Ingredients
What Goes With Duck
Duck is rich, savoury, and slightly gamey. Almost everything that makes a duck dinner taste finished is doing one of two jobs: adding acid, or using the fat well.
Pantry and pairings
Rendered duck fat
How to strain and store it, how long it keeps, and the potatoes it was made for.
Stone fruit and cherries
Plum, cherry, and apricot reductions: acid and sugar balanced against rich meat.
Citrus and orange
Beyond à l'orange — how to use zest, juice, and bitterness without cloying sauce.
Warm spices
Star anise, five-spice, juniper, and black pepper in cures, rubs, and braises.
Aromatics for confit
Garlic, thyme, bay, and the salt-cure ratio that seasons without over-salting.
Sides that work
Bitter greens, lentils, root vegetables, and pickles that cut through duck fat.