Duck recipes ~ how to love a duck!

As you may remember a couple of weeks ago my darling brought home a duck for my sole delectation and as a result I wrote a post on what to do with duck skin and fat which can be so much yummier than one would expect!

This post concerns what I did with the whole duck..

Firstly I removed all excess fat and then I cut off his (or her) legs and breasts and this is what I did with all the bits and pieces.

Duck Liver Paté and a Cook’s Treat

380 g duck livers
15g oil or duck fat
60 g butter
1 tsp tomato purée
good grind of black pepper
slight slurp of brandy

~ Prepare the livers by separating the lobes (the nice bits) from the sinew (the nasty bits). Throw away the nasty bits.
~ Season the livers and sauté them in your chosen fat over high heat till they have firmed up and have brown crusty patches. Don’t over cook – they should be a little pink in the middle.
~ Transfer to a food processor, add the rest of the ingredients and purée as smooth as poss.
~ Taste and season.
~ Transfer to a pretty dish and cool.
~ If not eating immediately you need to seal the top to stop oxidization – melted butter is good for long term storage, cling firm works too but is less tasty!

I also made myself a cook’s treat for lunch. 

Render the Duck Fat

Roast Duck Carcass

I roasted the carcass whilst the oven was on doing something else and then added all the fat it produced to that rendered above.

Duck Stock

~ Cover the roasted carcass with cold water, bring it to the boil together with some veggie detritus; a bit of onion and carrot, and some black peppercorns, cover and simmer for about half an hour. I think a roasted carcass gives a deeper flavour than raw.
~ Turn off the heat, remove  the carcass and set aside till cool enough to handle, but not cold, then strip it of every bit of edible meat; this is much easier done whilst still warm. You can use this meat in rillettes, soups and stir fries – see below.
~ Return the meat scraps to the stock  and when cool store in the fridge till needed.  (If any fat sets on the top add it to your collection.)

I’m afraid I then threw the bones away.

Easy Peasy Duck Rillettes

approx 60g cooked duck meat
approx 60g duck fat
½ tbsp brandy
salt and pepper (I used smoked black pepper)
a smidge of garlic
maybe a little finely grated orange zest – up to you!

~   Cook the duck meat in the fat very, very gently for quite a long while, 45-60 minutes plus, till meltingly tender.
~   Shred the meat into the fat.
~   Add the cognac, taste and season.
~   Put the whole lot in a little dish, pushing the meat under the surface of the fat.
~   Chill till needed.

Supposedly this keeps very well as the fat seals the dish and also, apparently, it is better after a couple of days wait as this helps the flavours meld.  I have tested neither of these suppositions.

Confit of Duck

Prepare Duck Legs for Confitting

Wash and dry your duck’s legs,  rub generously with coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and put them in an airtight plastic container in the fridge for 24 hours.  You can add herbs (thyme is good) and garlic. 

Confit the prepared legs thus …

~   Brush off all the salt, pepper and other seasoning (see above).
~   Wash as thoroughly as heck under cold running water and then soak in cold water for 10 minutes, changing two or three times because you really don’t want this to end up too salty.
~   Whilst soaking the legs bring all your reserved duck fat to a simmer in an ovenproof pan.  If you haven’t enough add some goose fat which can be bought at the supermarket. You need enough to cover the legs (ignore my photos!).
~   Preheat the oven to 275°F/140ºC/120ºC fan/gas 1.
~   Shake the legs dry and add to the simmering fat.  I also added some coarsely chopped black garlic and more black pepper.
~   Cover the pan with a lid or foil and cook for about 2½ hours till utterly tender.
~   Cool to room temperature and then transfer to a clean, dry plastic container and pour over the fat and juices to cover completely.  Chill till needed.

To serve confit of duck

~ Heat a heavy based frying pan.
~ Lift your legs, so to speak, out of the fat and put skin side down into the hot pan to sear.  Transfer skin side up to an ovenproof dish and finish warming through in a medium hot oven – about 400ºF/200ºC/180C fan/gas 6, the skin should be crisp. 

Have ready some cooked potatoes, toss them in the residual duck fat in the frying pan and roast alongside the duck. 

Happily the duck juices and flavourings form a delicious goo under the fat as the confit cools in the fridge so use a spoonful or two of this to make a pan sauce for the duck. It might be quite salty (depending on your rinsing prowess) so use abstemiously, tasting as you go, adding something acidic such as orange juice can counterbalance too much salt. I added a little duck stock (see above) and port to the sauce.

Any unused confitted duck should be kept completely covered by the fat till you need it.  Once you have used all the duck reserve the fat that is left over for next time you do some confitting – or roast potatoes in it.

Rumour has it that Confit of Duck will keep for ages; well it doesn’t in our house!  Too yummy by far being savoury, tender and unctuous.

Spicy Duck and Cashew Noodle Stir Fry

For this I cheated a bit which, if you are familiar with Sudden Lunch you will know is not typical of me.  I bought some ready cooked Chilli & Coriander Noodles yesterday from M & S.  Having procured said noodles I assembled the rest of the stir fry ingredients …

Then, as you probably can imagine I …

~   Stir fried the onion, ginger, garlic and carrot till taking colour and softening.
~   Added the green veggies till bright and lovely.
~   Stirred in the duck meat and noodles and tossed all together till hot.
~   I added the cashew nuts and a little fresh coriander.
~  Tasted the concoction and added a little Sweet Chilli Sauce and a dash or two of soy sauce.

This was very delicious!  I didn’t use all of the noodles so was able to also make …

Duck Noodle Soup

I went a bit fusion because I do like some crunch with my food – I shredded and crisply fried half a poppadom.

So there you have it; how to have your wicked way with a duck!  I still have one leg and one breast to eat so that will make a total of umm … 7 meals for lucky me. Yippee!