Photography by Jo Vidrine
This Roast Duck from Marcelle Bienvenu pairs tender wild duck with bacon, mushrooms, topinambours, and sherry for a rich, savory main dish.
Rhena’s Roast Duck
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
- 4 teals or 2 mallards or pintail ducks
- 3 cloves garlic, slivered
- Kosher salt Cayenne pepper
- 2 cups coarsely chopped green bell peppers
- 2 cups coarsely chopped onions
- ½ cup dry sherry
- All-purpose flour
- 4 strips thick-sliced bacon
- 1 cup chicken broth 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced 1 pound topinambours (Jerusalem artichokes), peeled (see Tip) 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Make one or two slits (number depends on the size of the duck) in the duck breasts with a sharp-pointed knife. Insert one or two slivers of the garlic in each hole. Rub the outside and the cavities of the ducks with a liberal amount of salt and cayenne. Place the ducks in a large deep bowl.
- In another bowl, combine the bell peppers and onions. Stuff half of the mixture in the duck cavities, and put the remaining half around the ducks in the bowl. Add the dry sherry. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, turning the ducks several times in the marinade. Remove the ducks from the refrigerator; drain and reserve the marinade.
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Dust each duck liberally with flour and set aside.
- Fry the bacon in a large cast-iron pot over medium heat until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels, reserving bacon grease in pot. When the bacon is cool, crumble and reserve.
- Add the ducks to the pot and brown them in the bacon grease, turning often to brown evenly. Depending on how much bacon grease the bacon has released, you may have to add more bacon fat or vegetable oil to brown the ducks.
- Add the chicken broth and cook for 10 minutes. Add the reserved marinade mixture, cover, and bake until the ducks are tender. Baste occasionally with pan gravy and add more broth if gravy becomes dry.
- Add the mushrooms and topinambours, cover, and bake for 30 minutes, or until the topinambours are fork-tender. Remove from the oven. Add the reserved bacon and the parsley. Let the ducks sit for 10 minutes before carving to serve.
Notes
Marcelle’s Tip
Topinambours (Jerusalem artichokes), also called sunchokes or ground artichokes, are knobby, sunflower-family tubers with a nutty, sweet flavor, often compared to a mix of artichoke heart and potato. You can substitute turnips or red potatoes, unpeeled and cubed.
Topinambours (Jerusalem artichokes), also called sunchokes or ground artichokes, are knobby, sunflower-family tubers with a nutty, sweet flavor, often compared to a mix of artichoke heart and potato. You can substitute turnips or red potatoes, unpeeled and cubed.
