Scallops and Duck
More surf and turf!!
I’m back on the meat and fish thing again, this time it’s scallops with duck. I’ve done something similar before but this time I serve the duck differently and have added a creamy parsnip puree for a bit of ’stodge’.
The ducks are deboned first, the breasts are kept for the main course, the legs go into flavoured salt to cure and the bones go into a stock flavoured with cinnamon, anise, sichuan pepper, orange peel and crushed fennel. The stock is then passed and reduced with madeira, sliced shallots, juniper, cloves, redcurrant jelly and bay leaves until it coats the back of a spoon.
Duck legs need a couple of days in salt for the flavours to penetrate the flesh and for the salt to do its thing. Washed and patted dry the legs go into a pan of duck fat flavoured with garlic, thyme, bay, juniper and cinnamon and left to cook until the meat falls away from the bone. The meat is then shredded, seasoned and mixed with a couple of spoons of the fat. The fat helps to preserve the meat as well as flavour it and allow it to set as it chills. From here you can press it, roll it, whatever you want. For this dish we press it into a cling film lined shallow tray, leave it to set and then cut it into our desired shapes.
Chopped parsnips are cooked in a cream flavoured with bay, salt, white pepper and fresh nutmeg before being pureed in a blender until smooth. The duck sauce or jus as my brother likes me to refer to it as is passed twice through a fine sieve and seasoned. The duck confit is fried until crisp and served underneath a quennelle of the parsnip puree whilst fresh scallops from the Orkney Isles are cooked rapidly in a hot pan.
Et voila 
Miles,
There’s a sort of Cinderella thing going on with that plate… it’s the pea shoots promise of a golden carriage that draws you in (or am I alone there?
). That and the handsome prince of the whole dish makes for an irresistible combination.
I reckon I could make that…. with the help of a couple of mice, a horse and a fairy godmother!
Lovely work Miles, I know it would be delicious.
Cid
January 26, 2009 @ 11:29 pm
Miles,
I agree with Cid, this plate is absolutely beautiful. Stodge? I always learn something new when I visit your blog.
And Cid, who are you hoping appears tomorrow with your glass slipper? Ray Mears or George Clooney?
Yes, this is definitely an enchanting dish, Miles.
Melissa
January 27, 2009 @ 1:01 am
What a wonderful looking plate, Miles. Surf & turf is such a wonderful pairing. I was gobsmacked last week, watching a TV show where punters were turning their noses up at Lancashire Hotpot containing oysters.
Also, I love your description of the confit. There’s a curer & preserver inside me dying to get out.
Dave.
January 27, 2009 @ 11:37 am
I heartily agree with the ladies’ sentiments; that dish looks tasty!! “There’s a curer & preserver inside me dying to get out.” hear hear, GD, I’ll second the motion
I think it’s our hunter-gatherer instinct which is coming to the fore 
January 27, 2009 @ 3:13 pm
Miles
Poetry on a plate ~ ~
I marvel at your knowledge and skills and feel like such a basic cook.
Right, where was I? What am I cooking tomorrow
Elsie
January 27, 2009 @ 3:18 pm
Thanks everyone,
It’s currently our best seller so I’m quite happy
Miles
January 27, 2009 @ 7:12 pm
OK, but do those flavors work well with each other? Duck is pretty heavy, and confit is very heavy, yet scallops, done well, are very light. I think it is safe to assume yours are done well.
Just by looking at this, it appears to be two dishes on one plate, rather than something integrated. But I’m not there tasting or smelling the dish…what made you want to pair these two meats, and what links them?
The reason I am asking is because I love sea scallops, and I cook a lot of duck (mostly wild), and I am having a hard time mentally linking the two.
Thoughts?
January 27, 2009 @ 11:14 pm
Hank,
I’ve cooked the two for a long time now, I don’t use wild duck (Teal over here-is it the same in the US?) for this and am very careful how we cook them.
The confit is more aromatic than strong or salty and it is cut really quite thinly.
Scallops react very well to meat juices, I use beautiful sweet ones from Cornwall and Scotland, would I be right in thinking you have excellent ones from Maine?
The two share common flavouring combinations in terms of fruit, spicing and herbs. I have also used them with pork belly and they seem to really work well together.
I believe the secret to the dish is to get the ratio of duck to scallops right, if you get enough fat into the confit to keep it moist then the two blend very well.
January 27, 2009 @ 11:35 pm
Well done Miles, the dish certainly does look appetizing!
January 28, 2009 @ 8:00 am
Hmmm…I will have to play around with this. Yes, we have excellent sea scallops off both Maine and Alaska.
Looks like the confit plays the role (sorta) that bacon does in that classic, bacon-wrapped scallops.
And duck and scallops do both love citrus….
February 2, 2009 @ 10:09 pm