Herb Rubbed Duck With Tart Cherry And Sage Sauce Food

HERB-RUBBED DUCK WITH TART CHERRY AND SAGE SAUCE

Steps:

• 1. Herb rub. If using fresh bay leaves, pull out the center veins. Combine all the ingredients for the herb rub in a spice mill or blender and grind to a coarse paste.
• 2. Marinating the duck. Cut up the ducks by removing the 2 legs and the 2 boneless breasts (with skin) from each bird. Reserve the necks and carcasses. Score the skin on the breasts by drawing a very sharp knife across the skin in a diagonal crisscross pattern, 4 or 5 lines in each direction. Be careful to cut only into the skin and not into the flesh. This helps render the fat quickly when the breasts are cooked. Rub the duck breasts and legs with the herb paste as evenly as you can, rubbing some inside the scored cuts. Put them in a medium bowl, cover, and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or as long as 24 hours.
• 3. Stock. Cut the wings off the duck carcasses, remove as much skin and fat as comes off easily, and cut the carcasses in half (you can bend them until they snap, then cut between bones, or use a cleaver). You should now have 4 wings, 4 pieces of carcass, and 2 necks. Heat the oil in a large (6- to 8-quart) heavy-bottomed pot over high heat. Add these 10 pieces to the pot and brown them for 10 to 12 minutes, turning once or twice. This step is important for building flavor in the stock but not all of the surfaces need to be evenly brown. Pour off the fat that has accumulated in the pan, then pour in enough cold water to barely cover the bones. Bring the stock to a boil, turn the heat to very low, and skim off any fat or foam that rises to the surface. Add the onion, carrot, celery, thyme, and bay leaves and gently simmer uncovered for 2 to 3 hours.
• Sauce. Strain the stock, discard the bones, and return the stock to the pot. Add the wine, shallot, and cherries. Boil the sauce until it is thickened and reduced to about 2 cups, 45 to 60 minutes. (The sauce can be made a day ahead and refrigerated for up to 2 days.)
• Roasting the legs. Preheat the oven to 425°F. About 45 minutes before serving, heat a large (10- to 12-inch) ovenproof skillet (cast iron works well) over medium-high heat. Pour in a film of vegetable oil and heat. Add the duck legs skin side down and cook until the skin side browns, 4 to 5 minutes. Without turning the legs over, put the pan in the oven and roast for 10 minutes. Turn the duck legs and continue to roast until the skin is very brown and crisp and the meat is tender when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes longer. Remove them from the oven and let rest on a plate in a warm spot.
• 6. Sautéeing the breasts. When the legs have been in the oven for 20 minutes, begin to cook the breasts. Pour a thin film of oil into another large (12-inch) skillet and heat it over medium heat until hot. Add the duck breasts skin side down, reduce the heat to medium-low, and let cook slowly and undisturbed. After 5 minutes, about 1/2 inch of fat will have rendered into the pan, which will help render the remaining fat from under the skin. Continue to cook the breasts until the skin is very brown and crisp, another 5 to 10 minutes. If the rendered fat rises above the level of the skin and the duck meat begins to be submerged, pour some of it off into a small bowl. This will prevent the breast meat from overcooking before the skin is crisp. When the skin is crisp but not blackened, turn the breasts over and cook just 1 minute for rare or 2 to 5 minutes for medium-rare to medium. The meat should feel firm but still springy and an instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally into the breast should register 120°F to 125°F for rare, 130°F to 135°F for medium-rare to medium. The temperature will continue to rise about 10° as they rest. Transfer them to the plate with the legs and let them sit on the back of the stove for 4 to 5 minutes before carving.
• 7. Finishing. Bring the sauce to a simmer and stir in the chopped sage, thyme, and balsamic vinegar. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. Arrange the duck legs on a warmed platter or individual plates. Using a sharp thin knife, slice the breasts on a diagonal 3/8 inch thick and arrange the slices in a fan shape leaning against the legs. Pour the sauce over and around the duck.
• Resembling giant raisins, sweet and sour varieties of dried cherries from Yakima Valley in Washington are exciting and relatively new ingredients. Dried sweet cherries have a prunelike flavor, but the tart (sour or pie) cherries, which are usually processed with sugar, have a brilliant tangy flavor. When simmered with wine and duck stock, they make a balanced, savory, and full-flavored sauce that plays beautifully off the crispy citrus-rubbed duck in this recipe.

ROASTED DUCK BREAST WITH CHERRY SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven: 450 degrees In an ovenproof or cast iron pan, sear the meat skin side first until it's crispy. Then flip meat over and roast until juices run clear. Remove meat from pan and let rest. Drain fat from pan. Add shallots, vinegar and sugar, cook until liquid caramelizes. Add demi-glace and season with salt and pepper. Strain hot sauce and finish by adding butter and cherries. Place each breast on a plate and slice. Serve with cherry sauce poured on top.

CRISP-TENDER ROAST DUCK WITH CHERRY-ROSEMARY SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• Rinse the duck inside and out and pat dry. Trim any excess fat from the neck and cavity, snip off wingtips and discard. Mix 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl, and sprinkle the bird inside and out. Using a paring knife, make dozens of slits through the skin and fat (taking care not to pierce the meat) all over both sides and all parts of the bird.
• Put the duck breast-side up on a rack in a roasting pan and roast for 1 hour. Take the bird out of the oven, transfer to a platter and carefully drain the fat from the pan into a measuring cup (you'll end up getting 2 to 3 cups). Return the duck to the pan, prick with the knife again, turn it breast-side down and roast another hour. Repeat each hour, roasting the duck for a total of 4 1/2 hours.
• While the duck cooks, make the sauce: In a small saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon duck fat over medium heat and cook the shallots until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add the cherries, stock, preserves, honey and rosemary, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the lemon juice, swirl in the butter and taste for salt and pepper. Set aside until the duck is finished.
• After 4 1/2 hours of roasting, turn the oven temperature up to 350 degrees F, prick the duck skin one last time, salt the skin again and return bird to the oven, breast-side up. Roast for 30 minutes until the skin is nicely browned.
• Remove from the oven, tent with foil and let rest for 20 minutes. Gently reheat the sauce over low heat. Carve the duck, put the pieces on a serving platter and serve with sauce.

HONEY-LACQUERED DUCK WITH SOUR CHERRY SAUCE

Steps:

• Put 10-12 sage leaves into a small saucepan with 1 cup of water and bring to the boil; simmer for 7 minutes and remove from heat; remove leaves and allow to cool.
• Wash the duck out and pat dry with paper towels; season generously with salt and put on a plate in the refrigerator to air-dry for 1 hour (2 hours is even better ;-) ).
• In a small saucepan, combine sage infusion, honey, balsamic vinegar and soy sauce and bring to the boil; boil at medium-high heat for 7-8 minutes until mixture becomes slightly syrupy and is reduced to 2/3 of a cup; pour 1/3 cup+ 1 tblsp into measuring cup and keep remainder in saucepan.
• Preheat oven to 415F°.
• Put duck in roasting pan, breast-side-down and roast for ½ an hour (drain fat off, retain); turn duck breast-side-up and roast ½ an hour longer (drain fat off again, retain); brush duck with the honey glaze and continue roasting 15 minutes; after the 15 minutes, turn duck so that it is breast-side-down again and brush with more honey glaze, do this once more after 15 minutes then turn duck breast-side-up again, brush with glaze and roast for a final 15 minutes; in all, the duck will have roasted a total of 2 hours and have had 4 glazings, 1 up, 2 down, and the last one up again; remove roaster from oven and allow duck to stand for 10 minutes while you finish the sauce.
• Pour off the fat you have retained into a small container (duck fat is great for frying potatoes!) and pour any accumulated duck juices into the saucepan containing the remaining honey glaze; add the cherries and any accumulated cherry juices as well as the cinnamon and bring to a boil; boil for 7-8 minutes, or until cherry sauce has become slightly-thickened and syrupy (if you want your sauce slightly thicker, you can sprinkle 1/2-3/4 tsp of cornstarch over cherries).
• Carve duck (in our case, this just means quartering the duck), and serve with the sour cherry sauce.
• Note: I have a special double-lined roaster, with one inclined tray with a hole in it fitting over a classic pan, this allows the fat to drain off the roasting meat, drip through the hole, and gather in the pan underneath; if you do not own this type of pan, use a classic roaster but drain fat off roasting duck more often.

SLOW ROASTED DUCK WITH ORANGE-SHERRY SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 500 degrees. In a large bowl, toss onions with melted butter. Season duck inside and out with salt and pepper. Place rosemary sprigs inside duck's cavity and then tightly pack with buttered onion mixture.
• Place duck in medium-size roasting pan, and roast for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees and cover pan loosely with foil. Roast for about 4 1/2 hours, draining fat every hour.
• Remove pan from oven and carefully discard as much fat as possible with a ladle. Add orange juice, sherry and soy sauce. Return pan to oven and roast uncovered for 30 minutes. Transfer duck to a platter and let cool slightly. Pour pan juices (about 4 cups) into a saucepan, discarding any pieces of skin. Skim off fat and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add carrots and reduce to 1 1/2 cups, strain and keep on the side. In same pan, sauté mushrooms with 2 tablespoons butter until brown. Add red peppers and briefly sauté, then add reduced sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm over low heat.
• Remove onions and rosemary from duck's cavity. Remove meat from bones. Place skin from duck breasts onto cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees until skin starts to foam, about 5 to 10 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 200 degrees and place meat in oven to keep warm until serving.
• Cover bottoms of individual plates with sauce and top with either pasta, shoestring fries, hash browns or unsalted potato chips. Place a generous amount of duck meat on top, then garnish with crispy skin, vegetables and chives.

DUCK WITH CHERRY SAUCE

Steps:

• Prick skin of duckling well and place breast side up on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Tie drumsticks together. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 2 to 2-1/2 hours or until juices run clear and a thermometer reads 180°. (Drain fat from pan as it accumulates.) Cover and let stand 20 minutes before carving. , Meanwhile, for sauce, combine preserves and vinegar in a small saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until heated through. Serve with duck. Garnish platter with fruit and kale if desired.

DUCK IN HONEY AND SAGE SAUCE WITH RHUBARB RELISH

Steps:

• For the relish, place the onion, rhubarb, currants, sugar and water into a saucepan and simmer 30 minutes until tender.
• Stir in the balsamic vinegar and cool.
• Melt the butter in a skillet and lightly fry the duck pieces on both sides.
• Add the shallots and cook until soft.
• Carefully remove the duck pieces and keep warm.
• Strain off any excess fat.
• Add the wine to the shallots and bring to the boil; stirring, then add the honey and lemon juice.
• Stir until the honey has dissolved, then add the sage, lemon rind and seasoning.
• Stir in the cream and heat through thoroughly.
• Return the duck pieces to the skillet, cover and simmer very gently for 15 minutes, or until tender.
• Place the duck pieces on a warm serving dish.
• Remove the lemon rind from the sauce and spoon over duck pieces.
• Serve garnished with the rhubarb relish and accompanied by minted new potatoes and green peas.