Rinse the duck breast and pat dry with a towel.

Score the fat side of the duck breast by cutting through the skin and most of the fat without cutting to the flesh. You can do this in a number of ways, but we prefer to score in a crosshatch about ¼” apart.

Season with salt and pepper and let the duck rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and up to several hours to allow the skin side to dry completely. Remove from the refrigerator 15 minutes before cooking. If you plan to pan sear the duck, make the sauce while the duck rests in the fridge.

When ready to cook, place your duck fat-side down in a cold pan. Place the pan over medium heat and let the duck cook until the skin is crispy, and the fat has rendered. This should be about 10 minutes. Turn the duck breast over, add your thyme sprigs and cook for about 3 more minutes (internal temp should be around 135°F). Use a spoon to baste the duck breast with its own rendered fat. Remove the duck to a cutting board and let it rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting. The duck will be on the low side of medium after resting - around 140°F.

Set your sous vide bath temp to 134°.

Add a small amount of olive oil to a hot skillet, then place the breasts in the skillet skin side down. The goal here is to get a nice brown color on the skin side only and partially render the fat. Sear for about 1 minute, peeking to check for a brown color. Remove from skillet and place on a towel to allow excess grease to drip off while you prepare the sous vide bags.

Add fresh thyme sprigs to sous vide bag, then place the duck in the bag and remove excess air. Vacuum sealed bags are preferred, but ziplocks or similar will work as long as you can remove as much air as possible. Fully submerge the bags in the sous vide water bath and allow to cook for 90 min, or up to 2 hrs.

About 30-45 min before the duck is ready, begin making the glaze.

Once the duck has cooked for 90 min, remove bags from water and remove duck breasts discarding thyme sprigs. Sear in a similar manner as earlier by placing the duck breasts in a hot skillet, skin side down for 1 minute only, then flipping and searing flesh side for 30 s. Remove duck from skillet and thinly slice.

In a shallow skillet or sauce pan, add two tablespoons of butter and heat on medium until butter begins to turn brown and smells nutty. Once your butter is brown, add chopped shallots and saute until shallots are translucent (approx 3-5 min).

Deglaze pan by adding white wine and scraping the browned bits off the bottom. Allow white wine to cook for 5 min.

Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Allow sauce to simmer and reduce for approximately 15 minutes and strain through a fine sieve. Return to the pan and simmer for another 15 minutes until it thickens and resembles a syrup. Once consistency is reached, keep glaze warm, setting aside until duck is ready.

Drizzle drizzle over sliced duck breast, garnish with fresh thyme leaves and enjoy!