“The lamb was as good as any he had ever eaten, and the duck was even better, cooked with cherries and lemons and not near as greasy as most. The innkeep brought buttered pease as well, and oaten bread still hot from her oven.” -The Hedge Knight
Duck with Cherries and Lemon
Thoughts:
This was a special request from twitter commenter @theodinspire, who wondered if we’d tackled this recipe yet. It turned out that we hadn’t, but that description is so wonderful that it immediately went to the top of my list.
As you can see from the photo, the color of the finished dish is very striking. That vibrant red comes from the cherry juice and wine, which soak into the skin of the duck as it gets basted. The result is a tart, crisp skin and soft duck on the inside. The citrus and cherry pair well, but not at all in that cherry-ade slushie sort of way. Rather, it’s a kind of savory tartness, with just a bit of a kick from the ginger.
While I’m not sure about pease as a pairing, I think that our oatbread would be just wonderful next to this duck, the candied orange peel complimenting the lemon, while still being rustic enough for a country inn. Pretty decadent fare for a hedge knight!
Recipe for Duck w/Cherries & Lemons
Ingredients:
- 1 duck, about 4-5 lb.
- 1 lemon, zested, juiced
- 1 lemon, cut into thin slices
- 1 Tbs. ground ginger
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 2 cups fresh cherries
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
In a saucepan, combine all the ingredients except the duck and lemon slices. Simmer this mixture until the cherries are soft enough that their pits can be easily removed (if you have a cherry pitter, so much the better- I didn’t!). Press the mixture through a colander, discarding the pits, and saving the juices and crushed cherries.
Pat the duck dry and place in a roasting dish. Prick the duck all over with a fork, which will help the fat run off. Rub all over with the butter, then add a dash of salt. Pour half of the cherry-lemon mixture over it, toss in the lemon slices, and place the whole in the oven.
Baste the duck periodically: because of the chunks of cherry, a large spoon is better suited to this task than a baster. Cook for 1 1/2 hours, then check for doneness. When cooked through, remove the duck to a serving platter and allow to rest for a few minutes.
Serve with the remaining half of the sauce.
I notice a rather key ingredient lacking in your ingredients list ;)
On that note, I’ve never cooked duck before and this recipe is quite intriguing…I’m looking forward to poking around town for one to bring to table!
Picky, picky! I hope you can find that mystery ingredient to give the recipe a try. ;)
sounds delicious! I just bought your cookbook and am collecting the odds and ends that I don’t have in my cupboard to begin cooking. Thank you for food and research! Keep up the outstanding work Trude
A little while ago sweet cherries were on sale in my area and I ended up with 11 cups of pitted cherries. I still have 4 cups in my freezer and this dish sounds like a perfect way of using some of them up. I’ve made a sour cherry gastrique to go with roast duck before so I know I’d love this variation.
By the way, you should really invest in a cherry pitter. Mine is a multi-use one which also includes a garlic press/nut cracker. :)
http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/101901.html
Awesome!! I can’t wait to try this, though some friends of mine made crude cannible jokes, LOL!
So did it really come out not near as greasy as most? I love duck, but every time I’ve made it at home it’s come out really greasy, including the time I not only thoroughly pricked the duck with a fork but then spent longer than I care to admit blowdrying it. That sounds strangely dirty, but I swear I was told it would help render out the subcutaneous fat, which was my only object.
It certainly looks fantastic, and I’ve had such good luck with your other recipes…
‘Specially after “Rub all over with the butter” (Another invisible ingredient.) Pretty photo, but I’m suspicious about the duck fat quantity.
Well, mine didn’t come out all that greasy, and the fork technique seemed to draw a good deal of the fat out. I can’t make any guarantees, but I give it good odds in your favor. :)
I roast duck a couple of times a year (in my own butter/orange/brandy sauce). I put it on a roasting rack in the big roasting pan. That way it’s not sitting there in it’s own pool of duck fat. I do baste the duck with the sauce-infused fat but it still doesn’t come out greasy at all.
I was the reader! I will have to give this one a go.
https://twitter.com/theodinspire/status/222532083044716544