Roast Duck with Molasses and Black Peppercorn Sauce
Denise Landis is the founder & CEO of The Cook's Cook.
This recipe is featured in Duck
- Servings Serves 4
Ingredients
- Two 4-pound ducks
- 237ml (1 cup) red wine vinegar
- 59ml (¼ cup) Tupelo or other honey
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 medium shallots, peeled and minced
- 473ml (2 cups) veal stock or chicken broth
- 59ml (¼ cup) blackstrap molasses
- 1½ tablespoons whole black peppercorns, crushed
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 113 grams/4 ounces/1 stick well-chilled unsalted butter, cut into 8 slices
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 177° C/350° F. Set ducks on a rack in a large roasting pan. Blend vinegar and honey in a small bowl. Brush mixture over ducks, season with salt and pepper to taste. Roast breast side up for 25 minutes.
2. Turn ducks over and cook until golden brown and crisp, about another 20 minutes. Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and sauté until brown, about 5 minutes. Mix in stock, molasses, peppercorns and vanilla bean. Reduce, stirring, to about 1⅓ cups, about 15 minutes. Remove vanilla bean, season with salt. Reduce heat to low. Whisk in the butter 1 piece at a time. Keep warm.
3. Cut breast meat off ducks and slice in ½ inch thick pieces, then fan out on serving plates. Arrange leg and thigh portions alongside. Spoon the sauce over. This is excellent served with sweet potatoes that have been roasted or cut into sticks and deep-fried.
Another way to serve this is to remove the duck meat and shred it by hand, then dress it with the sauce and serve it as a warm appetizer in a mound on a plate with salad greens, or in small mounds on endive leaves or slices of toast.
Denise Landis
Denise Landis had been employed as an archeologist for seven years before a food editor hired her to test some recipes from a cookbook manuscript. This short stint led to longer assignments, and two years later she began testing recipes for the New York Times. She has been a professional recipe tester and editor for over 25 years, is the author of a New York Times cookbook, and has written for numerous publications. She is a member of the New York Chapter of Les Dames d’ Escoffier.
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