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Duck: Duck and Oyster Gumbo

Source of Recipe

From "The Southerner's Cookbook" by the editors of Garden & Gun


Recipe Introduction

"When famed New Orleans chef John Besh and his friends head down to their camp in Cameron Parish each winter, duck hunting may be the reason, but gumbo is the sport. 'If we're not competing with each other over it, we're cooking it together,' Besh says. There's always a stop at Black's Oyster Bar in Abbeville for oysters, ready to drop into the pot at the last moment. Then it's gun to duck; duck to gumbo. But before the bird comes the very soul of the gumbo: roux. Born of a classical French culinary technique, roux is a cooked mixture of fat and flour used to thicken a sauce. Since a roux is impossible to taste while it's cooking—way too hot—there's always some debating about when it's done. Here's where experience comes in. The mix for Besh's gumbo takes about an hour to make, or in the words of his friend Blake, it's a 'three-beer roux.'"

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 2 wild ducks (2 ½ to 3 pounds each) or 1 (5- to 6-pound store-bought duck), quartered
â—¦ Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
â—¦ 2 tablespoons herbes de Provence
â—¦ 1 cup rendered duck fat or lard (or vegetable oil if you must)
â—¦ 1 cup all-purpose flour
â—¦ 2 onions, diced
â—¦ 2 celery stalks, chopped
â—¦ 1 pound andouille sausage, diced
â—¦ 8 ounces smoked pork sausage, chopped
â—¦ 1 tablespoon minced garlic
â—¦ 3 quarts chicken or duck stock
â—¦ 2 cups oyster liquor
â—¦ 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
â—¦ 2 tablespoons Creole seasoning
â—¦ 2 bay leaves
â—¦ 2 cups sliced okra
â—¦ 3 cups oysters
â—¦ Tabasco sauce
â—¦ 4 cups cooked jasmine rice, prepared according to package instructions
â—¦ ½ cup chopped scallions


Recipe

Preheat the oven to 450° F.

If using a store-bought duck, remove the neck and giblets and reserve for another use. Dry the duck and, using a two-prong fork, pierce the fat of the skin all over without hitting the meat beneath. Liberally season the duck with salt and pepper, and add the herbes de Provence. Roast until the fat has rendered and the skin is crisp, about 2 hours, or until the duck reaches an internal temperature of 165° F. Remove from the oven and pour the fat into a heatproof container. Once the duck is cool enough to handle, pick all the meat and skin from bone and cut into roughly 1 ½-inch pieces. Set aside.

To make the roux, place a large Dutch oven over medium heat and add 1 cup of the reserved duck fat (if your ducks did not yield this much fat, top it off with melted lard). Add the flour and cook, stirring often, until it takes on a deep chocolate color, about 35 minutes, adjusting the heat if it's cooking too fast. Stir in the onions and cook another 5 to 10 minutes. Add the duck, celery, sausages, and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the stock, oyster liquor, Worcestershire sauce, Creole seasoning, bay leaves, and okra, raise the heat to high, and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer to marry the flavors, occasionally skimming fat that rises to the top, about 1 ½ hours.

Add the oysters and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes.
Season the gumbo with salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce. Serve over rice and garnish with chopped scallions.

Serves 8 to 10