Canard en Daube
By corlear
You need 1 large duck or 2 small ones. One which is old and too tough for roasting will do very well for this dish.
Ingredients
- 1 large duck or 2 small ones
- strips of bacon
- handful of parsley
- 2 shallots
- chives
- a clove of garlic
- a bayleaf
- a sprig of thyme
- a few leaves of basil
- salt
- pepper
- a scrap of grated nutmeg
- 2 tumblers of white wine
- 2 tumblers of water
- a liqueur glass of brandy
Preparation
Step 1
You need 1 large duck or 2 small ones. One which is old and too tough for roasting will do very well for this dish.
Prepare a number of little strips of bacon and the following mixture of herbs:
A handful of parsley, 2 shallots, chives, a clove of garlic, a bayleaf, a sprig of thyme, a few leaves of basil, salt, pepper, a scrap of grated nutmeg.
Chop all these very finely and roll each strip of bacon in this mixture. Make incisions all over the duck and lard it with the pieces of bacon. Truss the duck and put it into a caserole or braising pan into which it just fits, and pour over it two tumblers of white wine, the same quantity of water and a liqueur glass of brandy. Cover the pan and cook the duck very slowly indeed for 3-4 hours. The sauce will reduce and, when cold, should turn to jelly.
When the duck is cooked, place it in the serving dish; leave the sauce to get cold, so that you can take off the fat, warm it again slightly and then pour it over the duck, and leave it to set. The duck will be very well cooked, so it will be perfectly easy to carve at the table.
If you are serving baked potatoes and have guests who like garlic, have a dish of aïoli (a mayonnaise which has been made with 2 cloves of garlic crushed in the bowl before putting the egg in) and put this on the potatoes instead of butter.