Whenever I have a whole duck, I love to go to town. Being a butcher, it’s a ton of fun to work with the whole animal. In this case, I wanted to do duck three ways. The first was braising and roasting the leg. The second was a seared duck breast. The third, it was taking all of the fat from the first two preparations, and using those, along with the braising liquid from the leg to wilt some greens. And to contrast all of that, a ginger-plum sauce to cut through the richness and the gameyness, while also being super Chinese. This kind of dish, if it was just one cut of duck, it wouldn’t be interesting enough to warrant a post, but since it’s featuring both the breast and the leg, it shows a fun way to utilize essentially half of an entire animal!

Makes 2 servings:
For the duck leg:
2 duck legs
1/4 cup Chinese cooking wine
1 shallot
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 cloves garlic, crushed
water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons mushroom soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey

In a spot, sweat out the ginger, garlic, and diced shallot in a little oil, then deglaze first with your cooking wine and soy, then fill the pan with water, about 3/4th the way full. Place your duck legs in that liquid and continue to simmer in there, lid on, for 45 minutes. Combine your mushroom soy with honey. Take out the duck legs and brush them with the mixture. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes at 400 degrees F.

For the plum sauce:
2 plums
1/4 teaspoon aniseed
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
water

Simmer together ingredients until the plums are soft. Puree together into a smooth consistency and strain to remove lumps.

For the duck breast:
2 duck breasts
salt
pepper
paprika
ground ginger

Season the duck breasts and score the skin. Place in a cold nonstick pan and allow the duck to render, skin side down, for 8 minutes at high heat. Flip to sear on the flesh side for 1 minute before placing into the oven at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes. Rest for another 10 minutes before slicing.

For the kale:
Reserved duck fat
Reserved braising liquid
2 brunches of kale

Remove stems from kale and cut leaves into smaller pieces. Saute in the duck fat, then finish with the braising liquid. Continue to cook down the kale until soft.