Game Bird Recipes

Wild Mallard with Poached Quince, Roasted Endive & Orange

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Roast wild mallard served on an oval plate with poached quince, roasted endive and orange

Mallard is a bird I look forward to cooking each autumn. Its dark meat takes well to fruit, particularly when there’s some sharpness alongside the sweetness.

Here, quince is poached in cider with orange and spices, then the poaching liquid is reduced to a syrup. The endive is roasted until well browned, bringing a little bitterness, with fresh orange segments added when you serve. There are a few things to prepare, but each brings something different to the duck.

Serves: 2

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cook time: 40 minutes, includes 5 minutes’ resting; cook the quince, endive and duck alongside one another. Timings are approximate.

Ingredients

Method

  1. Turn the oven to 200°C fan.
  2. Peel and cut the quince into 6 segments lengthways, cutting out the seed area.
  3. In a small saucepan, dry fry the coriander seeds until their smell comes to the nose.
  4. Put the quince segments in a pan and cover with cider, then add the orange juice, bay leaf, sugar, vinegar and spices.
  5. Cut a cartouche (paper lid) from the baking paper and lay it on top.
  6. Bring the pan to a simmer and poach the quince segments for approximately 20–30 minutes, until tender to the point of a knife but not overly soft to the point of near collapse.
  7. Remove the quince segments to a bowl and then rapidly reduce the remaining liquid to a syrup. Season the syrup with a little salt.
  8. Keeping the root end intact, cut the endive into 8 segments.
  9. While the quince segments poach, lay the endive segments on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
  10. Paint all over with plenty of melted butter and then splash them well with vinegar.
  11. Give them a generous seasoning and place them in the oven.
  12. When they appear well browned on the open side, turn them over, splaying them out a little and then reapply butter and vinegar.
  13. Roast again, allowing approximately 25–35 minutes in total for the endive. They want to be really browned and almost crisping to burnt. Remove them to one side until ready to reheat before serving.
  14. Cut the skin and pith from around the remaining orange and cut the segments from between the membranes, keeping them whole.
  15. Place in a small bowl with any juice.
  16. Smear the duck generously with vegetable oil and then heavily season with salt and pepper. Stuff a little thyme in its body cavity and a few stems across the breast.
  17. Roast for approximately 22-24 minutes. Then allow resting for 5 minutes before carving. The inner breast meat is best served pink.
  18. Warm the endive and poached quince segments with their syrup.
  19. Serve the carved meat over a little of the syrup poured onto a platter with the quince arranged alongside the roasted endive and room temperature orange segments.
  20. Go over the top with a generous walnut oil drizzle and a heavy black pepper grind.

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Valentine Warner is a chef, food writer, broadcaster and business owner with a deep-rooted interest in nature, travel and provincial food. He describes his cooking style as “International Grandmother,” blending a strong sense of storytelling with an infectious love of cookery.

Val has a deep respect for ingredients, both wild and cultivated, and an instinctive ability to turn whatever’s available into something hearty, wholesome and satisfying. A firm advocate of native food sources, he shares common ground with Swaledale in championing meat that is flavourful, ethical and high welfare.

Originally trained as a portrait painter, Val has authored five cookbooks, run his own catering company, and is co-owner of Taqueria, a well-loved Mexican café in West London. He is also a partner in Hepple Distillery in Northumberland and Holmen Lofoten, a hotel on Arctic Norway’s Lofoten islands.