Home › To Stew a Wild Duck › To Stew a Wild Duck
To Stew a Wild Duck
509. Chop some sage and sweet-herbs very fine, into some good stock, add half a glass of port-wine, some lemon-juice, pepper and salt, and stew the herbs for more than ten minutes; meantime, the duck should be roasting in a Dutch oven, and when rather more than half-roasted, should be added, with the gravy from it, to the stew; the gravy should be allowed to cool a little, that the fat may be carefully excluded; and the whole simmered gently till done. Or, the duck may be cut up in joints when put into the stew. In any case, care must be taken that the gravy shall well moisten both the exterior and interior of the duck.
A two-stage method: the bird is part-roasted for colour and rendered fat, then finished in a herb-and-port broth. The single thing that decides the result is how long it simmers after it joins the stew.
- "Dutch oven" hereIn British cookery of this period a Dutch oven is usually the tin reflector screen stood in front of an open fire rather than a lidded cast-iron pot. The recipe gives no temperature; a hot modern oven, around 425-450F, on a rack over a tray, will part-roast the bird and let the fat drain so it can be poured off.
- Half a glass of portA wineglass in period cookery is generally reckoned at about 2 fl oz, so half a glass is roughly 1 fl oz, about 2 tablespoons. Ruby or tawny both work; the point is sweetness against the lemon juice.
- Sweet-herbsPeriod sweet-herb mixtures vary, commonly parsley, thyme, marjoram or savory, with the sage named separately here. Chop them fine as directed; they stay in the stock rather than being lifted out.
- Don't over-simmer the breastWild duck breast is lean and dark and turns dry and livery past about 135F internal. Half-roast the bird 15-20 minutes, then give it only 10-15 minutes in the gently simmering gravy. If you want the legs properly tender, take the option offered and joint the bird, giving legs a long simmer and adding the breast for the last few minutes.
- Skimming the fatThe instruction to let the roasting gravy cool is worth following literally: wild duck fat carries most of the strong flavour people object to. Cool until the fat sets at the edge and lift it off before combining.
- Basting inside and outThe closing sentence is the practical hinge. Spoon gravy into the cavity as well as over the skin, or the interior meat cooks dry while the outside braises.
- ShotAny shot bird may hold pellets, particularly in the breast and along the wings. Feel over the meat before cooking and warn anyone at the table.
- YieldA mallard serves two; teal and widgeon are one bird per person. Scale the stock to just cover the joints rather than to a fixed volume.