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Wild Duck
(Anitra selvatica) Clean the duck, putting aside the giblets, and cut off the head and legs. Chop fine a thick slice of ham with both lean and fat together, with a moderate amount of celery, parsley, carrot and half medium sized onion. Put the chopped ham and vegetables in a saucepan and lay the duck on the whole, seasoning wtih salt and pepper.
Brown on all sides and add water to complete the cooking.
Cabbage or lentils, cooked in water and afterward allowed to complete the cooking in the sauce obtained from the duck, form a good addition.
To remove the "gamey" taste from the wild duck, either wash it in vinegar before cooking or scald it in boiling water.
A one-pot braise built on a chopped ham-and-vegetable base, written for birds that arrived whole and unplucked. The instructions assume you know what a wild duck is like; a few notes fill the gaps.
- The hinge: liquid, not roasting"Add water to complete the cooking" means a slow braise, not a roast. Wild duck is very lean compared with a farmed Pekin, and the breast will turn to leather if treated as a roasting bird. Keep the pot at a bare simmer, covered, adding water in small amounts as it reduces.
- The battutoThe chopped ham, celery, parsley, carrot and half onion are a battuto, browned to make the flavour base. Use about 3-4 oz of a fatty cured ham such as prosciutto or pancetta; the fat is doing the work of oil, so add only a spoonful of extra fat if the pan looks dry.
- TimingNo time is given. A wild mallard takes roughly 1 to 1 1/2 hours of gentle simmering to become tender; teal and other small ducks, 45 minutes or so. Test at the thigh joint rather than by the clock.
- Which duckWritten for shot birds. A supermarket duck will work but is far fattier - render some fat out before adding the ham, or the sauce will be greasy. Domestic duck also needs no vinegar or scalding, as it has no gamey taste to remove.
- ShotAny bird actually taken with a shotgun may carry pellets and bone fragments. Run a finger through the flesh before cooking, and warn whoever is eating.
- Vinegar or scaldingThe vinegar wash is a period trick for strong-tasting birds. A soak in salted water or milk in the refrigerator overnight is often suggested instead, with less effect on the skin. Scalding loosens the skin and is best skipped if you want it to brown.
- Cabbage and lentilsBoth are par-cooked in plain water first, then finished in the duck's sauce. Use a lentil that holds its shape; roughly a cup dry for two ducks, added for the last 20 minutes so they take up the fat.
- The gibletsThe recipe sets them aside without saying what for. Heart and gizzard can go into the pot with the battuto; the liver is better fried separately at the end, as it goes bitter with long cooking.
- YieldOne mallard serves two, generously, with the cabbage or lentils. Small ducks are one per person.
The technique here is essentially in umido - browned in a battuto, then finished in liquid. The pairing with lentils or cabbage is frugal, both being winter keepers that soak up rendered fat and stretch a single bird across a table. Wildfowl was still widely marketed in American cities in the early twentieth century, before migratory bird laws sharply restricted the trade.