Q's : Cooking Maple Lacquered Duck Breast Recipe For a Thanksgiving Crowd

Stopped cooking whole turkey in my family, since I never quite liked whole turkeys and it's my house! Making two of the Torrisi Turkey Breasts (recipe handled, thankfully), but also making 8 large duck breasts (size : think about 2 servings per duck breast) using the Maple Lacquered Duck Breast recipe from here. I've never cooked that many duck breasts before. What would your technique be? I have two large-ish lodge cast iron pans, as well as some le cruesets and various other types of pans.

1. Can I do all the stove top work in shifts, and let batch one of the duck rest while finishing batch two, and then put them all in the oven at the same time?

2. Can the stove top part of the recipe be done earlier in the day (think 2pm), and then the final 5/10 minutes where the oven is used for the lacquer be done before serving family style (think 7pm). I wanted to use the duck fat for some of the veg I'm roasting, but I don't know how my duck will be if I cook it completely earlier in the day.

Thanks! And Happy Thanksgiving :)

E
  • Posted by: E
  • November 23, 2016
  • 2487 views
  • 1 Comment

1 Comment

Kristen M.
Kristen M. November 23, 2016
Hi E! Great dinner you've got there. I think I would brown and render them simultaneously in as many heavy pans as you can fit on your stovetop, and hold them fully cooked in a low oven (or tented with foil at room temp for a shorter period). Then lacquer closer to dinner. Smart to put the fat to use!
 
Recommended by Food52

Popular on Food52