Monday, November 06, 2006

Perfectly cooked crispy duck with spicy plum chutney

Crispy duck with pancakes and hoisin sauce has to be one of the best treats in a Chinese restaurant. Apart from in Chinese restaurants, I have seldom eaten duck - I remember a decidedly iffy duck a l'orange in France and that is about all. I did make a homemade version of duck with hoisin in the summer, following a recipe from Alistair Hendy's Home Cook, which involved braising the duck gently in a potent brew of soy, ginger, rice wine and star anise, amongst other ingredients, before roasting the bird to crisp up the skin. It was delicious. I had intended to make it again, but the three-fold process of braising, draining and roasting has seemed like a lot of effort in cooking terms ever since, not because I am a lazy cook but because the recipe required planning ahead.

Jamie's crispy duck doesn't really need much forward-planning, which is good because we were out most of the weekend and didn't have time to spend in the kitchen. I rubbed the duck with sage salt (obtained by bashing sage and salt together...) and stuffed it with more sage leaves and two halves of an orange, before sitting it on top a bed of the usual vegetables (carrot, garlic, onion, celery...) and roasting it. Meanwhile I made the plum chutney - a delectable mix of plums, sugar, water, cinnamon, star anise, orange zest, ground cumin.

The duck was served with the plum chutney and watercress (I've noticed that Jamie uses a lot of watercress. Is watercress the new rocket? or the new sundried tomato?). I know I've used a lot of superlatives during this project but I can't help myself: the duck was good, but the plum chutney was heavenly. We ate leftover duck and chutney in our sandwiches today but happily there is more chutney left. Some chutneys are too sweet; this one is absolutely perfect.. and the duck was very tasty too. Jamie suggests an alternative to the sage salt - that is, rubbing the duck with five spice and sticking a lump of ginger into its cavity. I suspect I will feel the need to try this alternative, if only as an excuse for more duck and more chutney...

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love meat with sweet sauce i.e. swedish meatballs with lingonberry jam. I've never eaten duck in my life!! so that is all I have to contribute to this comment, LOL, apart from saying it looks LOVELY and GORGEOUS. How is that for superlatives?! LOL. Well done, Kathryn. :)

ilana

p.s. i have noticed Jamie uses fennel a lot too. is fennel the new celery i wonder?

Anonymous said...

I loved this dish too Kathryn, and the plum chutney is soooo heavenly I just made another batch! Isn't the mix of star anise and cinnamon just a wonderful aroma?
I went with the Asian vibe as Jamie suggests and dusted my duck with chinese five spice powder and the smell when it was cooking was divine.
My plum chutney is a lot paler than yours because I peel my plums first, I just find plum skins a bit tough in jams or chutneys. A personal preference...

I also garnished mine with a mix of watercress and rocket salad, very peppery and lovely!

Good Job!

Anonymous said...

It really is worthwhile spending an hour gently stewing duck, even in plain water. Best to add soy sauce with a little salt and sugar with star anise too. Then another hour in a hot oven and you have perfect crisp duck with no fat and juicy, succulent flesh that falls off the bone.

Just plain roasting is hit and miss.

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