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Seared Duck Breasts with Cherry-Port Sauce

Duck breast has a fairly thick, fatty skin. When the breast is seared, some of the fat melts away, flavoring the meat in the process, and the skin turns a lovely golden brown. To accomplish this, place the breast, skin side down, in the pan to start, as this speeds up the fat-melting process without overcooking the breast. Accompany with our Roasted Duck Fat Potatoes (see related recipe at left).

By williamssonoma · From Open Recipes · 8 ingredients
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Seared Duck Breasts with Cherry-Port Sauce

Why it works: Pepper and shallot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,898 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Seared Duck Breasts with Cherry-Port Sauce

Serves 4.

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

704Calories
52 gProtein
44 gFat
25 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Duck100g cooked with skin337
Chicken100g cooked165
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Cherry1 cup (138g)87
Shallot1 tbsp minced (10g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By williamssonoma. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pepper + shallottop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  3. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  4. Shallot + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Chicken + shallottop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together731 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Onionfits better
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.