Mulled wine pot-roast duck
Serves: 2
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Rob Streeter
Mulled wine pot-roast duck
This makes a very generous serving of duck per person, and it’s nice to try both the breast and leg meat. If you prefer, though, you can just serve the legs, and keep the breasts for another day
Serves: 2
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
See more recipes
Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
900Kcal
Fat
39gr
Saturates
12gr
Carbs
23gr
Sugars
8gr
Fibre
9gr
Protein
92gr
Salt
1.3gr
Orwells Restaurant
Chefs Ryan Simpson and Liam Trotman opened modern British restaurant Orwells in Binfield Heath, Oxfordshire, in 2010. Housed in an 18th-century former pub, Orwells was named 2017 Restaurant of the Year in the Good Food Guide Editors’ Awards, and holds four AA rosettes. Ryan and Liam, who married earlier this year, live above the restaurant
See more of Orwells Restaurant ’s recipes
Orwells Restaurant
Chefs Ryan Simpson and Liam Trotman opened modern British restaurant Orwells in Binfield Heath, Oxfordshire, in 2010. Housed in an 18th-century former pub, Orwells was named 2017 Restaurant of the Year in the Good Food Guide Editors’ Awards, and holds four AA rosettes. Ryan and Liam, who married earlier this year, live above the restaurant
See more of Orwells Restaurant ’s recipes
Ingredients
- 1 small whole duck, about 1.25kg
- 6 small shallots, trimmed and peeled
- 1 large carrot, peeled
- 1 large parsnip, peeled
- 200ml red wine
- pared zest of ½ orange
- 1 star anise
- 1 whole clove
- ½ cinnamon stick
- ¼ tsp Chinese 5 spice
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 2 unpeeled garlic cloves, squashed
- 300ml chicken stock (gluten-free if necessary)
- a pinch of sea salt flakes
- a pinch of ground white pepper
- ½ x 180g pack whole cooked chestnuts
Step by step
Get ahead
Joint the duck and store in the fridge until ready to cook.
- Cut the legs from the duck, and take the breasts off the bone. Discard the carcass unless you want to keep it for stock (you can put it in the freezer to make the stock at a later date).
- Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Heat an ovenproof casserole; season the legs and fry on all sides until golden brown (you won’t need any oil as the legs will give off some in the pan), then set aside.
- To the same pan, add the shallots, carrot (left whole), parsnip (left whole), red wine, orange zest, spices, bay leaf, thyme and garlic, then reduce the sauce by half before adding the stock.
- Return the browned legs to the casserole, cover with the lid, and put in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes.
- While this is in the oven, score the skin of the duck breasts in a crisscross pattern and season both sides with sea salt flakes and white pepper. Place them skin-side down in a cold frying pan on a medium heat. Cook for about 15 minutes, gradually increasing the heat. The fat will begin to render down, so drain off regularly (keep for roast potatoes). Once the skin is golden brown, turn the heat to high and sear the flesh side very quickly. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool. At this point the duck is pretty raw inside.
- After 1 hour 15 minutes, take the casserole out of the oven and turn the oven up to 230°C, fan 210°C, gas 8. Stir the chestnuts into the sauce and sit the duck breasts on top of the duck legs, skin-side up. Return to the oven, uncovered, and cook for 6 minutes for medium rare, 8 minutes for medium. At this point the sauce will be reducing to a nice consistency.
- Remove the breasts to a plate and allow to rest. Carefully lift the legs, vegetables and chestnuts into a warmed dish. Cover both with foil.
- Pass the sauce through a sieve into a large pan and continue to reduce on the hob, until it is a nice gravy-like consistency. Cut the vegetables into chunks and arrange on 2 plates with the chestnuts and duck legs. Carve the duck breast into slices and arrange on the plates. Spoon over the sauce to serve.
