The Ultimate Duck Burger

The Ultimate Duck Burger

July 27, 2020

Servings: 4

Prep: 5 min

Cook: 25 min

Total: 30 min

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Recharge your summer burger game with... wait for it... duck! This might just be the most epic barbecue you throw all year!

By: A Wholesome New World

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground duck
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground black pepper
• 4 brioche buns (or hamburger buns)
• Toppings:
• 4 eggs
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1 Yukon potato, sliced into 1/8 inch thick rounds
• 2 TBSP unsalted butter
• 1 sweet onion, sliced thinly
• A handful of mixed greens
• 1 heirloom tomato, sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
• 1-2 scallions, minced
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 3-4 minced garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Directions

• Step 1 Mix ground duck, salt and pepper in a bowl and set aside for 10 minutes. While waiting, begin caramelizing your onions now if you plan to add them as a topping. In a skillet, melt the butter. Add the onion and cook over moderately low heat, stirring frequently, until softened, ~20 minutes. Add water if necessary to keep the onion from burning.
• Step 2 Prepare the garlic mayonnaise, if using, by whisking the mayo with the garlic and paprika. Set aside
• Step 3 Cook the burgers: Form 4 patties from the duck mixture. Preheat a grill pan or nonstick skillet over medium low heat. Place patties down and start cooking, cranking up the heat slowly so the fat will render and you can cook the patties in their own grease. Flip the patties when they are firm and bottom side is marked, about 5-7 minutes. Continue to grill until internal temperature reaches 155 degrees F (about five to seven more minutes).
• Step 4 Remove the burgers from the grill pan and cover with tin foil to keep warm and add the potatoes directly to the same grill pan so you can cook them in the duck fat. Cook over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes and cover. Be careful, the oil will be hot and may splatter!
• Step 5 While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the eggs. Crack each egg into a ramekin or small bowl. Brush a nonstick skillet with olive oil and heat over low heat. Pour in the eggs, cover with a clear glass lid, and continue to cook over low heat for about 2 minutes, or until the whites are set.Season with salt and pepper.
• Step 6 Immediately before preparing, slice buns in half and lightly toast (you can do this right on the grill pan to get those great grill mark.
• Step 7 To assemble:Smear mayo on the buns. Layer the toppings: duck fat potato round, mixed greens, burger, tomato, caramelized onion, egg, and then scallions on top.

One of the best parts about our summer expeditions to the farmer’s market is making some incredible new foodie discoveries. Case in point, this purchase of ground duck. It’s something I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to find at the grocery, but when I stumbled across it at the Hudson Valley Duck Farm tent, I felt compelled to buy it. The first two recipe ideas that immediately popped into my head were duck burger and duck bolognese, but bolognese seemed like more of a wintry dish, so duck burger it was! But a few other fun ideas if you want to get extra creative: duck meatballs, duck tacos, duck dumplings… using ground duck instead of beef is such a fun way to reinvent the classics.

Now that I’ve discovered ground duck, something tells me I’m only just cracking the surface here. And since there aren’t many duck burger recipes on the web, I’m hoping this will become a hallmark AWNW post. When it comes to blogging, I’ve often found the more unique recipes I post become the most popular and most trafficked, a la our Pan-Fried Porgy recipe (another farmer’s market find, no less). Who knew when we posted this that it would be neck and neck for our most popular post?!

So apart from being creative, WHY DUCK?

• It’s a slightly healthier, leaner cut of meat
• It boasts a richer, more robust flavor
• Due to the higher fat content, it’s more tender and moist

Now that I’ve established the case for duck, let me jump to the “meat” of the post (pun intended), what’s between the buns? When it comes to any gourmet burger, it’s all about two things – the seasonings and the toppings! Duck has so much flavor in its own right so this is not the type of burger you need to go crazy dressing up, BUT I do recommend a few solid accompaniments and condiments, notably the duck fat potatoes sand sunny side up egg, but also a slice of tomato, a touch of fresh scallions and silky caramelized onions.

Duck fat potatoes:

Caramelized onions, tomato, scallions and greens:

Check out that stack!

The rich flavors of the first few ingredients contrast well against the fresh + vibrant vegetables. A little goes a long way, especially when you’re layering these toppings between two brioche buns (smeared with an optional garlic mayo!). And the same rule goes for seasoning! Just a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper is all it takes. This duck truly speaks (quacks?) for itself. Give us a holler below and let us know what you think!