A Duck Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Prepare a puff pastry crust.
Scald and clean the ducks, removing the feet, pinions, neck, and head.
Remove the gizzards, livers, hearts, and all fat from inside the ducks.
Season the ducks inside and out with salt and pepper.
Assemble and bake
Place the ducks in a dish with giblets at each end, seasoned.
Add enough water to almost fill the pie.
Cover with the crust and bake at 400°F (200°C) until done, but do not overbake.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Ducks
- Provide the meat that cooks through in the pie, becoming tender and savory.
- Puff pastry crust
- Forms a flaky, golden top that seals and holds in the filling during baking.
- Water
- Adds moisture to the pie so the filling steams gently as it cooks.
The step that matters
Bake without overbaking. Duck meat dries out and toughens when cooked too long, so it should be removed as soon as it is done while the pastry is golden.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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