Gadwall ducks
This recipe requires a couple of wild ducks
– any will do, Jane does not give specifics. There are only three kinds to
choose from – mallard, widgeon and teal – this was not always the case, there
used to be many legal game species of duck and waterfowl. The list includes
shovelers, gadwalls, pintail ducks, shelducks, mergansers, swans, cygnets and
moorhens. Some of those species are still shot for food in other European countries.
Moorhen
Iwent for widgeon, which is of a middling
size with each feeding one to two people. I had never eaten widgeon before and
was looking forward to it after the delicious mallard recipe I cooked last
Christmas (#323
Salmi of Game). The widgeon is a
relatively common duck, though being much less gregarious than the ubiquitous
mallard they are easily overlooked as they hang around in the centre of the
lake alone or in small flocks. If you are using the tiny teal, I would use
three or maybe four for this recipe.
Widgeon
Inside the ducks there is a stuffing made
with dried apricots from the Middle East. These are not the typical squidgy
ones found alongside the currants and raisins in the grocers; they are tiny and
whole and dried completely solid with their stones intact. They can be found in
any good Asian grocer’s shop.
Once you have procured your ducks and
apricots you can get going…
The night before you want to cook your
duck, soak three ounces of dried
apricots in water. To make the stuffing, remove the stones and roughly chop
the flesh of the apricots before cracking the stones to get to the kernels*.
Next finely chop enough celery stalks
to yield two healthy tablespoons worth and fry it gently in two ounces of butter for about 10 minutes until
almost tender. Mix the celery and butter into the apricots along with two
ounces of breadcrumbs made from
slightly stale bread. Season well with salt and pepper and loosely stuff two wild ducks with this mixture.
Next prepare the ducks’ cooking vessel for
braising by placing half a sliced onion,
half a teaspoon of thyme leaves and
three stalks of celery in the bottom
of a deep casserole dish. Jane is quite specific that the celery stalks must
from the heart of the head of celery. Place the duck on top and pour in enough
boiling water to come about half an inch up the side of the ducks. Pop the lid
on and cook in a ‘slow oven’ (about 160⁰C, or 325⁰F) for about an hour. Check
to see if you need to top up the water, then cook for a further 30 minutes.
When the duck is ready, remove it and place
it on a warm serving plate. Strain the liquor into a saucepan and reduce it to
produce a good, well-flavoured sauce. Season and thicken by mashing together a
tablespoon of flour with an ounce of
butter. Whisk in small knobs of this
mixture until the sauce is of the desired thickness. If you like a tablespoon
of bitter orange marmalade or redcurrant jelly can be dissolved in
the sauce.
Pour some of the sauce over and around the
ducks, serving the remainder of it in a jug or sauce boat.
#362 Braised
Wild Duck with Apricot Stuffing. I enjoyed the duck and the sauce very
much; the braising kept the duck tender and moist and produced a wonderfully
flavoured stock. The apricot stuffing was ok, but a little insipid. I think I
would have preferred make a forcemeat or sausage meat stuffing that could have
been made into balls to surround the ducks. Still, very good, 7/10.
