Duck Four Ways

I bought a duck. Not a live duck, as I have nowhere to house it (though a ready supply of duck eggs would be nice) but a lovely whole Muscovy from my local butcher. I wasn’t out to buy a duck, and I don’t usually go for the impulse buy, but it looked so good. Now, that my newfound friend and I are home, I’ve got to figure out what to do with it.

As a chef, I love duck. The only animal more versatile in the kitchen is the pig (insert choir of angels signing triumphant “Aaaaaaaaaaaa” here). Anyway, what to do with one duck? Roast duck breast? Confit leg? Duck prosciutto? Pot roast? Duck ragout? Duck a l'orange? Peking duck pancakes? Duck sausages? Pressed duck?

Chefs share a greater burden of a certain moral responsibility that belongs to all of us, that being minimizing the wasting of food. I feel this especially acutely when working with meat. I cannot allow that after rearing an animal, feeding it, transporting it, butchering it, hanging the meat, packaging it, and shipping it to market that it is in any way acceptable to squander even the smallest bit. I can understand that the lengthy process from farm to plate may disassociate our steak from a cow, but they are one in the same, and you owe it to the animal to think of this and act accordingly.

Bearing this in mind, I decided to turn my duck into four meals, being sure that I wasted as little a possible in the process. I decided on what four meals I would make and set about breaking the duck down – two breasts, two legs, and the ‘frame’ or carcass (the butcher evidently kept all the delicious offal, the bastard). As three of the four meals require some lead time – two or three days – I started with the most simple. I’ll feature the remainder of these meals as I eat them over the next few posts.




Mulled Duck Ragout with Semolina Gnocchi

1 large duck breast, skin on
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 brown onion, fine dice
1 shallot, fine dice
1 clove garlic, peeled and cracked
100 g swiss brown mushrooms (Portabello), quartered
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1 cinnamon quill
pinch mace
2 strips orange peel, pith removed
2 tbsp beef jus or 2 cups beef stock
1 cup red wine

Preheat oven to 160ºC (320ºF) Salt and pepper the both sides of the duck breast. Add a touch of oil to a heavy-bottomed pan just large enough to fit the breast on low heat and then place the breast skin side down. Allow to cook slowly, rendering out the duck fat, until the skin is dark and beginning to crisp. Flip, increase heat to medium, and brown the flesh side. Remove from pan. Drain half of the duck fat from the pan and reserve. Using the fat left in the pan, gently sauté the carrot, onion, shallot, garlic, bay, thyme, cinnamon and mace until the vegetables begin to soften and color. Remove from pan. Add reserved duck fat, increase heat to high and sauté the mushrooms. Remove pan from heat.

Return all the cooked ingredients to the pan and add either jus or stock, the wine, orange peel, and enough cold water to cover the breast. Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and place in oven. Braise until the breast is tender and falling apart 1.5 – 2.5 hours.

Remove from oven, strain out braising liquid and reduce this by ⅔, or until the sauce is thick and sticky. Meanwhile remove skin from breast and discard. Shred flesh into large chunks and mix with the braised vegetables – being sure to remove the orange peel and the cinnamon quill. Stir meat mixture into the reduced sauce, add a handful of peas and serve over sautéed gnocchi or cooked pasta.

Look, gnocchi deserve their own post. I’ll walk you through it sometime soon. Ok?