Ingredients.—1 large duck, pepper and salt to taste, good beef gravy, 2 onions sliced, 4 sage-leaves, a few leaves of lemon thyme, thickening of butter and flour. Mode.—After having emptied and singed the duck, season it inside with pepper and salt, and truss it. Roast it before a clear fire for about 20 minutes, and let it acquire a nice brown colour. Put it into a stewpan with sufficient well-seasoned beef gravy to cover it; slice and fry the onions, and add these, with the sage-leaves and lemon thyme, both of which should be finely minced, to the stock. Simmer gently until the duck is tender; strain, skim, and thicken the gravy with a little butter and flour; boil it up, pour over the duck, and serve. When in season, about 1½ pint of young green peas, boiled separately, and put in the ragoût, very much improve this dish. Time.—20 minutes to roast the duck; 20 minutes to stew it. Average cost, from 2s. 3d. to 2s. 6d. each. Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons. Seasonable from November to February; ducklings from April to August.
DUCK, Wild, Hashed.
Ingredients.—The remains of cold roast wild duck, 1 pint of good brown gravy, 2 tablespoonfuls of bread-crumbs, 1 glass of claret, salt, cayenne, and mixed spices to taste; 1 tablespoonful of lemon or Seville orange-juice. Mode.—Cut the remains of the duck into neat joints, put them into a stewpan, with all the above ingredients; let them get gradually hot by the side of the fire, and occasionally stir the contents; when on the point of boiling, serve, and garnish the dish with sippets of toasted bread. Time.—About ¼ hour. Seasonable from November to February.
DUCK, Wild, Ragoût of.
Ingredients.—2 wild ducks, 4 shalots, 1 pint of stock (see [Stock]), 1 glass of port wine, 1 oz. of butter, a little flour, the juice of ½ lemon, cayenne and salt to taste. Mode.—Ducks that have been dressed and left from the preceding day will answer for this dish. Cut them into joints, reserve the legs, wings, and breasts until wanted; put the trimmings into a stewpan with the shalots and stock, and let them simmer for about ½ hour, and strain the gravy. Put the butter into a stewpan; when melted, dredge in a little flour, and pour in the gravy made from the bones; give it one boil, and strain it again; add the wine, lemon-juice, and cayenne; lay in the pieces of duck, and let the whole gradually warm through, but do not allow it to boil, or the duck will be hard. The gravy should not be too thick, and should be very highly seasoned. The squeeze of a Seville orange is a great improvement to this dish. Time.—About ½ hour to make the gravy; ¼ hour for the duck gradually to warm through. Seasonable from November to February.
DUCK, Wild, Roast.
Ingredients.—Wild duck, flour, butter. Mode.—Carefully pluck and draw them; cut off the heads close to the necks, leaving sufficient skin to turn over, and do not cut off the feet; some twist each leg at the knuckle, and rest the claws on each side of the breast; others truss them as shown in our illustration. Roast the birds before a quick fire, and, when they are first put down, let them remain for 5 minutes without basting (this will keep the gravy in); afterwards baste plentifully with butter, and a few minutes before serving dredge them lightly with flour; baste well, and send them to table nicely frothed, and full of gravy. If overdone, the birds will lose their flavour. Serve with a good gravy in the dish, or orange gravy, and send to table with them a cut lemon. To take off the fishy taste which wild fowl sometimes have, baste them for a few minutes with hot water to which have been added an onion and a little salt; then take away the pan, and baste with butter. Time.—When liked under-dressed, 20 to 25 minutes; well done, 25 to 35 minutes. Average cost, 4s. to 5s. the couple.
ROAST WILD DUCK.