Rillettes de Canard (Duck Pâté)

One of the wonderful traditions in French cuisine is the making of pâté. This is normally carried out in the autumn in preparation for winter food supplies. It's not just pâté of course but a whole host of food preparation from blanching haricot beans to smoking sausages and hams up the chimmney!

We have tasted local (St Gilles de Mene) rabbit pâté which was simply awsome! Thank you Maryline Presse and your Mother! That secret traditional recipe will follow another day. Here I am going to give you the recipe we use for making duck pâté. It is a simple procedure which takes about 45 minutes in preparation time and 3 hours to cook. Given that this recipe will easily serve up to 8 persons I think it is well worth the effort!

You will need

1 oven ready duckling around 2kg

30 shelled hazelnuts

300g barding fat cut into small dice

100g of pork fillet cut into 4 pieces

1 clove garlic unpeeled

1 medium carrot cut in half lengthways

1 medium onion halved horizontally

1 small bouquet garni containing 10g fresh sage

salt & pepper

275ml dry white wine

1 teaspoon soft green peppercorns

to serve

2 grapefruit, segmented

Preparation

Remove the skin from the flesh of the duck. Cut 150g from the fattest part of the skin and store in a cool place. Discard the rest of the skin. Remove all meat from the bones and cut into strips about 3 cm long. Keep in a cool place. Toast the hazlenuts under the grill until the skin is slightly burnt. Remove the nuts from the heat and rub with a cloth to remove the skins. Cut each hazlenut in half and leave to one side.

Place the barding fat along with the duck fat into a casserole dish. Add enough water to just cover the fat. Place over a medium heat and cook slowly (with the lid on) for 30 minutes stirring occasionally until all the water has evaporated. The duck fat should have melted. Add the pork fillet, duck flesh, clove of garlic, carrot, onion and sage. Season with salt and add two thirds of the white wine. Bring to the boil. Cover the casserole and set over a gentle heat for simmering. Mix occasionally to ensure nothing sticks at the bottom of the pan! Leave to cook for two and a half hours and then remove from heat.

Remove the garlic clove, carrot, onion and bouquet garni of sage. Add the remaining white wine and green peppercorns to the casserole and cover with a damp cloth. Place the casseroe in a cool place to rest.

When the duck and fat mixture is lukewarm, mix well together using your fingertips. Check for seasoning and add sale and pepper as required. Add the halved hazlenuts. Place the rillettes into an earthenware terrine and cover with clingfilm. Store in a refridgerator for at least 2 days before eating.

To serve

With two large tablespoons, place three quenelles of rillettes on each plate. Arrange three segments of grapefruit next to the rillettes. Serve with toasted home made bread. Add salad
should you wish this to be a main course.