Do you ever cook duck

Amarante

Tue, Jun 30 2020, 10:07 am

ra_mom wrote:

Sounds good - I should do that!

I was going through my cookbook collection and thought of you. The recipe is chiefly about the sauce but if you want to sub another sauce, you can follow the cooking technique for your special breast. I did think you could make chicken breasts for the rest of your family and then use the sauce for the chicken as well as your breast.

Speaking of ducks, I happened to be going through the Gourmet Glatt on-line order form and they had duck available and it noted that it was missing a wing. I wondered how they got a whole shipment of ducks with only one wing. I remember years ago I brought a free range chicken to my mother because we were cooking together and the duck had a deformed leg. My mother had a wonderful cynical sense of humor and I still remember her looking at the duck and stating that this guy wasn't ranging freely anywhere and how did I wind up with a crippled free ranger. LOL

Anyway here's the recipe - it's from a British cookbook as Woolworths is not a place where ANYONE would purchase a duck breast in the States. Very Happy

Duck Breast with Black Cherry, Port and Redcurrant Sauce

Serves 6–8

This is a totally delicious dish. I created it one x-mas when oranges were hard to find, and have made it several times since. The sauce will also go well with ham. Use a 155 g bottle of Staffords Redcurrant Jelly, which is widely available. Zuri
Sauce:

1 x 425 g can pitted black cherries in syrup (The cherries should not be canned in thick sugar syrup; the syrup should be fairly thin and not very sweet. Try Goldcrest’s cherries.)
62 ml (¼ cup) water
15 ml (1 Tbsp) chicken stock powder
125 ml (½ cup) port wine (try KWV Tawny Port)
125 ml (½ cup) liquid from can of cherries
125 ml (½ cup) redcurrant jelly
15 ml (1 Tbsp) finely grated lemon zest
30 ml (2 Tbsp) freshly squeezed lemon juice (Keep any extra lemon juice you may have squeezed out, as it may be needed later to adjust the taste.)
2 ml (¼ tsp) ground cinnamon
a pinch of ground nutmeg
a tiny pinch of ground cloves
10 ml (2 tsp) cornflour - extra 30 ml (2 Tbsp) water
6–8 duck breasts (Woolworths usually have them)
butter, chicken or duck fat, or a little oil for frying
salt to taste

Make the sauce first, as it can be made ahead and kept in the fridge. Drain the cherries in a sieve, saving the liquid.

In a pot, combine all the ingredients, except the cherries, cornflour and extra water.

Stir over a medium heat until the redcurrant jelly dissolves, then boil quite vigorously until about 1 cup of liquid is left. This doesn’t take very long. If in doubt about the amount of liquid left in the pot, remove from the heat, cool slightly, and pour into a measuring cup. If just over 1 cup, that’s also fine.

Pour back into the pot. Mix the cornflour with the extra water, add to the sauce and bring to a simmer while stirring. Let the sauce thicken, and then remove from the heat. Taste for seasoning. I usually do not add salt as it doesn’t seem necessary. At this point you can add more lemon juice if the sauce is too sweet – a lot will depend on your brand of cherries. Now add in about ¾ cup of the cherries in the sieve. (Save any left over, chilled, for another use). The sauce should be fairly thick.

Score the fat layer on the duck breasts neatly into diamonds. Fry the breasts over a fairly high heat, first on the skin side, then flip over. Do not overcook – the tendency these days is towards under-done duck breasts, but this is personal preference. Season with salt and serve with the sauce.

Amarante

Tue, Jun 30 2020, 1:36 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Can I simply bake duck in duck sauce:)

If this is a serious question, the answer is yes and no.

You can cook anything with anything - so yes you can.

However, the result would not be particularly good. Duck sauce is sweet with no underlying notes. Duck needs more complex flavors which would have citrus, sour and other flavorings to complement the duck meat which is very rich - even if cooked properly.

Duck sauce is a condiment just as ketchup and mustard are condiments. I wouldn't eat spaghetti with just ketchup doused on it or bake fish with just mustard. Similarly duck sauce is meant to serve as a type of condiment used sparingly on the side.

Last edited by Amarante on Wed, Jul 01 2020, 6:06 pm; edited 1 time in total