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Duck Pie

A savory pie made with ducks, giblets, and puff pastry crust, baked for 1.5 hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Duck Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ducks

  1. Scald and clean the ducks thoroughly.

  2. Remove the feet, pinions, necks, and heads.

  3. Take out the gizzards, livers, and hearts, and clean them.

  4. Pick out the fat from the inside of the ducks.

  5. Season the ducks inside and out with salt and pepper.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place the ducks in a dish with the giblets at each end.

  2. Add enough water to nearly fill the pie.

  3. Cover with the puff pastry crust and bake for 1.5 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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 main meat, which becomes tender through slow baking under the pastry.
Puff pastry crust
Forms a crisp, golden, flaky top that seals in moisture while baking.
Water
Adds moisture to the pie so the meat steams gently as it cooks.

The step that matters

Add enough water to nearly fill the pie. Too little liquid lets the ducks dry out during the long bake, while the water creates steam and helps keep the meat moist under the sealed pastry.

“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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