the residency.
Confit duck with lentils,
PHOTOGRAPHS TARA FISHER FOOD STYLING JEN BEDLOE STYLING WEI TANG
HENRY HARRIS
Food writer in residence No 9
A simple fact: I love duck. When I see it on a menu I can’t resist it. Roast, braised, casseroled, poached, minced… Farmed or wild, it’s the feathered equivalent of the pig as it fulfils so many roles. I’m happiest when I restrict myself to one style of duck cookery – and it has to be that from the southwest of France, from Cognac to the Pyrenées. There, duck is served in unchanging ways: in slow-cook casseroles with beans or lentils, as large rare breasts grilled with herbs and garlic, in pâtés and terrines… Duck livers appear in salads, while the meat is shredded as rillettes and its copious fat rendered to use for roasting potatoes or for a gratin. I’ve adapted some classics for the menus in my pub dining rooms, where duck is a key theme – and it flies out!
Henry Harris is chef director of Harcourt Inns, which includes The Hero of Maida, The Coach and Three Cranes (theheromaidavale.co.uk)
Duck, pork belly and green olive terrine
MAKES 1 TERRINE (SERVES 10). HANDS-ON TIME 30 MIN, OVEN TIME 1 HOUR 15-45 MIN, PLUS 48 HOURS MARINATING AND PRESSING
MAKE AHEAD
Start the terrine 48 hours before you want to serve it. The cooked terrine will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week.
HENRY’S TIP
I like to marinate double the meat in step 1, then freeze half for up to 1 month to make a terrine on another day.
• 375g free-range pork belly, rindless
• 1-2 small skinless free-range British duck breasts (about 250g)
• 1 tsp coarse sea salt flakes
• 25ml armagnac or brandy
• 2 small garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 250ml red wine
• 1 tbsp strong veal stock or ½ gel type beef stockpot (such as Knorr)