This is a recipe for a wild duck, if you’re lucky to get one, and makes for a great, rich, meaty sauce. Lovely as it is, I wouldn’t waste a plumper farmed duck on this.
There aren’t many ingredients in this, and it’s a very low-maintenance recipe. Except for picking out the bones – you’ll want to spend a little time sifting through the sauce. You may well not fetch out every single bone, but try your best.
Duck Ragù
A meaty and tender sauce to pair with a robust pasta like penne, rigatoni or pappardelle. Gnocchi even.
- April 12, 2020
- 4 Servings
- 5 hr
- Print this
Ingredients
- 1 or 2 whole ducks, prepared (plucked, no head or feet - you won’t even need the skin on)
- 2 onions, sliced
- 4 average-sized carrots, roughly chopped
- 2 sticks of celery, chopped
- 1 or 2 tins of tomatoes (1 per duck)
- Herbs: a good sprig of rosemary and a bay leaf. Sage if you like it.
- A glass of wine (red or white) or beer
- Chicken stock (water will do!)
Directions
- Step 1
- Heat the oven to 150 degrees (fan) and make sure you have room for a deep-sided pan.
- Step 2
- In a large, deep pan (which has a lid) fry off the onion till it softens a little, then add the carrots and celery. And keep going till everything starts to take on some colour.
- Step 3
- Add the whole duck(s). If you’ve kept the skin on (good flavour but will make for a slightly fattier sauce), then try to render down the fat a little and brown the skin.
- Step 4
- Add the tomatoes and herbs then mix.
- Step 5
- Then add the wine/beer and enough stock or water to cover everything and bring to a simmer.
- Step 6
- Place in oven, with a tight lid, and stew for up to 4 hours. You want it all to get to the point where the meat has fallen off the bone and all the vegetables will mush down with a fork or between your fingers. At this point remove from the oven and allow to cool.
- Step 7
- When the sauce is cooled enough to touch, start to take out the duck bones. Some will lift out easily and still connected to others. A fair portion you’ll need to sift through carefully.
- Step 8
- As for the vegetables, squish them in your hands. You don’t want chunks, but a sauce that will cling to your chosen pasta.
- Step 9
- Assuming your sauce will be a little wet at this stage, Put the pan back on the hob and cook over a medium heat to evaporate excess water and enrich the sauce.
- Step 10
- Season to your taste.
- Step 11
- Then it’s just a matter of warming enough sauce for the meal while cooking your pasta. Add the cooked pasta to the warmed sauce and serve. Grated Parmesan will complement the richness of the sauce.