Name: Steamed and Braised Mallard with a Parsnip Tart
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 450 g (1 lb) peeled and cored parsnips, cut into 2–3 cm (¼-1½ in) pieces; Juice of ½ lemon; 350–400 g (12–14 oz) Shortcrust Pastry, with 1 teaspoon black pepper; 50 ml (2 fl oz) double cream; 100 ml (3½ fl oz) water; 50 g (2 oz) butter; 1–2 cooked pigs’ trotters, including 150 ml (¼ pint) trotter-cooking liquor (optional); Plain flour, for dusting; 600–900 ml (1–1½ pints) Game Stock, reduced to a jus, or Veal Jus; Cooking oil; Salt and pepper; 100 g (4 oz) Buttered Spinach; 1 onion, sliced; 2 rashers of streaky bacon, rinded and roughly chopped; Few juniper berries; Butter; 2 strips of orange peel; 2 mallard; 1 bottle red wine

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

New British Classics

By Gary Rhodes

Published 1999

About

Mallard is a wild duck in season between September and the end of January. It is the largest of the wild duck family, which includes wigeon and teal, and all of them have been eaten in Britain since prehistoric times. You might have to order mallard from your butcher in advance. The recipe can, however, be made using an oven-ready duck, but the cooking time will be longer.

This dish holds many exciting flavours and combinations. The pig’s trotter sauce is quite unbelievable to eat,