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Fat like Švejk

For many reasons, duck is a seasonal favorite

January 4th, 2006 issue

Perfect for a winter dinner, this grilled duck brings domestic cooking to center stage.

From the chef: Jan Škrle

Duck is as Czech as the Good Soldier Švejk is chubby. This recipe combines the opulent dark meat with a fluffy potato terrine wrapped in pastry and delicate baby vegetables cooked to perfection, so as not to waste their inherent gentle flavors and textures. The duck and dumplings that you get at your favorite pub this is not, but why imprison such a beautiful bird to only one traditional dish?

Rich and flavorful, duck breast is well-protected by a thick layer of fat that keeps these healthy birds warm, as well as their meat moist and delicious. Ducks are excellent swimmers, and it is this fat layer beneath the skin that keeps them buoyant. Duck is considered "white" meat, but because it is a bird of flight, the breast meat is darker than chicken and turkey breast. This is because muscles doing work need more oxygen, and oxygen is stored in those muscles by proteins that give the meat a darker color. Because all the meat on a duck is dark, it has a stronger flavor than chicken breast, and even stronger than chicken leg meat.

Baby vegetables are often used with duck because they are full of flavor and add great eye appeal to any dish. Most baby vegetables are fully ripe miniature vegetables; others are immature vegetables picked before fully grown. They are as nutritious as regular-size vegetables and most offer a more tender and delicate taste.

Jan Škrle is the chef at Coda restaurant, Tržiště 9 (inside the Aria hotel), Prague 1–Malá Strana. Tel. 225 334 111.

Grilled duck breast with potato herb terrine, baby vegetables, and port wine sauce

Serves five

Ingredients

  • 1 kilogram (five breasts) duck breast

  • 0.25 liter (about 1 cup) port wine

  • 2 tablespoons honey

  • 2 kilograms (about 1 pound) potatoes

  • 2 eggs

  • 1 puff pastry sheet

  • 2 cloves grated garlic

  • Fresh chopped thyme, rosemary and marjoram to taste

  • Baby vegetables (carrots, zucchini, corn, squash, etc.)

  • 0.5 liter veal demi-glace (canned may be substituted)

Preparation

  • To make the potato terrine, cut and boil potatoes until tender, mash, then cool in fridge. Heat chopped herbs and garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil to release their full flavors. Mix potatoes with one egg, salt, white pepper and herbs in oil. Blend together until the texture is smooth. Lay the pastry sheet on baking paper and spoon the potato mixture onto it in the shape of a thin row. Grasping the baking paper firmly, roll the pastry around the potato as you pull up on the paper. (You can use your hands to help smooth the pastry potato log into shape.) Refrigerate to allow the potato to firm up.

  • Brush the pastry top with an egg wash made of one egg and milk and place on baking sheet in a preheated 180° C (356° F) oven for 20–25 minutes or until golden brown. Slice into five serving portions of equal size.

  • To prepare the port-wine sauce, reduce the port to less than one-third its original volume. Add honey and demi-glace and season with salt and pepper to taste.

  • To prepare the duck breast, clean the meat and score the skin in a crisscross pattern. Season the breasts with salt and crushed pepper and sear in a very hot pan, skin side down, to a crispy golden color, then sear the other side. Bake in oven at 195° C for eight to 10 minutes. Slice the breast on an angle immediately before serving so as not to release any of the juices too early.

  • To prepare the baby vegetables, wash the vegetables well in order to remove any residual dirt. Blanch in salted boiling water for just a few minutes and cool rapidly in ice water to stop the cooking process as well as preserve the colors. Before serving, gently sauté in butter and season with salt and pepper.


Other articles in Night & Day (4/01/2006):

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