Winner winner – duck for dinner (a recipe for pulled duck leg)

A couple of weeks ago I was thrilled to win a photo competition organised by HelloFresh.

The prize, a hamper from Gressingham Duck, arrived this week. Check out these goodies!

I have already earmarked the whole duck for Christmas. I’ve only cooked duck breast up until now so expect a post on that at some point and keep your fingers crossed that it’s a success story!

In the meantime I have the rest of the hamper to get through, so I decided to start with the duck legs. I chose a recipe courtesy of Gressingham Duck themselves: Pulled duck leg with sweet chilli sauce.

This recipe is perfect for the weekend, as you need to allow time for it to slow cook in the oven. However with only 5 minutes of prep, you can leave it to cook away to deliciousness whilst you put your feet up!

Ingredients

2 duck legs
1/2 tsp of ground cumin
1/2 tsp of ground paprika
Salt and Pepper
200g sweet chilli sauce (plus extra for dipping)

 

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).
• Season the duck legs with salt and pepper on both sides.
• Mix the cumin and paprika together and rub this into the legs.

•  Place the duck legs on a wire rack on a baking tray and put them in the oven for approx 1 hour and 10 minutes.
• Remove them from the oven and pour the chilli sauce over the legs, then return them to the oven at the lower temperature of 160°C (140°C fan) for 20 minutes.

• Take the duck legs out of the oven and allow them to cool for a short period of time.

• Shred the duck with 2 forks and discard the bones.

Inspired by the crispy shredded duck that you get at most Chinese restaurants, we served ours with sliced cucumber, shredded carrot and plenty of extra sweet chilli sauce.

At my local supermarket I couldn’t find the pancakes that you’d usually wrap the duck in, but found some vietnamese spring roll wraps so thought I’d try using them. I don’t recommend them though… they tasted rather rubbery and were a nightmare to keep in one piece. Imagine when cling film all sticks together and you get the idea!

Spring roll wraps… probably not the best idea in retrospect!

The duck itself was delicious however, especially when you got a bit with the skin which had absorbed all that gorgeous chilli sauce and spices. I’d definitely cook this again and perhaps even try to make some of my own pancakes to go with it next time.

In the meantime, we ditched the pancakes and just used a fork and our fingers instead!

A big thanks to Gressingham Duck for the fabulous hamper and beautiful tasty duck!