Best Duck Terrine Recipes

CLASSIC DUCK FOIE TERRINE

Steps:

• Three to five days ahead, preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Gently separate the lobes and pick out and discard large veins and greenish bile, if any. Try not to break the liver up. (If not at room temperature, it will fall apart.)
• Place first lobe in a terrine large enough to hold the foie gras snugly. Sprinkle with half the salt and pepper. Splash on 1 tablespoon of the wine, layer the other lobe and any small pieces on top and add the remaining wine. Season with the remaining salt and pepper. Cover the terrine snugly with plastic wrap.
• Line the bottom of a roasting pan with a kitchen towel and place the terrine on top. Pour in enough hot (not boiling) water to come an inch or so up the sides of the terrine. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the foie gras reaches 115 degrees. (The U.S.D.A. recommends an internal temperature of 160 degrees.)
• Remove from oven and take the terrine out of the roasting pan. Place a weight on top and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Pour off any juices that have accumulated and use a gravy separator to separate the juices from the fat. Pour the fat back on top of the terrine. Discard juices.
• Refrigerate 3 to 5 days. To serve, slice thinly or use for French kisses and Gascogne sushi. Terrine keeps, refrigerated, up to 15 days.

DUCK TERRINE

Steps:

• Cut the breast meat of the duck into 1/4-inch strips lengthwise. Slice the bacon similarly. Finely chop remaining meat, slice the liver into thin strips and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Place the duck breast and bacon in a bowl along with a generous amount of salt and pepper, the allspice, brandy, bay leaf and thyme leaves. Marinate the mixture for 24 hours in a cool place.
• Season the mushrooms and shallots with salt and pepper to taste. Saute them over medium heat in the butter until browned and soft. Set aside.
• In a bowl combine the ground pork, onion, reserved duck meat, liver and orange zest. Add the mushrooms and shallots, eggs and salt and pepper to taste. Work until thoroughly blended. Strain the brandy marinade and add to the ground meat mixture.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Line a 2-quart earthenware terrine with bacon strips. Arrange half of the ground meat mixture in an even layer in the bottom of the terrine. Cover with alternating strips of the marinated duck and bacon. Cover with the remaining ground meat. Press down more bacon strips on the top. Trim. Put on the lid.
• Place the terrine in a flameproof baking pan. Add enough water to cover the sides of the terrine by 2/3 and bring to a boil on top of the stove. When water boils place the pan in the oven and bake for 90 minutes. Remove and let cool.

DUCK TERRINE WITH ASPIC

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Have a 1 quart terrine dish or other 1 quart mold (English spelling mould) generously greased
• For easy handling have the duck half frozen, remove the skin, fat and bones discard or use in another recipe Cut the duck meat into little pieces1/4" to 1/2" mince.
• In a food processor roughly chop the duck liver, calf's liver and onion.
• Add ground veal, rosemary, allspice, salt& pepper,mix well, remove to a bowl Stir in the port, Grande Marnier, orange rind and the duck pieces.
• Fill the mold with the duck mixture, pat it down well and make sure there are no air bubbles Cover (the cover must have a small hole in it to allow steam to escape or cover with double foil and punch a small hole) Place the terrine in a pan of hot water- the easy way to do this is to place the terrine in a pan, place in the oven, have water boiling in a kettle and pour in water until it covers 2/3 of the mold Bake in the centre of the oven 350 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 150 degrees F Remove from the oven, remove cover place foil over the terrine inside the rim and weight down with heavy object (EG-cans of food) Chill in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
• Remove the duck from the terrine dish and wash it and dry well
• Replace the duck terrine into the mold and fill around the duck with partially set aspic (see recipe#67693) Place the 3 orange slices on top of the terrine and spoon a layer af aspic over them, allow to set completely, repeat spooning a layer of aspic 3 times until the orange slices are covered with aspic Serve the terrine from the mold.

TERRINE OF DUCK

Steps:

• Bloom the gelatin by sprinkling it over 1 cup of the duck stock in a small mixing bowl ¿ being sure to dissolve all of it. If the stock is gelatinous heat it slightly to bring it to a more watery consistency. Once the gelatin is dissolved place the bowl over a pot with simmering water in it and heat the mixture until it becomes clear. Mix in the apple cider vinegar and salt, to taste. Refrigerate until needed.
• Note: Depending on the richness of the stock used, the vinegar to stock ratio may need to be adjusted. The important thing is to keep the liquid (vinegar and stock) to gelatin ratio the same as it is in this recipe.
• Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Heat a nonstick saute pan over medium heat and lay in the duck breasts, skin side down. Reduce the heat to low once the fat starts to melt and cook the breast very slowly for about 30 minutes to render as much of the fat as possible. Increase the heat if needed so that the final product is a rendered duck breast with a golden brown skin side. Flip the breasts over in the pan and roast for 3 to 8 minutes (depending on the size of the breast) until medium rare. Let the breasts cool at room temperature and then refrigerate.
• Increase the oven to 400 degrees F. Peel the apples and slice them thin (about 1/8 inch) on a mandolin. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper. Toss the apple slices with oil and salt and pepper. Spread out on the sheet pans and roast until the apples are barely cooked through ¿ still slightly crispy on the inside. Let cool at room temperature.
• Cut the stems off the beet greens so that only leaves remain. Boil a small pot of salted water. Prepare an ice bath in a medium size bowl. Blanch the beet greens in the boiling water by submerging them completely for about 10 to 15 seconds. Spoon them out and plunge them in the ice bath. Set the greens out individually on paper towels to dry. Layer the towels several times if necessary.
• When the duck breasts have fully cooled slice them lengthwise into thin slices ¿ less than 1/8-inch thick. Soak the slices in the orange juice.
• Warm the aspic in the mixing bowl over simmering water.
• Line 2 small triangular terrine molds with plastic wrap. Layer beet greens over the plastic wrap to cover the inside of the terrine mold completely and leave overhang on the edges to fold over the top. Brush the greens liberally with aspic. Layer the sliced apples and brush liberally with aspic. Put down another layer of beet greens and brush with aspic. Set in a layer of sliced duck. Layer as much as needed so that the terrine molds are full. Be very liberal with the aspic. It is the glue that holds the terrine together. When the mold is full fold the plastic over the top and put on the lid ¿ pressing down to work out any air pockets. Use cans or anything else you have around the kitchen to put weight on the terrines while refrigerating.
• When the terrines are fully chilled remove them from the refrigerator. Turn them out onto a cutting board, using the plastic to pull it carefully from the mold without breaking them. Carefully slice each terrine into 8 portions. Lay them out on a sheet pan. Heat the remaining aspic (if any) and use it to glaze the faces of the terrine slices. Refrigerate until ready to serve. It's important to keep these cold until service, as they will become very difficult to plate when the aspic begins to warm.

DUCK TERRINE WITH WINE-GLAZED SHALLOTS

Steps:

• Prepare duck terrine:
• Freeze milk in a shallow dish, scraping once or twice with a fork to break up crystals, until frozen, about 1 hour.
• Pull skin with fat off duck breast with your fingers, using a knife when necessary, then cut both skin with fat and breast meat lengthwise into 1-inch pieces that will fit in grinder. Chill meat and skin with fat, wrapped separately in plastic wrap, in freezer until firm but not frozen, about 1 hour.
• Set a medium bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water under grinder to catch ground meat, then feed meat (only) through grinder. Replace medium bowl in ice with a large metal bowl and feed meat through grinder a second time, adding spoonfuls of frozen milk as you go. Chill, covered with plastic wrap, in refrigerator.
• Feed duck skin with fat through grinder twice into a bowl set in a larger bowl of ice and cold water, then add to ground duck meat and set bowl in larger bowl of ice.
• Add remaining duck terrine ingredients to ground-duck mixture and mix with your hands or a wooden spoon until combined well. Chill, covered with plastic wrap, in refrigerator at least 8 hours to marinate meats.
• Glaze shallots:
• Bring wine, vinegar, sugar, salt, thyme, and bay leaf to a boil in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then add whole shallots and cover surface of liquid with a round of parchment or wax paper. Simmer shallots vigorously until tender, about 40 minutes, then transfer from cooking liquid to a bowl with a slotted spoon and discard thyme sprig and bay leaf. If liquid isn't syrupy, boil until reduced to about 1/3 cup. Pour over shallots and cool.
• Line and bake terrine:
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F.
• Line bottom and all sides of terrine with fatback (or caul fat), overlapping edges slightly and leaving a 2-inch overhang on long sides. Rub some of duck mixture onto fatback lining to help the rest adhere, then pack in about two thirds of remaining duck. Create a wide trough lengthwise along the middle with back of a spoon. Embed drained shallots, reserving Port syrup, pointed ends down in trough. Pack remaining duck mixture on top. Fold overhang (adding more fatback if necessary) to cover top completely, then cover terrine with a double layer of foil. Rap mold firmly on counter to compact terrine.
• Bake terrine in a water bath until thermometer inserted diagonally through foil at least 2 inches into center of meat registers 155 to 160°F, 13/4 to 2 hours. Remove foil and cool terrine in mold on a rack, 30 minutes.
• Weight terrine:
• Put terrine in mold in a cleaned baking pan. Put a piece of parchment or wax paper over top of terrine, then place on top of parchment another same-size terrine mold or a piece of wood or heavy cardboard cut to fit inside mold and wrapped in foil. Put 2 to 3 (1-pound) cans on terrine or on wood or cardboard to weight terrine. Chill terrine in pan with weights until completely cold, at least 4 hours. Continue to chill terrine, with or without weights, at least 24 hours to allow flavors to develop.
• To serve:
• Run a knife around inside edge of terrine and let stand in mold in a pan with 1 inch of hot water (to loosen bottom) 2 minutes. Tip terrine mold (holding terrine) to drain off excess liquid, then invert a cutting board over terrine, reinvert terrine onto cutting board, and gently wipe outside of terrine (fatback) with a paper towel. Let terrine stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving, then cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices and serve on plates drizzled with reserved wine syrup.
• *Available at dartagnan.com.

DUCK & PORK TERRINE WITH CRANBERRIES & PISTACHIOS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Put the duck breasts and skin in a shallow dish, then place in the hot oven for 20 mins. Discard the shrivelled bit of skin that remains, then pour the duck fat into a bowl to cool. Reserve 6 bacon rashers, then roughly chop the remainder. Roughly chop the cooked duck meat.
• In a food processor, blend the chopped bacon, pork and duck in batches to a coarse texture, then tip into a large bowl. Tear up the bread and soak in the milk for 5 mins. Squeeze out the bread and put in the food processor with the shallots, garlic and livers. Process to a coarse texture, then add to the bowl, mixing well.
• Grind the peppercorns, coriander seeds and cloves to a coarse powder using a pestle and mortar. Stir in the cinnamon. Add the spices to the meat along with 4 tbsp reserved duck fat, the Cognac, eggs and 2 tsp salt. Mix together very thoroughly - the best way is to use your hands.
• Press half the mixture into a 1.5-litre baking dish or similar. Scatter over the pistachios and cranberries, then cover with the remaining meat mixture. Arrange the reserved bacon rashers over the top, tucking in the ends. Cover the dish tightly with foil, then put in a roasting tin. Pour boiling water into the tin to come halfway up the sides of the dish.
• Bake for 2 hrs, remove foil, then bake for 15 mins more to brown the top. Cool completely, then wrap in fresh foil and chill. For the best flavour, let the terrine chill and mature for at least 2 days before eating.
• TO FREEZE Make the terrine as stated, cool and then freeze. Defrost in the fridge before serving.