Thai Duck recipe

bree82, May 5, 7:11am
Does anyone have a good spicy thai duck recipe, it would be much appreciated.

knowsley, May 5, 7:50am
x1
Red or green duck curry, you mean? If so, I have recipes from scratch, or you can use the best curry paste manufactured - Mae Ploy - and follow direction on it (paste and coconut milk and balance with palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice... )

bree82, May 6, 6:51am
I would love to make a red duck curry if you have a receipe, would this be ok with wild duck? ?

knowsley, May 6, 9:10am
Not sure with wild duck - can't see why not though.

Red curry paste: makes about 28 tbspoons but you only use 2 - freeze the rest. Scaling down doesn't always work.
10 large deseeded dried chillies, soaked in hot water for 20 mins
20g shallots, peeled and finely chopped
40g garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2T galangal, peeled and finely chopped
4 lemongrass stalks, finely chopped
2t finely chopped kaffir lime leaves
1T finely chopped coriander root
1t white peppercorns
2t coriander seeds
1t cumin seeds
1T shrimp paste

You really need to use a mortar and pestle and pound these, start with the top ingredient and add the next one from the list when it has been well pounded and integrated into the paste. It usually takes me around 30 minutes of pounding to end up with a paste. This is why most people will go with a prepared one - Mae Ploy is the best. Some supermarkets carry this, and a lot of the Asian ones do.

So, the recipe is:

1 duck, cut into portions
1. 1l water
6 kaffir leaves
1 tsp salt
2T oil
2T red curry paste
225ml coconut milk (something from Thailand, NOT from the Islands - Asian shops have better quality than supermarkets)
1T sugar
2T lime juice
Coriander to garnish

Simmer duck in water with kaffir leaves and 1/2t salt for 30 minutes or until meat is tender. Drain and set aside. Heat oil in pan, add curry paste and cook for a few minutes. Add coconut milk, sugar, remaining salt and lime juice and simmer briefly. Add the duck, bring to the boil and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Taste and balance flavours with extra salt, lime or sugar if needed. Serve garnished with coriander.

battgirl, May 6, 9:18am
Golly. Quite the duckspert aren't you? !

knowsley, May 6, 9:33am
You know nothing beats those duck breasts in port sauce.

battgirl, May 6, 9:38am
STILL talked about fondly... . although it wouldn't have been so spectacular without them spuds... and the flat faced puss.

bree82, May 8, 6:35am
thanks knowsley for the thai duck recipe so what is the port sauce you have mentioned? ? I hope you will share that as well :)

knowsley, May 8, 7:00am
It is from a Paula Wolfert book, The Cooking of Southwest France. Fantastic recipe, if you are prepared to put in the effort and use a good quality port and stock.

Basically, score a couple of duck breasts with a sharp knife through the skin at 45 degree angle, season and pan fry, skin side down to start and over med-low heat. Remove the excess fat from time to time. Flip after about 10 minutes, when the skin is crisp and brown, and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Remove and keep warm. Pour off the fat then add a cup of good quality Port - I used Tawny although the recipe called for Ruby - tried Ruby but didn't like it as much, and the juice of an orange. Deglaze the pan and reduce over hot element until the Port reduces down to a glaze. Add 3 cups of good chicken stock that has been reduced down to just over a cup, and reduce this Port and stock mix down by half. Add 1/3 a cup of cream and boil this **without stirring** until the cream is absorbed and the sauce is thick. Season is needed with salt and pepper, sliced the duck breast and pour over the sauce. As much as I like duck, the breast is really only used to get that sauce into my mouth! It's well worth the effort, but only if you are prepared to use some quality ingredients. I make my own stock, so no worries with that, and the Port I but is around $25 a bottle, so a nice drinking type, certainly not a cheap cooking one.

bree82, May 8, 7:27am
Thankyou I will try this tomorrow night

battgirl, Apr 12, 5:41pm
May I just say from experience it's the BEST sauce I've ever had the pleasure of consuming. Hope you enjoy it.