What Should I Cook?
Answer a few questions about the cut, time, and equipment you have, and get a short, transparent list of suggested methods.
1. Pan-seared duck breast
Why you're seeing this: You have a farmed breast, a heavy skillet, and under a couple of hours — this is the fastest route to rendered, crisp skin.
Key risk: Skin renders unevenly in a thin or warped pan; a thermometer removes the guesswork on doneness.
Read the full method →This is a transparent, rule-based match against the options you selected — not a machine-generated recommendation. Change any answer above and the list updates immediately.
How this works
This finder runs on a small, fixed set of if-this-then-that rules, not a model or any kind of AI. Each rule looks at the cut you selected, whether it's wild or farmed, how much time you have, and what equipment you've checked off, and matches those answers against a short list of cooking methods. Nothing you enter leaves your browser or gets recorded anywhere — change an answer and the list updates instantly because it's all calculated on the page.
Each suggestion comes with a short "why you're seeing this" explanation tied directly to your answers, plus a key risk to watch for with that method. Reading both helps you judge the trade-offs rather than treating the top result as an automatic answer — a fast pan sear trades margin for error against a slow confit's forgiving cook, and which one suits you depends on more than just the clock.
If none of the suggestions feel right, that's a sign the rule set is deliberately narrow rather than a dead end. Try adjusting one answer at a time — swapping "under 30 minutes" for "30–90 minutes," for instance — to see how the recommendation changes, or skip straight to the full method guides linked below.
Common questions
- Is this powered by AI?
- No. The suggestions come from a small, fixed set of rules that match your answers — cut, provenance, time, and equipment — against a short list of methods. There's no model, and nothing you enter is collected or stored.
- Why do I sometimes see fewer than three suggestions?
- Only methods whose conditions match your exact combination of answers are shown, up to three. An unusual combination — say, wild duck legs with no oven or grill — may only match one rule, or fall back to a general starting point.
- What if none of the suggestions fit what I actually want to make?
- Treat the result as a starting point, not a verdict. Browse the full cooking guides directly, or change one answer at a time — cut, time available, or equipment — to see how the recommendation shifts.
Related guides
- How to Cook Duck BreastThe cold-pan method, why it works, and how to rescue it when it doesn't.
- Whole Roast DuckThe full workflow, from dry-fridge prep to a rested, carvable bird.
- Duck Leg ConfitCure, poach, chill, crisp — and the storage rules people get wrong.
- How to Cook Wild Duck BreastA decision tree for lean, unpredictable birds — skin on or off.
- How to Render Duck FatFrom trim to a clean jar, plus honest storage windows.