DUCK SOUP
1 May, 2009
Spring's a great time for duck. Deliciously iridescent dib-dabbing mallards
quacking across the ponds amorously at their bevies of brindled she-duck. And
more interestingly for our tables, a farmed roast duckling for Mayday holiday.
Not a tradition but a crispishly irresistible treat. And though a decent duck
will set you back a bit – they've waddled through a happy enough life.
Nigella Lawson reinvents recipes for poaching duck. This means you can cook
ahead and leave it in the fridge until it's wanted - finishing it off in a well
fired oven. It's the perfect way to make sure it's all juicily cooked without
going stringy. And it makes for an enriched and silken duck soup. Later.
So grab the bird in hand and pop it in your cauldron. Cover in water. Add salt
and I think some red wine vinegar. This cuts through the cloy of all that duck
fat and reduces the smell factor, which in a tiny chi chi apartment, can linger
unpleasantly for days, ruining the holiday atmos. And as The Belgian and I have
just made it through a year of wedded bliss, we need all the augurs on side.
Simmer, boil lightly, whatever, for about forty minutes and remove from the pot.
Cool off and put in the fridge. Now you can add the giblets to the liquid and
some sherry and reduce by about a third.
Fish out the bits and cool. When you
are good to go for the meal take the little ducky out of the fridge for an hour,
rub the skin vigorously with salt and lemon juice so that it puckers up a bit.
Now, there are very few reasons I would sacrifice my home-made marmalade to any
altar but toast. This is one. Spoon it liberally over the bird and pop into a
high oven. There It should sizzle, caramelise and crisp within half an hour. An
average duck will only have enough meat for a greedy two. Three at a push. But
who needs someone else muscling in?
Now here's the best bit. Remove the meat and
put the carcass back into the oven to roast the bones for an hour. Then put all
that back in the pot with the cold stock and simmer for another hour. You'll get
a fabulously rich elixir of bird. At this time of year, it's a sin to have
anything other than Jersey Royals. Boiled in their tattered skins with some
mint.And a curly leaf salad with spring onions, nicely dressed to chaperone your
orangey duck. Just so with a bottle of the Belgian's favourite Grande Corbières.
TENDER WORDS
Tender (2009) tells the story of Nigel Slater's love affair with his garden in
Islington and the many seedlings he has raised in his box-hedged vegetable patches. It’s a magnificent volume, like a medieval knightly
treatise with pictures of his Eden, its produce and many of the recipes he has created from them.
23 May, 2010
FOOD FROM THE HEART
Cooking is a basic human instinct. We’ve been eating, chopping, shaping, flavouring, enticing ingredients into something delicious
since time began. But as the way many of us live has changed, the basic skills we require to cook, are no longer valued and it’s often easier to
let others take control of what we eat.
21 April, 2010
IN A RIGHT FISH STEW
This week we had sustainable fish stew. It’s a quick and easy way to feed a gang of hungries on a Friday night and
doesn’t need much else but some good bread and wine. Like all stews, you need balance, rich liquid and a range of potent flavours steaming
from your pot.
15 March, 2010