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To Roast Wild-Fowl (Per inside the duck then half)
per, inside the duck, then half cook it in the Dutch or common oven. Dredge it with flour, pepper, and salt, and cover it with water in a stewpan, in which put some sprigs of mint and parsley. When nearly done, strain off the gravy, and return it to the pan, adding either a glass of port wine, or, a good pint of young peas, and a little sugar, and stew again.
A RICH STEW OF DUCK (for an Entrée). 505. Cut a fine young duck into joints, and lay it in a large shallow tin pan. Pour over it a pint of strong beef broth or gravy. Scum it when it begins to boil. Season well with cayenne, sage, and lemonpeel, and simmer from three quarters of an hour to an hour. Thicken the gravy with a table-spoonful of flour, and flavour it with a glass of port-wine, and some lemon-juice. Serve it hot.
Two duck preparations run together here; the second, the rich stew for an entrée, is complete and workable. Both rely on long moist cooking rather than roasting, which suits the dense muscle of duck legs.
- The vesselA "large shallow tin pan" set over direct heat is what we would call a sauté pan or wide braiser. Width matters more than depth: the joints should sit in one layer so the pint of broth comes about halfway up them.
- Jointing a duckCut off the legs at the hip, split the breast from the carcass and halve each breast, then reserve the back and wingtips. Brown the pieces in their own fat first if you want colour; the recipe skips this step, and the stew is paler for it.
- Timing by cutThree quarters of an hour to an hour is right for legs and thighs, which need that time to turn tender. Breast meat will be grey and firm long before then, so either add it for the last ten minutes or cook it separately.
- Seasoning balanceCayenne, sage and lemon peel is a robust trio. Use the peel in wide pared strips and pull them out before serving, or the pith turns the gravy bitter over an hour of simmering.
- ThickeningA tablespoon of flour into a pint of liquid gives a light sauce, not a gravy. Slake it with a little cold broth or soft butter before stirring it in, and give it several minutes at a simmer so the starch loses its raw taste.
- The portAdd the wine after thickening, as written, then let it bubble two or three minutes. Port stirred in at the last second tastes of alcohol; the lemon juice, by contrast, should go in off the heat.
- SkimmingDuck throws a great deal of fat. Scum at the boil as instructed, then skim again before thickening, or the flour will bind the fat into the sauce and make it greasy.
- YieldOne duck jointed this way serves three to four as a main course, or six as the small entrée course the original has in mind. Serve with something plain: boiled potatoes, or the young peas suggested in the preceding method.