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Braised Duck
Prepare a brace of young ducks as for roasting; put them in a stewpan with two or three slices of bacon, one carrot, one onion stuck with two cloves and a little thyme and parsley; season with pepper, cover with broth to which one gill of white wine has been added. Simmer over a gentle fire until the ducks are tender, basting frequently; then remove, the ducks from the pan. Now cut up a turnip and fry till brown in butter; then drain and cook till tender in the liquor in the pan; strain the liquor, thicken and pour the gravy thus made over the ducks; garnish with the pieces of turnip.
CANVAS-BACK DUCK (Delmonico Style) - As this bird feeds mainly on wild celery it requires no spices in cooking. Its flavor is best preserved by roasting quickly with a hot fire, leaving it a little underdone. Dress it in the usual way and wipe with a wet towel. Truss its head under the wing, place in a dripping-pan and roast one-half hour, or twenty minutes if liked underdone, basting often. Season with salt and pepper and pour over it the gravy in the baking-pan.
Two recipes run together here: a French-style braise for domestic ducks, and Delmonico's fast roast for a wild canvasback. The braise translates directly; the second depends on a bird you cannot buy.
- A braceTwo ducks. The recipe gives no weight; a modern Pekin duckling of roughly 3 to 4 lb is a reasonable stand-in, and two will serve four to six.
- A gill of wineHalf a cup. The broth is unmeasured; expect 4 to 6 cups to cover two birds in a close-fitting pot.
- Stewpan and bastingKept at a bare simmer on the stovetop, not in the oven. The recipe says to cover the birds with broth but still to baste, so keep the level a little below the breast and spoon liquid over the exposed part every 15 minutes or so. Figure 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the leg joint moves freely.
- Skim the fatDuck throws a great deal of fat into the braising liquid, and this is the step the original omits. Strain, let it settle, and lift the fat off before thickening, or the gravy will be greasy. Save the fat for potatoes.
- ThickeningUnspecified, as was usual — about 1 tablespoon flour cooked in butter per cup of strained liquid, or reduce the liquid hard instead for a cleaner sauce.
- The onion stuck with clovesAn oignon clouté: whole cloves pushed into a peeled onion so they can be fished out. Two is the right number; more will dominate.
- TurnipsBrowned in butter, then finished in the strained braising liquid. Cut them in even 1-inch pieces and expect 15 to 20 minutes; older turnips will need peeling deeply to avoid bitterness.
- A hot fireThe recipe gives no temperature, only a quick roast at high heat. Half an hour on a small wild duck gives a pink breast; the twenty-minute version is the one the recipe offers for those who like it underdone.
- Canvasback is not for saleSelling wild waterfowl has been illegal in the United States since the market-hunting bans of the early twentieth century, so the bird reaches a kitchen only through a licensed hunter in season. A farmed duck substituted here will behave quite differently — far fatter, and not improved by being left underdone.
The canvasback's reputation rested entirely on its diet: the birds wintering on Chesapeake Bay and the Susquehanna flats gorged on the roots of wild celery (Vallisneria americana), and the resulting flesh was considered the finest of any American game bird, commanding prices at Delmonico's and the other New York houses that no domestic duck approached. That is why the note insists on no spices and a quick hot fire — the whole point was the flavor the bird had fed itself, and seasoning or long cooking was held to waste it. Market gunners shipped canvasbacks north by the barrel until the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 ended commercial waterfowl hunting; the wild celery beds themselves later declined sharply, and the bird's legendary table quality with them. The braise that opens the entry belongs to a different tradition altogether: a plain bed of bacon, carrot, clouted onion and herbs, the standard French treatment for a bird too tough or too lean to roast.