The protein part
of our New Year’s Day meal was a surplus Muscovy cross Cayuga Drake which we
processed in the Fall. Unfortunately we left him and his brother a little
longer than intended and they had started to grow new feathers which makes
plucking an incredibly hard and tedious task. In the end I skinned the legs and
wings which was a much quicker job. The breast I left with the skin on and whole. As
the duck legs and wings were skinned they could not be roasted along with the
breast as they would have dried out and became way too chewy to eat. They went
into the slow cooker as follows –
Brown the legs and
wings in a frying pan until colored, add a sliced onion, a sliced orange and
the chopped garlic. Once the contents of the pan have been frying a short while
remove the duck pieces and put them in the slow cooker. Turn up the heat in the
frying pan and add the wine (1 cup), let the pan simmer for a couple of minutes
making sure all the stuck on bits of duck have lifted off the bottom of the
pan. Pour this over the duck, add two cups of water and season with the salt
and pepper. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
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| Ingredients |
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| Frying it all together |
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| Reducing the wine |
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| Ready to cook |
Once cooked, the
meat is removed from the bones and placed aside. Thicken the sauce in the slow
cooker with some corn flour, once thickened add the duck back in into the sauce
and keep warm until ready to serve.
The duck breast
was simply seasoned and roasted with slices of orange, and rested well before being carved.
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| Ready for cooking |
The duck was
served with turmeric roast potatoes, bread sauce, honey roasted parsnips, green
beans and carrots.
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| The finished meal |
