Duck legs with plums, cinnamon and star anise recipe
Fruits, Asian spices such as star anise and Sichuan peppercorns, and sweet-and-sour flavours are probably the most loved when it comes to duck. Fruit brings a tartness that contrasts with the sweetness of the meat; honey or sugar intensify it.
There is always a dance of opposites going on in this kind of dish – it’s the same with Thai duck and fruit salads – where the more you taste the contrast, the more you want the next mouthful.
Timings
Prep time: 15 minutes, plus overnight marinating
Cook time: 2 hours 35 minutes
Serves
4
Ingredients
4 duck legs
For the marinade
2 tbsp light soy sauce, or as needed
juice of 1 large orange, or as needed
100ml manzanilla sherry, or as needed
¼ tsp five spice
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick, halved
2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated to a purée
3 garlic cloves, grated to a purée
¼ tsp chilli flakes
2 broad strips orange zest
For the duck
1½ tbsp duck fat or groundnut oil
3 tbsp soft light brown sugar
12 plums, halved and pitted
about 1 tbsp lemon or lime juice (optional)
3 spring onions, finely shredded
toasted sesame seeds, to serve
cooked jasmine rice, to serve
Method
Trim the duck legs of any loose little bits of fat. Put the duck legs into a dish.
Mix the marinade ingredients together and pour the mixture over the duck. Cover with cling film and put in the fridge to marinate for 24 hours, turning the legs over every so often.
Take the duck out of the fridge a good 30 minutes before you want to cook it. Heat the oven to 170C/160C fan/gas mark 3½. Lift the duck out of the marinade, shaking off the excess. Reserve the marinade. Blot the legs with kitchen paper so that they’ll brown well.
Heat the fat or oil in a shallow ovenproof casserole large enough to hold the legs in a single layer. Put the duck legs in skin-side down and brown them, seasoning as you go. It can take about 10 minutes, but judge it by the colour of the duck rather than the time: you want a good golden colour but you’re not cooking the duck through.
Turn the duck legs over and brown them for 4-5 minutes on the other side. Lift the legs out into a bowl. Pour off the fat that has accumulated in the pan – you’ll need 1 tbsp of it to cook the spring onions later, and can use the rest for frying potatoes to go with another dish.
Stir the sugar into the reserved marinade. Put the plums into an oven dish and sit the duck legs on top, adding any of the juices that have come out of the duck. Pour over the marinade and cook for 2 hours 20 minutes, or until the duck meat is tender and almost falling off the bone.
Spoon some of the juices and sauce over the duck every so often. The marinade and plums will make their own sauce, but you might have to add – depending on the size of your dish – a little more orange juice, sherry, or just some water if the sauce is reducing too much and getting sticky.
When the duck is ready, taste the plums and juices, adjusting the sweet-salty balance (more soy, some lemon or lime juice, whatever you think it needs).
Meanwhile, heat about 1 tbsp of the duck fat over a high heat and fry the spring onions until they are partly frazzled. Scatter the duck with these and with the sesame seeds. Serve with plain jasmine rice.