cool company duckchar.com.

I had a family gathering the week after I shot this video. I loved the results of this recipe, that replicated the same food I did on this video - fried green beans on duck fat included! It was a hit. My father-in-law who loves a good piece of steak, could not believe that this was actually duck!

Video Recipe

Directions

1. Light your FOGO. For this cook, I’m using our black bag FOGO Premium Charcoal, as the medium-sized pieces of this bag work perfectly in smaller grills and they will also get hot - nice and fast for the sear later.
2. The duck breast has a fat cap on it, so to make sure that the fat renders as much as possible to get it nice and crispy, score the fat cap carefully, trying not to cut all the way into the meat. Then season generously with salt and pepper on both sides.
3. Place the green beans in a drip tray underneath the duck breasts. This will allow the juices and fat to render from the duck and make crispy fried green beans while its been smoked low and slow. Add some cherry tomatoes to the top tray with the duck breasts.
4. Reverse-sear the duck breasts by smoking them low and slow at a grill temperature of 225 degrees. Once the duck breast hits 115 degrees internal temperature, take the tray including the green beans off the grill and get your grill ready for searing. Set the vegetables aside.
5. Sear the duck breasts. When searing the duck breast, be careful and watch out for flare-ups so that you don’t get burned. Also, don’t burn the duck breast - keep flipping it and moving it to a cooler indirect grate for the flames to settle down a bit and then you can continue searing it some more. If you have a ceramic grill, make sure to burp it, but still, watch out for the fireball. Always be cautious when handling the fire and the grill!

Share your photos and tag us #fogocharcoal if you do this recipe, would love to see them! If you have any suggestions or comments, sound off below! Thanks for watching!