Preparation time
30 minutes + 14 days (dry-ageing and infusing)
Cooking time
2 hours
Serves
4
If you're looking for a rich, flavoursome dish to prepare for autumn, this half-roasted, dry-aged Maremma duck recipe by James Viles is just the thing. Paired with a glass of Pinot Noir or Grenache is simply divine.
Ingredients
1 Maremma duck, whole, cleaned and dry-aged 14 days
Glaze
Duck neck and bones
Water, as needed
Carrot, onion, shallot and garlic, chopped
Honey, as needed
White soy, as needed
Blueberry compote
250g blueberries
1 shallot
100ml mirin
50ml black vinegar
Salt, to taste
Pickled onions
500g cippolini onions, peeled
500ml Chardonnay vinegar
150g sugar
150ml water
Salt, to taste
Black peppercorns, toasted
Coriander seeds, toasted
Chilli oil, to taste
Sichuan vinegar
2 spring onions, sliced thinly, white and green slices kept separate
5 garlic cloves
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns, ground and toasted
60ml black vinegar
30ml white soy
125ml water
25ml sesame oil
25ml neutral oil
Daikon rolls
2 daikon, sliced into thin rectangles
Handful of radicchio, butter lettuce, gem lettuce, finely chopped and/or chives, spring onions, bronze fennel, garlic flowers, marigold, oxalis
Shiso vinegar
Recipe by James Viles
Photography by John Paul Urizar
Method
1. Clean duck, removing and reserving the neck, and cutting down either side of the breast and back bone before dry-ageing for 14 days. Reserve trim.
2. For the glaze: Roast necks and bones with mirepoix of carrot, onion, shallot and garlic. Add water to cover and cook 2 hours, skimming often. Strain and reduce mix with honey and white soy – reserve mix for basting
3. For the duck: Prepare coals for indirect cooking. Over the gentlest part of coals very slowly grill duck, lightly basting with the glaze, resting and returning to the grill until cooked. Rest again.
4. For the blueberry compote: Sweat shallots in touch of oil until soft, adding pinch of salt. Add 2/3 of the blueberries and cook until liquid leaks out and starts becoming soft. Add mirin and vinegar and cook out. Add remaining blueberries, cook for 2 minutes more. Adjust seasoning to taste and let cool.
5. For the pickled onions: Bring all ingredients to a boil, and onions and leave to cool. Store until ready to serve.
6. For the Sichuan vinegar: Caramelise white spring onion and garlic in oils. Add sugar and Sichuan peppercorns and deglaze with Chardonnay vinegar, soy and water. Add green spring onions.
7. For the daikon rolls: Dress sliced daikon with shiso vinegar and pinch of salt. Leave to soften for a few minutes, Fill with variety of herbs and salad leaves to taste. Dress all with same shiso vinegar and roll into tight cylinders.
8. Serve duck, sliced and separated, with condiments to the side in small bowls.
Chef’s Note: Shiso, also known as perilla, is a close cousin of mint with a spicy lick. Shisho vinegar is made by taking Sparkling wine and bringing it in a pot or pan to a near simmer, before pouring over shiso and leaving to infuse overnight.
Wine Match
Pinot Noir
Grenache