Ingredients
3 x size 18 ducks
salt and freshly ground black pepper
five spice
duck fat
Mandarin Puree
450g Homebrand sugar
600ml water
4 mandarins
Orange Syrup
500ml orange juice
125ml Brancott red wine
100g Homebrand sugar
Kumara Puree
700g kumara, peeled
150g Mainland butter, chopped into small pieces
50ml warm Anchor milk
600ml duck jus
6 small bok choy
Preheat oven to 160C. Remove the winglets from the ducks and smooth the breasts down with your hands so the breastbone is in a straight line. Using a sharp knife, cut along one side of the brestbone, come down the wishbone and cut through the wing joint. Turn the duck on its side and carefully take the breast off the bone up to the leg. Twist the leg from the socket and remove the leg from the carcass, keeping as much fat as possible. You should be left with half of the duck in one piece. Remove the wing bone and thigh bone and trim the fat off the breast. Run a knife around the tendons of the drumstick, scrape the bone away from you to clean and then chop off the joint with a sharp heavy knife. Trim the inside of the duck of any sinew or cartilage, then season with salt, pepper and five spice. repeat until you have six prepared duck halves.
Line a small deep roasting tray or brasing dish with baking paper. Spread a boned duck half onto a work surface, skin side down, roll the breast up and encase it in the leg fat, keeping it as tight as possible using your hands. Place the rolled duck into the roasting tray and repeat with the remaining ducks, packing them tightly together so that they do not move during cooking. Season with more salt, pepper and five spice. Cover with enough duck fat to comeabout three-quarters of the way up the drumstick, cover with another piece of baking paper and then cover the roasting tray with tin foil. Place in the oven for three hours or until the duck meat by the drumstick is soft to the touch. Allow ducks to cool in the fat and then carefully remove, place in a container, strain the fat over the ducks to cover and store in the fridge until ready to reheat.
For the mandarin puree, bring the Homebrand sugar and water to the boil to make a stock syrup, simmer until the sugar has dissolved then remove from the heat. Place mandarins in a small saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Strain the mandarins, cover again with cold water and repeat the process another seven times. Once the blanching is complete, cover in stock syrup and simmer for two hours. Remove from the heat and allow the mandarins to cool in the syrup. Once cooled, place the mandarins and about 100mls of the poaching syrup into a liquidiser and blend to a smooth paste. Pass the puree through a fine chinois and store in the fridge until required.
To make the orange syrup, place the orange juice, Brancott red wine and Homebrand sugar into a small saucepan, bring to the boil and reduce the liquid until it reaches a very syrupy consistency. Pass the syrup through a fine chinois and store in the fridge until required.
For the kumara mash, cut the kumara into small, even pieces, place in a saucepan with salt and cover with water. Bring the kumara to the boil and cook until soft. Drain the kumara well, allow to steam dry and place in a food processor with the butter. Process the kumara to a smooth puree, slowly adding the warm milk to get a silky consistency. Correct seasoning and keep warm.
To reheat the ducks, preheat oven to 220C. Place the ducks with a small amount of the fat in a large roasting tray, making sure they are well separated. Place in the oven and cook the ducks until they have gone crispy (about 15 minutes), basting with fat at regular intervals.
Bring duck jus to the boil and reduce by half. Add enough of the orange syrup to sweeten the sauce, being careful not to add too much as you don't want the sauce to be overly rich.
Bring a medium sized saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the bok choy for a few minutes, drain, butter and season. Reheat the kumara mash.
To serve, spoon some of the kumara mash on a plate with the bok choy next to it. Place the duck in the middle with a spoonful of mandarin puree to the side. Pour the sauce on the plate.
Serves 6
Tips
- When boning the duck, leave as much fat around the leg as possible to encase the breast.
- Always ensure the inside of the duck is well seasoned as you can not add extra seasoning later on.
- Taste the water when cooking eg, with kumara, make sure the water is well salted so the kumara absorbs the flavour.
- Blanch mandarins or any other citrus fruit in water to remove the bitterness from the pith.
- When reheating the duck it is extremely important to keep basting with duck so that the skin crisps up evenly.
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