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DUCK, GRAVY FOR (another way)
Take the necks and gizzards of two ducks, a spoonful of port wine, half an anchovy, a blade or two of mace, a slice of the end of a lemon, an onion, and a little pepper; add a pint of water, and boil to half a pint; strain through a sieve on to a spoonful of browning made of burnt sugar, and pour over the ducks.
A giblet reduction of the old school: a small quantity of intensely flavoured stock, coloured with caramel rather than thickened with flour. It takes about 45 minutes and yields roughly a cup of thin, glossy gravy.
- Browning"Browning" here is not roux but burnt-sugar caramel — sugar cooked in a dry pan until dark and just short of bitter, then let down with a little water. A spoonful is enough for colour and a faint bitter edge; bottled gravy browning is the direct descendant and works as a substitute.
- Necks and gizzardsBoth will give more flavour if browned in a little fat before the water goes in, though the recipe does not call for it. Split the gizzards and rinse away any grit; if your ducks came with hearts, add those too. Livers are best kept back, as they can turn the gravy muddy and slightly bitter.
- Blade of maceMace is the lacy outer covering of the nutmeg, sold as brittle blades or ground. Two blades is somewhere in the region of a quarter to half a teaspoon of ground mace, but the whole blade is preferable because it can be strained out before it dominates.
- The anchovyHalf an anchovy is seasoning, not flavour you should be able to name — the Victorian stand-in for the savoury depth we now get from a splash of fish sauce or soy. It will dissolve into the liquid during the boil. Salt only after it has, since anchovy carries a good deal of its own.
- The lemon"A slice of the end" means a thick cut off the stem or blossom end, mostly peel and pith. It is there for the aromatic oil in the zest; the recipe leaves it in for the whole reduction, but taste as you go, since peel and pith can turn bitter.
- Reduce, then strainA pint boiled to half a pint is a fifty per cent reduction, so use a wide pan and keep it at a steady simmer rather than a rolling boil, which clouds the liquid. Strain through a fine sieve and let it settle a minute so the duck fat can be lifted off the top.
- Consistency and yieldThis is a thin, pouring gravy rather than a thickened sauce — roughly half a pint for two roast ducks, or four to six servings. Add any juices from the resting bird before serving.
Gravies of this kind — a small reduction built from the bird's own neck and gizzard, sharpened with anchovy and wine and darkened with burnt sugar — were common in English cookery for roast poultry through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the heading "another way" shows Cassell's gives more than one version. The anchovy is the fossil of an older taste: before commercial bottled sauces, cooks reached for salt fish, and Worcestershire and the various "store sauces" that eventually replaced it were themselves anchovy-based. Burnt-sugar browning was common enough in Victorian kitchens to be sold ready-made.