Duck Casserole with Damsons

Name: Duck Casserole with Damsons
Ingredients: 2 onions, peeled and sliced; 2 × 2.5 kg (5 lb) ducklings – but see below; 1 bay leaf; piece of cinnamon; 2-3 tablespoons damson or sloe gin – optional; 2-3 tablespoons damson or sloe gin – optional; 300 mls (½ pint) full-bodied red wine; 1 sprig of thyme; 250 g (8 oz) damsons, rinsed; 500 g (1 lb) celeriac, peeled and diced

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Modern Classics

By Frances Bissell

Published 2000

About

The casserole is a very easy recipe, which can be adapted to chicken, guinea fowl or pheasant. Rabbit, too, is delicious with damsons; farmed rabbit will cook in the same time as the duck, wild rabbit will take about twice as long. If you cannot get damsons, use mirabelles, greengages or small plums, all on the under-ripe side.

Ingredients

2 × 2.5 kg (5 lb) ducklings – but see below
2 onions, peeled and sliced

Gluten-free

Method

You can, of course, make the casserole with duck portions, but if you buy the whole birds, this is what to do with them.

Remove the wishbone from each duckling, then with a sharp knife, remove each breast. These are for another meal, for four, and can be marinated and refrigerated. Cut off the wings and the legs. Divide the leg joints into thigh and drumstick, and cut the wings into the