Best Honey Duck Recipes

PEKING DUCK WITH HONEY AND FIVE-SPICE GLAZE

Steps:

• Combine honey, soy sauce, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes.
• In a large saucepan, bring 4 quarts water to a boil. Meanwhile, remove giblets and neck from duck cavity and discard (or reserve for another use). Cut off excess fat from cavity and neck area, then cut off tail. (This helps balance the duck vertically over the beer can.)
• Using your fingers, carefully separate the skin from the breast meat through the bottom of the breasts and work your fingers upward to separate the skin from the meat (be careful not to tear skin). Next, separate the skin from the backbone through the neck and working your way down until you reach the legs. (Scissors are helpful, but be careful to avoid piercing the skin.) Transfer duck to a rack set in the sink.
• Using a ladle or measuring cup, pour half of the boiling water evenly over top of the duck. Flip duck and pour the remaining water evenly all over second side. Tilt duck to drain all water from the cavity, then pat dry with paper towels.
• In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder with 1 teaspoon salt, the black pepper and 1 tablespoon of the glaze. Rub the mixture inside the cavity. Stand duck vertically by inserting beer can into cavity and place in a roasting pan or on a rimmed baking sheet.
• Using a pastry brush, brush the remaining glaze all over the duck and sprinkle evenly with remaining 2 teaspoons salt. Place duck in the refrigerator, uncovered, until the skin feels dry and leathery, 24 hours.
• Heat oven to 450 degrees with rack in bottom third of oven. Remove duck from refrigerator, and add 1 1/2 cups water to the pan. Wrap wing tips and tips of drumsticks with foil to prevent burning, then loosely tent duck with foil. Roast for 15 minutes. Decrease temperature to 350 degrees and roast, tented with foil, until skin is mahogany and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes more, adding more water to the pan if needed.
• Leaving duck on the can, transfer duck vertically to a cutting board and let rest for 15 minutes. Carve the crispy skin from the back and legs of the duck, and slice into strips.
• Carefully remove duck from the beer can and return to cutting board. Carve off the breasts and legs; thinly slice the breasts and shred dark meat.
• Carefully strain pan juices into a small bowl and pour off all the fat. In another small bowl, whisk together the hoisin, sesame oil and up to 1/4 cup of the pan juices to form sauce.
• To serve, spread 1 tablespoon prepared sauce on each tortilla. Top each with some scallions, cucumbers, duck meat and crispy skin. Roll up and enjoy warm.

DUCK WITH HONEY, SOY, AND GINGER

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Use a sharp knife to score across the duck breasts 4 times through the skin and fat but just barely to the meat. Rub the skin with salt, cayenne, and black pepper.
• Preheat an ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Lay the breasts in the skillet skin-side down and fry until the skin is brown and crisp, about 5 minutes. Use a spoon to carefully discard any excess fat from the bottom of the skillet. Turn the breasts over and cook for 1 minute.
• Place the skillet into the preheated oven and roast until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the breasts reach 160 degrees F (71 degrees C) for well done, or the breasts reach desired doneness.
• Remove the duck breasts from the skillet and cover with foil. Set aside to rest. Pour off excess fat from the skillet. Place the stock, honey, soy sauce, rice wine, ginger, tomato sauce, chili powder, and lime juice in the skillet. Whisk the sauce over high heat, bring to a boil and cook until the sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. Slice the duck breasts thinly, arrange on serving plates, and pour the sauce over the top.

SEARED DUCK BREAST WITH CHILI, HONEY & GINGER GLAZE

Steps:

• With the point of a knife, score the skin side of the breasts in crosshatch pattern, being careful not to pierce the flesh of the meat. Season the duck breasts with salt and pepper. Heat a sauté pan over medium heat for 1 minute before adding the breasts, skin side down. Cook skin side down over medium to low heat, for approximately 10 to 12 minutes to render the fat from the skin before turning the breasts over. When the duck has rendered its fat and the skin has taken on a crisp exterior quality turn the breasts over and sauté the flesh side for 3 to 4 minutes. Carefully remove the duck from the pan, place on a platter to keep warm and pour the excess fat safely into a heat proof container. (The reserved duck fat may be chilled and used for another cooking use.)
• While the duck is cooking (or even before you cook the duck), remove the chili pepper from the water in which it had soaked and reserve the liquid. Place the chili into a blender and begin to pureé, adding as much of the reserved liquid as necessary to create a smooth and thin paste-like texture. This chili paste may be refrigerated for a day covered with plastic wrap or pour a tablespoon of olive oil on its surface and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.
• After removing the duck breasts from the pan add the onion to still hot pan and return to the heat. Add a tablespoon or two of reserved duck fat. Sauté the onion briefly before adding the ginger and 2 tablespoons of the chili paste. Add the honey and port to the ginger chili, stir to combine and cook for one minute.
• The breasts have rested for several minutes and should now be medium rare. They can be sliced lengthwise or cross-wise and several slices placed on each plate. Drizzle the warm glaze over the duck or for more impact, brush some on the duck breasts before slicing, run the duck under a hot broiler for 1 minute, caramelize the glaze and then slice and drizzle. If you desire, drizzle some around the duck breasts on the serving dish.

BALSAMIC, ORANGE, HONEY, MAPLE SYRUP GLAZED DUCK

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 190c.
• Mix all the ingredients (except the duck!) together in a small saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Reserve 1/4 of the glaze.
• Sit the duck on a rack over a baking dish, baste and place in oven.
• Baste the duck every 10 minutes throughout the cooking process with remaining 3/4 of glaze.
• A 2kg duck should take about 1 hour 15 minutes to cook, but give one of his legs a pull, and if it moves freely and any juices run clear, your duck will be cooked.
• Place on a serving platter brush with reserved glaze and serve.
• Pass any remaining reserved glaze to be spooned over carved duck.

ROAST DUCK WITH BALSAMIC VINEGAR & HONEY GLAZE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Remove (thawed) duck from bag and rinse under cold water.
• Generously season duck cavity and skin with salt and pepper. Tie legs together with string.
• Roast duck, breast side up, for 20 minutes. Remove duck from oven.
• Rake skin numerous times with a sharp meat fork being careful not to pierce meat; return to oven. Continue to roast for 1 hour and 10 minutes. While roasting, frequently baste duck with juices from bottom of roasting pan.
• While duck is roasting, combine 10 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, honey and pepper in small saucepan. Over high heat, bring to a boil. Boil until mixture starts to thicken. Stir constantly until mixture is very thick and reduced to about 3 tablespoons. Remove from heat; add remaining balsamic and red wine vinegar. Keep warm until duck is cooked. (If glaze cools and becomes too thick, warm over low heat, stirring constantly.).
• When duck is cooked, remove from oven and dry skin with paper towels. Brush duck with a thick coat of warm glaze; place in oven for 1 minute. Remove from oven and serve immediately. Garnish with fresh herbs.

HONEY & SOY DUCK SALAD

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Score the skin of the duck breasts and season. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a high heat, add the duck, skin-side down, and cook for 4 mins or until the skin is crisp. Turn over and quickly brown the underside, then transfer to a baking tray.
• Mix the dressing ingredients together and spoon all but 2 tbsp of it over the duck. Roast the duck for 10 mins for pink, longer if you prefer. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 4 mins, then slice into strips. 3 Toss together the salad, tomatoes, spring onions and duck slices. Drizzle over the remaining dressing and serve.

HONEY ROASTED DUCK

Steps:

• For the DUCK: Score the skin of the duck breasts in a criss cross pattern with a very sharp knife. Season the duck breast generously with salt and the five spice and rub into the skin thoroughly.
• Place the duck breasts, skin-side down, on a dry ovenproof pan and cook over very low heat to render down most of the fat. This may take 8-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fat.
• Save some excess fat for the potatoes later.
• Now turn up the heat and fry until the skin is crisp. Turn the duck breasts over and cook the other side for another 3-4 minutes. Just before the duck is ready, drizzle the honey and soy sauce over. Toss and turn the duck in the honey and soy and cook until the liquid has reduced to a syrupy glaze. Transfer the duck to a warm plate and leave to rest for 5-10 minutes.
• Slice the duck lengthways and place on top. Drizzle any remaining pan juices over and finish with a small drizzle of the vinaigrette.
• For the POTATOES: use a large, sharp cook’s knife, chop the shallots and garlic into very fine dice. Place the shallots and garlic into a heavy-based saucepan with the extra virgin olive oil, a light sprinkling of salt, the sugar, herbs and a splash of water
• Set the pan over high heat. When the oil becomes hot, adjust the heat to a moderate setting, give the shallots and garlic a stir and cover the pan with a lid. Cook for 20-25 minutes, shaking the pan from time to time and stirring every 5 minutes, to stop the shallots and garlic sticking to the bottom. You should be left with a soft, sweet and lightly golden shallot mixture. Set aside.
• Cut the potatoes into 1 cm thick slices. Boil in salted water for 6 minutes until just tender. Drain well then pat dry between sheets of kitchen paper. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the potato slices and season with salt and pepper. Fry for about 3 minutes on each side until lightly golden.
• Add a tablespoon of the confit and sauté for another 1-2 minutes, tossing and turning the potatoes, until golden and crisp at the edges.

DUCK WITH HONEY

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Finely grind 2 teaspoons fresh or 1 teaspoon dried lavender blossoms, thyme, sea salt and peppercorns in spice grinder or with mortar and pestle. Remove fat deposits and giblets from duck cavity, reserving liver. Trim excess skin and fat from neck area. Rinse inside and out; pat dry. Cutting through skin and fat (but not flesh) of duck breasts, score in crisscross pattern. Rub inside and outside of duck with herb mixture; return duck liver to cavity.
• Place duck, breast up, on rack in roasting pan. Roast 2 hours. Remove from oven. Increase oven temperature to 375°F. Transfer duck to plate. Pour pan juices into 4-cup glass measuring cup; spoon off fat. Return juices and 1 tablespoon fat to pan. Add broth and wine. Return duck to pan. Brush with 2 tablespoons honey.
• Roast duck 20 minutes, basting once with pan juices. Brush with 2 tablespoons honey; sprinkle with 1 teaspoon fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried lavender. Roast duck until deep golden and thermometer inserted into innermost part of thigh registers 180°F, about 5 minutes longer.
• Transfer duck to platter. Remove liver; mash finely in small bowl. Spread liver over baguette slices. Add 1 teaspoon fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried lavender to roasting pan. Place over medium heat. Boil juices until thick enough to coat spoon, whisking often, 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl. Slice duck and serve with baguette slices and pan juices.

BALSAMIC, ORANGE, HONEY, MAPLE SYRUP GLAZED DUCK

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375f. Mix all the ingredients (except the duck!) together in a small saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes. Reserve 1/4 of the glaze. Sit the duck on a rack over a baking dish, baste and place in oven. Baste the duck every 10 minutes throughout the cooking process with remaining 3/4 of glaze. A 4.5 lb duck should take about 1 hour 15 minutes to cook, but give one of his legs a pull, and if it moves freely and any juices run clear, your duck will be cooked. Place on a serving platter brush with reserved glaze and serve. Pass any remaining reserved glaze to be spooned over carved duck.

HONEY-MUSTARD GLAZED DUCK

Steps:

• About an hour before cooking, take the duck out of the fridge to come to room temperature. Heat oven to 140C/ 120C fan/gas 1. Pull out and discard any large lumps of fat from inside the duck, then rub it all over with some salt, the oil and five-spice powder. Sit the duck in a roasting tin, then roast for 2 hrs.
• For the glaze, mix the honey, soy, Sherry and mustard in a bowl. When the duck has had its time, remove it from the oven, pour off any fat from the tin and baste generously with the glaze. Turn the oven up to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and roast the duck for a further 20 mins until sticky and bronzed. Remove the duck to a clean dish to catch any juices and allow it to rest for at least 20 mins before serving.
• To make a simple gravy, pour the juices from the roasting tin into a jug or bowl and leave to settle. Use a ladle to remove the fat from the juices, then tip the juices back into the saucepan and reheat to serve.

LAVENDER HONEY-GLAZED ROAST DUCK

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Season duck inside and out with salt and pepper. Put olives and lavender inside duck and truss or close with a skewer. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add duck and saute on all sides until skin is golden brown. Transfer to a rack in a roasting pan. Mix 2 tablespoons of the honey with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Brush over duck and roast until juices run clear when duck is pricked deep in thigh about 45 minutes. About halfway through the roasting time, combine 1 tablespoon of pan drippings with the remaining 2 tablespoons of honey, and brush over duck. When duck is cooked, remove it from oven and let rest to 15 minutes in a warm place before carving and serving.;

CRISPY ROAST DUCK WITH LAVENDER HONEY

Steps:

• Make the glaze: in a small bowl, combine the honey, boiling water, and pepper; stir to blend and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 275°; season ducks with salt and pepper.
• With a kitchen fork, prick skin about ¼ inch deep all over, particularly in the fatty area around the thighs and wing area; do not pierce the meat.
• Place duck breast-side down on a rack in a roasting pan; pour boiling water over them; roast for 2 hours.
• Turn the duck breast-side up and brush with the glaze.
• Roast for another 1 to 1 ¼ hours, or until the legs wiggle easily; transfer to a carving board and let cool.
• Using heavy poultry shears, quarter the ducks-cut the backbones out to make this easier.
• Place the duck quarters in plastic bags and refrigerate.
• About 45 minutes before serving, preheat the oven to 375°; place the duck, skin-side up on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes, or until the duck is cooked through and crisp.
• Meanwhile, make the sauce-in a small skillet, melt butter over med-highheat.
• Add in shallots; saute for 2 minutes or until softened.
• Add in demi-glace, honey, and vinegar; turn up heat to high, and reduce the sauce to a light glaze, about 3 minutes.
• Whisk the remaining 1 tablespoons butter into the sauce to thicken it and add a sheen; season with salt and pepper.
• Place the duck on a platter and spoon over a little sauce; serve the remaining sauce on the side.

HONEY GLAZED DUCK IN GRAPEFRUIT AND GINGER SAUCE

Steps:

• Prick skin on each duck breast with a fork.
• Blend the honey and soy sauce to make a glaze and brusy over the fillets.
• Set them skin side up on a rack in a roasting tin.
• Chill until ready to cook.
• To make the sauce,slice away the outer peel and white pith from the grapefruit.
• With a sharp knife, cut into the fruits between the membrane to lift out the segments.
• Reserve the fruit and any juice in a bowl.
• Put the sugar into a dry pan.
• Set over a moderate heat and stir until the sugar melts and turns to caramel.
• Draw off the heat and add the fruit juice (Cover your hand as the mixture will boil up furiously with the addition of cold liquid) Replace the pan on the heat, if they are any lumps of caramel, stir over a low heat until they dissolve.
• Add the honey, soy sauce, lemon juice and ginger.
• Stir until the mixture simmers.
• Blend the cornstarch with 2 TBS cold water.
• Stir into the pan and cook, stirring until the sauce thickens and clears.
• Remove from heat.
• heat oven to 400*F.
• Set the duck fillets in the oven and roast for 35 to 40 minutes until the skins are golden and the flesh is still a little pink.
• Reheat the sauce,add the grapefruit pieces and any juices in the bowl.
• Slice each fillet lengthways into three, arrange on a heated platter and spoon over the grapefruit and ginger sauce.

DUCK GLAZED WITH HONEY AND LAVENDER (OR HERBES DE PROVENCE)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, finely grind half of the lavender (or herbes de provence), thyme, sea salt, and peppercorns.
• Set aside the ground herb rub mix.
• Remove excess fat and skin from duck neck and inside cavity.
• Remove giblets (reserve liver only).
• Thoroughly rinse duck and pat dry with paper towels.
• With very sharp paring knife, carefully score duck breast in criss-cross pattern, making sure to cut through skin and fat only (do not cut into the flesh or"meat" of the duck).
• Rub herb mix into both inside the cavity and the outside of the duck.
• Place liver back into the prepared duck cavity.
• Put duck onto rack inside a roasting pan, breast side up and roast for 2 hours (do not baste during initial roasting).
• Remove duck from oven and increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Put the duck on a platter and carefully pour pan juices into large glass measuring cup.
• Spoon off all but about 1 tablespoon of the clear duck fat into a glass dish and refrigerate to use in other dishes as a sauté medium, for example.
• Pour pan juices and the 1 tablespoon of the duck fat back to the roasting pan and add the chicken broth and wine.
• Put duck back on the rack in the roasting pan and brush with about half of the honey.
• Roast the duck for about 20 minutes, basting at least once with the pan juice/broth/wine mixture.
• Remove the duck from the oven and brush with the rest of the honey, then sprinkle the duck about 1 teaspoon of the lavender or herbes de provence and return to the oven to roast about 5 minutes more.
• Depending on the size of the duck, it may take a bit longer; it is ready to remove from the oven when a meat thermometer inserted into the innermost duck thigh registers 180 degrees Fahrenheit.
• When duck is done, remove from the oven and put it on a platter to rest.
• Remove the liver from the duck cavity and mash finely in a small bowl to be used on crackers or small toasted baguette slices.
• Pour pan juices from the roaster into a saucepan, making sure to scrape up browned bits.
• Add the remaining lavender or herbes de provence to the saucepan, along with salt and pepper to taste and place over medium heat.
• Bring the juices to a boil, whisking often, and cook until the sauce is thickened and coats the back of a spoon.
• Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.
• Transfer the sauce to a bowl and serve with sliced duck at the table.

DUCK BREASTS WITH ORANGE, HONEY AND TEA SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450°F. Pierce skin of duck breasts all over with fork. Sprinkle duck with salt and pepper. Heat heavy large skillet over high heat. Add duck breasts, skin side down, to skillet. Cook until skin is well browned, about 4 minutes. Turn duck breasts over; cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Set rack in roasting pan. Transfer duck breasts to rack (reserve drippings in skillet). Roast duck to desired doneness, about 20 minutes for medium-rare.
• Meanwhile, heat drippings in skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and sauté until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Tilt skillet; push shallots to higher end of skillet, allowing drippings to flow to lower end. Spoon off drippings and discard. Add broth, orange juice and tea leaves to skillet. Boil until mixture is reduced to 1 1/4 cups, about 17 minutes. Pour mixture through strainer set over bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids in strainer. Return liquid to same skillet. Add honey; bring to simmer. Whisk in butter. Season sauce with salt and pepper.
• Thinly slice duck breasts crosswise. Fan slices on each of 4 plates, dividing equally. Spoon sauce around duck. Garnish with orange segments, if desired.

HONEY SPICED DUCK

Steps:

• Score the duck breast skin in a criss-cross fashion.
• Blend the honey, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, five spice powder and pepper in a small bowl.
• Coat the duck in this marinade in a shallow bowl.
• Cover and leave for 1 hour or overnight.
• Set the oven to fairly hot, 200c/400f.
• Put the duck on a rack in a roasting tin, reserving the marinade.
• Cook for 20-30 minutes depending on their size and how well you like your duck cooked.
• Put the marinade and 40mls of the roasting juices in a small pan.
• Add the spring onions and bring to the boil.
• Simmer gently for 2 minutes.
• I serve the duck on a bed of rice with the sauce and spring onions spooned over, and sometimes some cranberry sauce to finish.

HONEY & GARLIC DUCK FRIED RICE

Steps:

• In a plastic zipper bag, combine cubed duck breast with soy sauce, hoisin sauce and 2 sliced garlic cloves; marinate in refrigerator at least 2 hours.
• Prepare brown rice: in a large saucepan, cook 2 minced garlic cloves in vegetable oil until golden; add rice and saute until aromatic, then add broth.
• Bring to a boil then reduce heat and cover; simmer on low heat for 45 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.
• While rice is cooking, shred the yellow squash; drain baby corn; slice green onions; scramble eggs in 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and set aside; and steam pea pods and chopped bell pepper together for 1 minute (plunge them into cold water when done steaming to stop cooking and keep them crisp).
• In a large skillet over medium heat, heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and cook cubed marinated duck with the marinade and green onions for 10 minutes.
• Add cooked rice and raise heat a bit; cook, stirring constantly until marinade is thickened, about 10 more minutes.
• Stir in honey, soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic powder; cook another 5 minutes to blend.
• Stir in pea pods, peppers, shredded yellow squash, baby corn and scrambled eggs.
• Cook another 3 to 4 minutes, just until vegetables and eggs are heated through.
• Serve immediately.

HONEY-LACQUERED DUCK WITH SOUR CHERRY SAUCE

Steps:

• Put 10-12 sage leaves into a small saucepan with 1 cup of water and bring to the boil; simmer for 7 minutes and remove from heat; remove leaves and allow to cool.
• Wash the duck out and pat dry with paper towels; season generously with salt and put on a plate in the refrigerator to air-dry for 1 hour (2 hours is even better ;-) ).
• In a small saucepan, combine sage infusion, honey, balsamic vinegar and soy sauce and bring to the boil; boil at medium-high heat for 7-8 minutes until mixture becomes slightly syrupy and is reduced to 2/3 of a cup; pour 1/3 cup+ 1 tblsp into measuring cup and keep remainder in saucepan.
• Preheat oven to 415F°.
• Put duck in roasting pan, breast-side-down and roast for ½ an hour (drain fat off, retain); turn duck breast-side-up and roast ½ an hour longer (drain fat off again, retain); brush duck with the honey glaze and continue roasting 15 minutes; after the 15 minutes, turn duck so that it is breast-side-down again and brush with more honey glaze, do this once more after 15 minutes then turn duck breast-side-up again, brush with glaze and roast for a final 15 minutes; in all, the duck will have roasted a total of 2 hours and have had 4 glazings, 1 up, 2 down, and the last one up again; remove roaster from oven and allow duck to stand for 10 minutes while you finish the sauce.
• Pour off the fat you have retained into a small container (duck fat is great for frying potatoes!) and pour any accumulated duck juices into the saucepan containing the remaining honey glaze; add the cherries and any accumulated cherry juices as well as the cinnamon and bring to a boil; boil for 7-8 minutes, or until cherry sauce has become slightly-thickened and syrupy (if you want your sauce slightly thicker, you can sprinkle 1/2-3/4 tsp of cornstarch over cherries).
• Carve duck (in our case, this just means quartering the duck), and serve with the sour cherry sauce.
• Note: I have a special double-lined roaster, with one inclined tray with a hole in it fitting over a classic pan, this allows the fat to drain off the roasting meat, drip through the hole, and gather in the pan underneath; if you do not own this type of pan, use a classic roaster but drain fat off roasting duck more often.

WARM LENTIL SALAD WITH HONEY GLAZED DUCK BREAST, LARDONS, AND FRISEE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Score the skin side of the duck breasts on the diagonal in both directions. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Using a pastry brush, brush the breasts with honey. Transfer to a hot saute pan with 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Pan sear the duck breasts skin-side down until golden. Place the duck, skin-side-up in the pan in the oven and cook until rare, about 7 minutes. Slice the duck and fan around the bottom of the warm lentils and frisee.
• In a medium stockpot, combine lentils, stock, salt and pepper to taste, thyme, and bay leaf. Cook until the lentils are just tender. Cool the lentils in the stock to room temperature. In a large saute pan over medium heat with butter and olive oil, saute bacon until just brown. Add onion, shallot, carrot, and celery. Saute until the vegetables are just tender, about 2 to 3 minutes. In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the champagne vinegar and mustard. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Strain the lentils and add to the vegetables. Toss with the warm vinaigrette. Mix until just combined and warm. Place 3 slices of duck on top of a bed of frisee. Pile the lentils on top of the duck and fan duck slices around the bottom of the salad.

DUCK BREASTS WITH HONEY AND MUSTARD

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Season duck generously with salt and pepper. Heat two ovenproof skillets over medium-high heat and add the breasts, skin-side down. Sear until the skin is golden and begins to render its fat, 5 to 8 minutes. Pour off excess fat and transfer the skillets to the oven. Roast until desired doneness, about 16 minutes for medium.
• Remove duck from the pans and set aside. Pour off excess fat and add the mustard and honey to one pan. Stir over low heat for a few minutes. Remove from heat and add the breasts and any juices. Turn to coat with sauce. Let sit for 2 more minutes, slice, drizzle with remaining sauce and serve.