Glazed duck with apples

Saturday 3rd January 2015

This was a mish-mash of different recipes from the web, but was really meant for duck breast and the leg portions we had were not a good substitute. Even with fairly long and slow cooking they came out rather tough and sinewy. Nice flavours in the source and sauteed apples though.

Beer Braised Duck

Saturday, 14th December 2013

Based on this recipe, but without the yam cake.
That day, we happened to have bought some Kampot Pepper Beer, and I decided to indulge in the luxury of using some of the White Pepper Beer for this, which turned out very nicely. I overdid the soy sauce, but otherwise the duck came out with a great flavour and juicy texture. Served with rice (with plenty of white Kampot pepper) and Bok-Choy, which I cooked just by laying them on top of the duck for 10 minutes to steam.

Southern-Style Duck

Saturday, 7th April 2012

I've made this several times before with varying degrees of success. This time it was pretty good. Slice through the skin of a duck breast lengthwise in parallel cuts a few millimetres apart. Fry the duck breast skin side down for a few minutes until the skin is browned, then flip it and fry on the other side. Remove it from the pan (the centre will still be raw). In the duck fat fry some spring onions sliced into 1 inch pieces. Remove those too. Mix soup stock, soy and mirin and bring to a simmer. Slice the duck breast across into thin slices and then add it and the onions to the stock. Let it heat through for a minute or two only, enough to change the colour of the meat.
Cook some noodles (the recipe says Soba, but I like the fatter Udon noodles), drain and put the meat and onions of top, with some of the stock and top with sanshou pepper.

Roast Duck

Friday, 4th November

This time of year German supermarkets have lots of Duck and Goose in stock, for St Martin's Day feasts and I was able to get a nicely sized Duck for 2 people, about 4 lbs.
I salted the skin overnight and wrapped it loosely in paper to let it dry as much as possible. I made a stuffing of bread, onion, the flesh of an orange and some finely chopped smoked sausage. For trimmings there was the duck liver quickly fried with a little onion and server on a crouton, and little sausages wrapped in bacon. For veggies roast potatoes and roast pumpkin with coriander seeds and a little chili pepper.
The duck was pricked all over and then roasted for about an hour and a half first breast up then breast down, then finally up again and painted with a glaze made from sugar syrup, honey, soy sauce, fresh orange juice and a dash of hot pepper sauce.
The skin did not come out as crispy as I hoped but was still totally delicious. The meat was succulent and very favourful. The potatoes were unfortunately over-boiled and under-browned, but still good. The pumpkin needed less roasting time and a more even distribution of chilli(!), but was also good. Overall very successful.

Crispy Roast Duck with a Confit of Sour Cherries

Saturday, 29th January

Crispy Roast Duck with a Confit of Sour Cherries (Delia), tiny roasted new potatoes (ala Nigella), broccoli with almonds and rasberry vinegar - Sainsbury's Delicious Vegetables p12.  Salad of lambs lettuce, fennel salami and goats cheese.  Première Bulle Premium Crémant de Limoux 2007.

I like stuffing with my roast dinners, so I added a homemade sage, onion and salami stuffing to Delia recipe.  I got the duck at the local market (not from the supermarket, so it was not wrapped in cling-film) and the skin was nicely dry and came up beautifully crispy.  It was a little smaller than the recipe called for (enough for 3 probably) and I think 2 hours roasting was a little bit too long, although being stuffed it would have taken a bit longer than otherwise anyway.  It was certainly well cooked when it came out but was still lovely and moist without being too greasy.  The sour cheery confit was a delicious accompaniment to the meat.

The salad was a variation on one I did a couple of weeks ago with a different goats cheese and a different salami.  In this case the cheese was marinated in oil and thyme and is fabulous, but perhaps a little too intense for the salad.  The broccoli cooked for a little longer than I planned while I carved the duck, but turned out just right in the end.  The idea of adding flour to the potatoes to make them extra crispy was new to me, but worked very well.  I had no semolina so I used what I did have - chapati flour.

Southern-Style Duck

Sunday, 2nd January

Southern-Style Duck - Traditional Japanese Recipe Book p 30.  One of my favourites as a quick evening meal, pressed into service because Adolph's Brauhaus was closed.  Used a barbary duck breast with fattier and more yellow skin than normal.  The skin came out rather chewy.  Somen noodles were good although maybe a touch overcooked.