4 portions
1 whole fresh duck (approx. 2.2 kg)
coarse sea salt, whole caraway seeds
1 large onion, 1 kg of duck (or goose) fat
Cut the duck into quarters and season with salt and caraway seeds. Then layer the pieces in a container, interspersing them with onion slices. Place in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, remove the duck, rinse it lightly, and place it in a smaller pot with warm lard, ensuring the pieces are completely submerged.
Cover with a lid or seal with aluminum foil and confit in a preheated oven at 90°C for about 9 hours. When the meat is tender and nearly falling apart, carefully remove it. After a moment, carefully remove all the bones except for the long thigh and wing bones, and neatly arrange the pieces in a roasting pan for later serving.
Let the lard cool, and then slowly remove it from the pot until you reach the jelly (gelatin) that has settled at the bottom. Carefully extract the jelly using a rubber spatula, and use it along with the bones to make a rich sauce.
Duck sauce
Bones, trimmings, and jelly from the roast
1 small fresh carrot
1 medium onion
1.5 liters of poultry stock
Heat a pot, add a little lard, then add the bones, trimmings, and wings, and sauté everything. After a while, add the vegetables, chopped into smaller pieces, and continue sautéing until golden-brown. Then, pour in the jelly, which is key to the final flavor, along with the stock, and simmer gently for about an hour. Strain the mixture, whisk in a teaspoon of roux (about 30g), and cook slowly for another half hour until the sauce reaches a shiny, fresh golden-brown color. The sauce should not be too thick.
Then, adjust the seasoning with salt and remove from heat. Cover the sauce with a lid or plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. The final amount of sauce should be about half a liter.
South Bohemian „drbáky“
700g boiled potatoes
500g raw potatoes
250g coarse flour
1 teaspoon potato starch
Let 700g of boiled potatoes to cool, then press them through a potato ricer or grind them through a fine sieve. Grate 500g of raw potatoes finely and squeeze out the juice through a sieve. Let it stand for a while, then drain the liquid, and use the starch that settles at the bottom in the dough.
Place a pot of salted water on the stove to boil. Mix the potatoes, add the flour, starch, salt, and quickly knead to form a compact dough. Immediately shape the dough into dumplings, balls, or logs, and cook them in the salted water. Once cooked, remove them and place them in a container with melted duck fat.
White sauerkraute
500g sauerkraut (organic or homemade)
200g onion
80g duck fat
Sugar and salt to taste
In a small pot, heat the lard, add the onion chopped into cubes, and slowly fry (caramelize) until light golden brown. Add the sauerkraut (squeezed through a sieve and then chopped in both directions), salt, sugar, a few tablespoons of water, and simmer on low heat for about 40 minutes. Then, adjust the flavor with sugar, salt, and if needed, add more acidity with sauerkraut juice.
Red sauerkraut
600g fresh red cabbage
150g onion
80g duck fat
Sugar, salt, red wine vinegar to taste
Cut the fresh cabbage in half, remove the core, place the halves cut-side down, and then slice the halves into 3 cm wide strips. Gently separate the strips, lay them flat on a cutting board, and slice them crosswise into thin slices, about 1 mm wide, resulting in small shreds.
In a small pot, heat the lard, add the onion chopped into cubes, and slowly fry (caramelize) until light golden brown. Add the sliced cabbage, salt, sugar, a little water, and simmer until tender. Near the end of cooking, add the vinegar and adjust the seasoning. You only need a small amount of water (about 100ml) to avoid diluting the cabbage’s flavor. The cabbage will release a lot of its own juice, which will be enough for it to soften. Adjust the liquid in the pot so that at the end, only a thick reduction remains at the bottom, in which the cabbage continues to glaze as you stir.
Recipe for Restaurant-Guide.cz provided by chef David Šašek