Duck a la Mode

The Successful Housekeeper Manual of Universal Application, Especially Adapted to the Every Day Wants of American Housewives; Embracing Several Thousand Thoroughly Tested and Approved Recipes, Care and Culture of Children, Birds and House Plans; Flower and Window Gardening etc,; With Many Valuable hints on Home Decoration by M.W. Wllsworth & F. B. Dickerson 1882
Cookbook 20, Recipe 2, (Total 43)

I chose two duck recipes in order to use up the duck I purchased at the farmers market.

Did I like it? Absolutely, it was delicious. I was surprised at how well the port fit this dish. The duck completely overpowers any sense of the ports sweetness. I'm now looking forward to a couple of days without meat. These two dishes were excellent and Sunday's was pretty good - three dinners in a row with meat and I'm ready for a week off.

(Soon I will have hot bread from the oven - I made bread today from yesterday's boiled potato water! YUM)

Original Recipe: Take a couple of ducks, divide them into quarters and lay them in a stewpan with a sprinkling of flour, pepper and salt. Put a large lump of butter divided into pieces at the bottom of the stewpan and fry the ducks until they are a nice light-brown color. Remove the frying-pan and put in half a pint of gravy and a glass of port; sprinkle more flour and add a bunch of sweet herbs, two or three shallots minced fine, an anchovy, and a little Cayenne when the ducks have stewed in the gravy till tender, put them on a dish, take out the herbs, clear off any fat, and serve with the sauce thrown over them.

My interpretation: Take half a duck and cut the wing and drumstick off. Split the remaining portion in half length wise (this enables you to keep the breast in one piece). Place duck pieces in a pan with 1T butter, add 2 large pinches of kosher salt, 2 small pinches of pepper and sprinkle 2T of flour over the meat. Turn heat to medium and cook until nice and brown. Remove from pan and drain fat into a small jar. Return meat to pan and add 1 cup of gravy (made from stock created from last nights leftover bones and the neck and giblets), 1 cup of stock, 1/3 cup port, 1 minced anchovy and 2 chopped shallots. Bring to a boil and add a large amount of parsley and thyme tied together. Simmer over medium low heat for 35-40 minutes until the breast meat reaches 160 degrees. Thicken sauce if needed and serve with mashed potatoes.