All posts by koketchup

K.O. Ketchup Gets Classy: Seared Duck Breast Recipe with Sweet and Sour Sauce

Recipe by Erin Eastland
Photos by Amy Sheridan

What? ketchup with duck?

Yes, it can be done… we told you that this wasn’t just any ordinary ketchup. Because of K.O. Ketchup’s unique flavor profile it lends particularly well to pairing with sweet and savory flavors. It’s the perfect base for a unique, homemade sweet and sour sauce that you can pretty much use on anything from chicken to beef, duck to veal. In this case we simply added a bit of orange (the sour) and honey (the sweet).

Sure, you might not be eating this recipe on game day but sometimes the occasion calls for something a bit classier, and once again, K.O.s got you covered.

Dig this? Try K.O. as a BBQ Sauce in this K.O. ketchup Rack of Ribs Recipe.

KO orange glazed duck breast

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Serves 4 people

Ingredients

  • DUCK :
  • 4 skin-on duck breast
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • SAUCE :
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 1/2 cup blood orange juice
  • 1/4 cup cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp honey
  • 1/8 cup K.O. Ketchup
  • 1/2 fresno chili, sliced
  • 1 small leek, only whites used, sliced
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped
  • 1 1/2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
  • 3/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp. duck fat

Directions

  1. Start the sauce in a saute pan.
  2. Heat the pan over medium heat and add the olive oil.
  3. Sweat the leeks, chili, garlic and ginger until soft but no color, about 4-5 minutes.

  1. Add the juice, vinegar, honey, and K.O. and cook about 10 minutes or until the sauce is thick and bubbly like a glaze.
  2. Add the salt.
  3. Remove from heat, strain through a sieve and let the glaze chill in the fridge to set.

*You will drain off the fat ½ way through cooking the duck and add 1 tsp of the fat to the glaze.

While the sauce is cooking start the duck

  1. Heat a heavy bottomed saute pan and coat with olive oil.
  2. Score the duck, being careful not to slit the flesh.
  3. Season the duck well on both sides.
  4. Cook the duck skin side down over medium heat until all of the fat that is rendered out and the skin is very crispy and brown, about 10-15 minutes.
  5. Flip the duck and depending on how big the breast is you will only cook on this side for 2-3 minutes. You want the duck medium rare.
  6. Let rest about 5 minutes.

 

Slice the duck and glaze with the sauce. Serve immediately.

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K.O. Ketchup for a Year Winner Announced!

We have the BEST CUSTOMERS EVER! Thank you all for your support and kind words. You made our week! Picking the winner of the K.O. For a Year Contest was the hardest thing we’ve done yet. Narrowing down the heartfelt comments from all you lovely people was beyond challenging, and picking just one winner?! Impossible. So we picked one winner, one runner up & one honorable mention.

WINNER!
Jennifer Smart* was our winner because not only does she think K.O. is delicious but her family now uses just K.O. instead of A-1, Heinz 57 and Heinz Ketchup. We also love that she’s been experimenting with it in her kitchen. Seriously Jennifer, can we get some of your recipes? We hope your family enjoys your free year of K.O.!

Jennifer Smart Sep 5, 2012 at 1:54 pm Blog Comment

Hi K.O.!

Let me tell you why you’re so special to us. We have found a multi-purpose sauce that the entire family agrees is amazingly delicious. My husband- A-1 (bleh) Me, Heinz 57, my son, Heinz ketchup. We all love the extremely unique K.O. Ketchup so much, it’s the only thing that I would ever consider using from fries to ribeyes and beyond. We have used it in chili, we have whipped up a delicious smokey dip and spread by adding sour cream, we’ve basted ribs, chicken, even Salmon! My husband is probably the most stubborn person ever, and very brand loyal, so it’s really saying something that we only use KO. Whenever we entertain, we get questioned all the time “I can’t believe this is so delicious! What is it!?!”. I haven’t come across a single person who is supposedly in that so called 67%.

As an extra bonus, I love the packaging, your Facebook page is fun, and anyone I’ve ever dealt with at your company is fantastic! It would be like Christmas if we won a year supply!!!!!!!! I’m not even kidding.

Thanks KO! It’s small business’s like you who make America the land of opportunity!

Sincerely,
Jennifer Smart

RUNNER UP:

Morgan Elizabeth* gets honorable mention because K.O. made her switch brands! This delights us more than you know. We never dreamed people would start giving up their regular ketchup! Thanks for your support Morgan! We’ll be sending you 3 free bottles of K.O.!

Morgan Elizabeth Facebook Comment

@Morgan Elizabeth K.O. Ketchup has made me switch! Not many companies can make me switch brands. I actually crave this now. I live in IL and I have now bought 3 bottles of K.O. since I found out about it! K.O will make it ALL THE WAY! If you can get a person like me to represent and spread word like wildfire in the MIDWEST then I think you doing the job. Keep up the great work and NEVER STOP making K.O. Ketchup. That is what special is all about to me!


HONORABLE MENTION:

Goes to Maggie* who made us laugh out loud with her new club NOOOKOF. Maggie are you taking on members? We’ll be sending you a bottle of K.O. to enjoy at your next club meeting!

Maggie Sep 5, 2012 at 1:19 pm Blog Comment

While it is a fact that 67% of all statistics are made up, in a recent study performed by the NOOOKOF (National Organization of One K.O. Fan) it was found that 99% of all humanity thoroughly enjoyed K.O. Ketchup. The 1% that “did not like” K.O. Ketchup was actually unable to speak after the sheer joy of experiencing KO.

To everyone that participated we THANK YOU. The world really is just a small town, and we’re happy to be a part of your community and your homes. As long as you keep enjoying K.O., we’ll keep making it!

-Your friends at K.O.

*Winners! Please email us your mailing information at info@koketchup.com so we can ship out your prizes!

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Help us answer “Why K.O. ketchup is so special” and win a year supply.

Help us answer “Why K.O. ketchup is so special” and win a year supply.

We received a comment on Facebook that, while aggressive and a bit random, did pose two interesting questions:

  1. What makes K.O. so special? and
  2. What makes us think we’re going to make it in today’s market?

The commenter cited that our “marketing team” hasn’t done its homework because (and get ready for a random percentage) 67% of people don’t like change.

facebook comment

We don’t usually get negative comments on K.O.’s Facebook Page so obviously this one made us pause to think, why attack small business? Especially in this economy? This is still America right? Where you can open a business (based on an idea, product or service), work hard, offer value and “make it.” I guess that may depend on what “make it” means to you.

So we decided to answer these questions. Not for the disgruntled commenter, but for us and for you – our friends and fans. So we figured, who better to help us answer number 1 than all of you who seem to have found something unique and “special” about our product? But first, let us take a shot at explaining where we stand on question number 2: how we know that our small business has “made it.”

(Keep reading to find out how you can win a year supply of K.O. Ketchup.)

Question 2. What makes us think we’re going to make it in today’s market?

K.O. will have “made it” when:

This is a product we made in our home kitchen and took to picnics. People requested it. So we packed it up in mason jars and gave it out as gifts. Some people give jars of jam at Christmas or homemade cookies…we gave ketchup. And when our friends, and friends of friends, encouraged us to bottle it up and maybe sell it at the grocery store, we did.

So we say, to the commenter from Facebook, all of the above and more has happened in the year since we launched K.O. We just signed on 128 more stores*. We hired a few more awesome employees.
In our eyes, we made it. But thanks for the reminder of how far we’ve come!

Now to the good stuff…

Win a Year Supply of K.O. Ketchup!

Question #1: What makes K.O. so special?”

We’d like you, our dear fans, to answer that.

How?

Leave us a comment on our Facebook Page or this blog post and tell us why you think we’re special (flavor? customer service? packaging? get specific!) by Friday, September 7th at noon PST.
Our favorite response gets K.O. Ketchup for a year**. That’s right, a year.

support small business

Your friends at K.O.

*We just signed Sprouts, Henry’s, and Sunflower markets! More information to come!

Nitty Gritty
**Our favorite comment will be chosen by the staff at K.O. Ketchup. The winner will receive K.O. Ketchup for a year! One bottle of K.O. will be shipped to your home each month for the next 12 months. Prize cannot be split or shared. Comments not pertaining to the contest will be removed. Contest ends Friday, September 7th at 12:01pm PST. Contest winner will be announced Friday, September 7th at 4pm PST.

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