Whether at Christmas, Easter or all year round, magret is regularly cited as the favorite dish of the French.
The inventor of magret is the Gascon André Daguin.
André Daguin took over from his parents at the Hôtel de France in Auch and became the starred pope of Southwestern cuisine until 1997, when he handed over to Roland Garreau, who in turn handed over to Vincent Casassus.
André Daguin was a successful chef for forty years.
A champion of inventive regional cuisine, he introduced duck breast to the menu in 1959.
He also devised daring dishes such as fresh foie gras with langoustines, or white bean ice cream.
Before his invention, no one knew what to do with duck breast.
It's the lean meat fillet cut from the breast of a fattened goose or duck, fattened by force-feeding, the same ones used to produce confit and foie gras.
Magret can be served dried or smoked, and André Daguin came up with the idea of serving it thinly sliced after grilling or pan-frying.
Although magret seems to have been around since time immemorial, it is a recent invention.
It was in 1965, with his green pepper recipe, that magret took off.
The great chef would have liked to call it "maigrait", but he wasn't followed, and magret remained magret.
In the end, what's important is what's on the plate.
André Daguin died on December 3, 2019 in his beloved Auch.
