No. 1939

Duckling, Peasant Style

Caneton a la Paysanne

Blanch and braise a small curled cabbage after cutting it in quarters and taking out the core, blanch separately some trimmed carrots and turnips, and celery root cut like cloves of garlic. Fry six ounces of half inch pieces of bacon in a saucepan, remove it with the skimmer leaving the fat in the sauce-pan, and in this fry very slowly a clean duckling trussed-as for an entree (No. 178); when of a fine color moisten it with a little white wine and let this fall quickly to a glaze, then remoisten with a very little stock (No. 194a), and bring it twice to a glaze. After the duckling is partly cooked, put in the bacon and vegetables, moisten with broth to half the height finish cooking the whole very slowly on the fire or else in the oven. At the last moment untruss the duck and dress it on a dish, surrounding it with the garnishings and the quartered cabbage; lengthen the stock with a little more gravy, strain and thicken it with either some sauce or kneaded butter (No. 579); boil for two minutes, strain and pour it over the duck.

← No. 1938 Duckling with Green Mayonnaise and Fine Herb Duck & Goose No. 1940 Salmis of Duckling →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a professional brigade with stocks and sauces already made, and cross-references numbered recipes the home cook does not have. The dish itself is a straightforward braise: a duckling cooked slowly in fat with bacon and blanched vegetables, finished with its own thickened cooking liquid.

The hinge: brown, then glaze twiceThe hinge: brown, then reduce to a glaze more than once -- The colour and the successive reductions (the wine to a glaze, then the stock brought twice to a glaze, as Ranhofer words it) are what give the finished sauce its depth. Rushing this stage, or adding all the liquid at once, produces a pale, watery braise no amount of later thickening will fix.
Duckling sizeRanhofer specifies only a small duckling. A young bird of roughly 3 to 4 lb is a reasonable reading, and a supermarket Pekin duck of that weight will substitute; expect it to serve two, perhaps three.
"Trussed as for an entree"The cross-reference is to Ranhofer's own trussing instructions, which are not reproduced here; in practice it means legs and wings tied close to the body so the bird holds a compact shape in the pan. Any standard trussing works. The instruction to untruss before dressing simply means cut the strings off before serving.
Stock and sauce referencesNo. 194a is one of Ranhofer's numbered stocks and No. 579 is the kneaded butter he names, beurre manie: equal weights of soft butter and flour kneaded together and whisked into the simmering liquid off the boil. Good unsalted chicken stock stands in for the stock.
Blanching is not optionalCabbage, carrot, turnip and celery root are all blanched briefly in boiling water and drained before they join the braise, as Ranhofer directs. It takes the raw edge off the cabbage and turnip and keeps them from muddying the sauce.
BaconSix ounces cut in half-inch pieces points to slab bacon or salt pork rather than thin breakfast rashers. Ranhofer does not say whether it is smoked; modern smoked bacon will dominate the dish, and can be blanched first if it is all you have.
Oven temperatureRanhofer gives no temperature, and offers the oven only as an alternative to finishing on the fire. As a modern equivalent for "very slowly," around 325F will do. Reckon 60 to 90 minutes after the vegetables go in, until a leg is tender at the joint.
FatA duckling renders a great deal of fat on top of the bacon fat. Skim before you lengthen and strain the cooking liquid, or the sauce will break when you thicken it.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of the restaurant's repertoire, and the numbered cross-references throughout the book reflect a professional kitchen where stocks and mother sauces were standing preparations. A la paysanne — peasant style — is classical French menu shorthand for a garnish of homely root vegetables and cabbage, usually with bacon, cut plainly and cooked in the same vessel as the meat; the same label attaches to soups and braises of veal and beef. The conceit is that the grand kitchen borrows the farmhouse's one-pot method while keeping its own standards of trimming and finishing, which is why the carrots and turnips are neatly shaped and the celery root cut, as Ranhofer specifies, to the size of garlic cloves. Duckling with cabbage belongs to a long French tradition of pairing rich fatty poultry with a vegetable that absorbs the fat, and the two reductions to a glaze are the professional discipline underneath the rustic name.