Hi!
What is the best way to have both medium rare (no gradient of temperature) duck breast and totally rendered, crispy, thin skin using the sous vide technique? In a restaurant kitchen I never know when (or if) my duck breast is going to be served, so leting the skin dry out in my fridge before crisping the skin up is not a good idea. I have to use a paper towel to dry it instead.
First thing I want to ask is how to melt the skin collagen. Should I blanch it before SV cooking or maybe longer cooking time would do the trick. 2-3 hours at 60C? I have never blanched the duck skin but I guess it is easier to do with a whole duck, than with a breast where the meat is exposed, any tips how to avoid cooking the meat during skin blanching?
Another thing is fat rendering. Is it wise to render the fat on a medium heat pan before sous vide cooking, and when it is time to serve all I have to do is to sear it and crisp it up at much higher heat?
At Chefsteps.com there is a recipe for a duck skin crumble. http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/duck-breast-135-f-and-duck-skin-crum... totally like the idea, but I dont have the liquid nitrogen. I have to find out if it works good enough with normal freezer.
