Duck is an amazing meat. You can sear a breast for an elegant date night meal, shred the legs for tacos, or even eat the meat raw like in this delicious duck tartare. If you were intimidated by duck in the past, this no-cook recipe is sure to delight and impress at your next dinner party!
In my opinion this is the best duck tartare recipe I’ve ever had, and one that I really hope you’ll try. As you can see from the photo above it is topped with a quail egg yolk. This dish is rounded out with a simple 4-ingredient parmesan cream and a few slices of thick buckwheat bread.
Of course when you make this tasty tartare at home you can make all the swaps and substitutions you want!
Looking for more unique duck recipes? Try my super simple duck prosciutto – it makes a great charcuterie board addition!
Can You Eat Duck Breast Raw?
The USDA says that eating duck breast raw is unsafe and should be cooked to 165 like any other poultry. If you’ve ever cooked a duck breast to 165 you might know that it is ridiculously overcooked.
While eating raw meat can always carry the possibility of bacteria, duck tartare is most likely safe. After all, we’ve been eating duck tartare in my country for hundreds of years. Unlike in America, we in Europe love raw meat, from beef or horse tartare, to even raw ground pork known as mett. So you CAN eat duck breast raw, but the question you have to ask yourself is ‘are you comfortable with it?’
How To Make The Best Duck Breast Tartare
This duck breast tartare recipe is rather simple, so it’s very important you use high quality ingredients. Your duck breast should be Grade-A and ideally come from frozen. Why frozen? Because a long term deep freeze can remove many potential bacteria.
Ingredients
- 2 Duck Breasts – While all my duck breast recipes call for Grade-A, Skin-On, you don’t actually need the skin in this recipe. If you can find frozen duck breasts without skin and it’s cheaper than with skin, you can get it to save time and money. Look for a deep red color; Any gray or yellow spots (that aren’t fat) can signify that the duck is low quality and should be avoided for tartare.
- 50 grams Sugar – You will use this for the rub. it seems like a ton of sugar but almost all of it will be washed away.
- 50 grams Salt – You will use this for the rub. it seems like a ton of salt but almost all of it will be washed away.
- 1 bulb Garlic – Finely minced. You can mince it by hand or use a press, but if you use the later make sure to do it directly over the mixing bowl to retain the oils.
- 40 grams Sun-dried Tomatoes – Very finely minced. You can use more or less, I quite like sun dried tomatoes in my duck tartare so I bump it up to about 50 grams, but if it is your first time making this recipe start with 40.
- 2 Quail Eggs – Plus more for the yolk topping. If you cannot find quail eggs you can use a regular small chicken egg instead.
- 10 ml Toasted Pumpkin Seed Oil – A little goes a long way, but pumpkin seed oil is great in salads, marinades, and dressings. If you cannot find it at your local grocer you can buy it online here.
Easy Duck Tartare Instructions
- The first thing to do is to remove the skin and silver skin from the duck breast. The skin should be easy and rip right off. The silver skin, which is a rather tough connective tissue, needs a bit of knife work to remove. Try your best to remove as much as you can. The skin has a lot of fat so I suggest saving it to render later. You can use the fat for things like roast potatoes, of if you like cocktails some duck fat washed bourbon.
- I also remove the tenders to save for later. You can absolutely chop them up in a tartare as well, but I like to save them for some deep fried duck tenders as a snack.
- Mix the salt and sugar together, then rub it all over the duck breasts. Place them on a plate and into the fridge for one hour. After the hour remove the breasts and rinse them off with cold water.
- Finely mince the duck breast with your knife (do not use a meat grinder). You want extremely small little cubes of raw duck, so this is the step that takes the longest time. Place the minced duck into a large bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Give everything a thorough mix, taste for salt, and plate. You can go rustic and spoon it on a plate or use a ring mold like in the photo below for a more elevated presentation.
What To Serve With Homemade Duck Tartare?
This recipe was adapted from Chef Artem Blauta who specializes in Podil cuisine and he suggests pairing duck tartare with a parmesan cream. The best thing about this parmesan cream is that it only needs four ingredients and takes less than 5 minutes.
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 150 ml Heavy Cream
- 20 grams 24 months Parmigiano Reggiano – Finely grated or microplaned
- Salt – To taste.
Add all ingredients to a bowl and whisk to combine. Place bowl over a pot of boiling water and whisk constantly until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove and spoon next to the duck tartare on the plate.
Like with most tartare recipes, they are often served with bread or toast. For this recipe I used a few thick slices of artisan buckwheat bread I picked up from my local bakery and simply fried each side in hot oil for a minute.
Plating Tips
I suggest using a ring mold to shape the duck tartare as well as give it a bit of height. Since the cream is liquid and the bread is an addition, you should plate the duck first. Make an indent into the top of the molded tartare and place a single quail’s egg yolk.
Spoon a couple tablespoons of the parmesan cream to the side and crack over some black pepper. Then lay down a slice of toast and garnish with some roughly chopped curly parsley.
More Duck Recipes You’ll Love
- Duck With Cranberries And Corn Cream
- Duck Breast In PX Sauce
- Hot Honey Duck Breast With Roast Celeriac
- Duck With Leeks
- Duck With Blackcurrants
Duck Tartare
Ingredients
- 2 Duck Breasts Grade A
- 50 grams Sugar
- 50 grams Salt
- 1 bulb Garlic Finely minced.
- 40 grams Sun-dried Tomatoes Very finely minced.
- 2 Quail Eggs Plus more for the yolk topping. If you cannot find quail eggs you can use a regular small chicken egg instead.
- 10 ml Toasted Pumpkin Seed Oil
Parmesan Cream
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 150 ml Heavy Cream
- 20 grams Parmigiano Reggiano
- Salt To Taste
Garnishes
- Curley Parsley Roughly Chopped
- Buckwheat Toast
- Black Pepper Freshly Cracked
Instructions
- Remove the skin and silver skin from the duck breast. Rub the meat on all sides well with the salt and sugar and place on a plate. Put into the fridge for one hour.
- Remove the duck from the fridge and rinse it off in cold water. Dry. Use a sharp knife to finely mince the duck breasts into very small cubes. Place in a large bowl.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. Plate.
Parmesan Cream
- Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl.
- Place bowl over bain marie and whisk until thickened, about 5 minutes. Spoon aside plated duck tartare.
Garnishes
- Add the garnishes you want, or others you might think of.