Ingredients
(serves four)
2 whole mallards
Salt and pepper
Duck fat for roasting
Thyme
200g green cabbage, cooked and shredded
For the boudin (makes 16-20)
400g duck meat
200g foie gras
3 eggs
120g onion, thinly sliced
1 pint milk
2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
1 clove
5 juniper berries
100g white bread
50ml cream
Sausage skins
For the sauce (serves 16)
1kg chopped duck bones and carcasses
250g mirepoix of vegetables
2 juniper berries, crushed
1 sprig thyme
1 bay leaf
1 piece orange zest
2 cloves garlic, crushed
150ml Armagnac
200ml port
750ml chicken stock
200ml glace de viande
150g cream
100g butter
80-100g air-dried cherries
For garnish
Turnip tatin, sweet potato purée, pied de mouton
Method
To prepare the ducks, cut off the legs. Salt them as for confit and leave overnight. Wipe off the salt. Put in an ovenproof dish with duck fat and thyme. Cook in a slow oven for two hours until tender. Remove bones. Chop small and combine with the cabbage. Reserve.
For the boudin, blitz together the duck meat, foie gras and eggs. Cook the onion, milk, garlic, bay leaf, clove and juniper berries together until syrupy, then add the bread. Remove bay leaf and combine with the meat mixture, chill and mix in the cream. Pass through a drum sieve and use to fill sausage skins. Drop into boiling water until cooked.
Sauté boudin in duck fat before serving.
Bone out the duck suprêmes. Remove the backbones and chop into small pieces for stock.
For the sauce, roast the bones and carcasses until brown, add the mirepoix and caramelise slowly. Add the juniper, thyme, bay leaf, orange zest and garlic. Add Armagnac and reduce by two-thirds. Add the port and reduce by two-thirds. Add the stock and glace de viande and reduce to the desired consistency.
Take the breasts out of the film. Brush them with duck fat, season, sear in a frying pan and finish roasting in a hot oven for about five minutes. Rest.
Add a dash of cream to the sauce, boil, monté au beurre, check seasoning and add cherries.
To serve, Demetre slices the duck breast and lays it against a small pile of cabbage confit, with the boudin, a turnip tatin, sweet potato purée, a slice of pied de mouton and a little of the sauce to one side.