The duck that you start out with is the most important factor. If you are using Moulard Duck breast, aka Magret (a hybrid breed used for Foie Gras), don't bother. They have super thick skin because they get so fat. In my experience this skin never gets totally crispy (like you can hear it when you eat it crispy). I would recommend using this kind of duck breast for a salt cured Duck Ham and not much else. The legs of Moulard, on the other hand, are a different story. If you can get past the idea of the occasional broken leg from the weight of the duck they make the best confit. When you salt cure Magret the skin melts in your mouth like lardo. If you want crispy skin, use Muscovy. It is way more expensive and the meat is thinner but the skin gets crispy much faster. Start with a cold duck breast (cryo freezing is effective but but not really worth the trouble) Score it with the knife at a 15 degree angle to the skin (so you don't pierce it too deeply) and control your heat. D'artagnan has a new breed called Rohan that is excellent as well, but I really like Muscovy.
The duck that you start out with is the most important factor. If you are using Moulard Duck breast, aka Magret (a hybrid breed used for Foie Gras), don't bother. They have super thick skin because they get so fat. In my experience this skin never gets totally crispy (like you can hear it when you eat it crispy). I would recommend using this kind of duck breast for a salt cured Duck Ham and not much else. The legs of Moulard, on the other hand, are a different story. If you can get past the idea of the occasional broken leg from the weight of the duck they make the best confit. When you salt cure Magret the skin melts in your mouth like lardo. If you want crispy skin, use Muscovy. It is way more expensive and the meat is thinner but the skin gets crispy much faster. Start with a cold duck breast (cryo freezing is effective but but not really worth the trouble) Score it with the knife at a 15 degree angle to the skin (so you don't pierce it too deeply) and control your heat. D'artagnan has a new breed called Rohan that is excellent as well, but I really like Muscovy.
Like when resting a steak it is proper to rest it on both sides as heat and steam travel upward. u want to have the steam rst toward the meat side of the duck since it cooked on the skin side much longer. So u get even heat distribution when cooking. Sinced u crisp up the skin with baking soda the skin will stay crisp while resting even tho some of the juice of the meat will run down since resting skin side down. The purpose of baking soda is so the skin stays crisp during the resting time and time it takes to get to the table. Not to acheive a real crisp skin but the skin will stay crisp longer through out the eating time giving the guest a crisp skin throughout the entire meal.
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