SweetMeatMince Pies
Further to last post by our newly crowned President, MixedGill, hereth follows the recipe of our savoured Sweet MeatMince Pies.
So introducing one beautiful, organic duck, bought from Well Hung Meat weighing in at 2.2kg. You can buy legs/wings but in this instance I’ve used a whole duck so that I can feed the family on Sunday and use the wings and legs for our SweetMeatMince Pies.
After admiring, stroking and generally loving the site of such a well grown bird start by cutting the legs and wings off. To do this, get a sharp boning knife pull the leg from the body and cut around the joint area.
Try not to cut too much skin off with the leg, that will be needed later when roasting the duck. Cut around the leg shape – you should be able to feel the bone joint.
There you can see it. Cut in to it to severe the tendons.
Seal the holes with the duck skin by using cocktail sticks. Then remove the wings with the same method.
Apply the cocktail sticks by removing from the joint to save minimal loss of skin for roasting the whole duck afterwards. More skin equals more flavorsome fat that can be saved and refrigerated for roasting next weeks potatoes.
Don’t drop the cocktail sticks on the floor not least because fitting them up with your sticky, duck-bloodied fingers is quite hard. Better still, employ your two and a half year old son to pick them up instead.
Now, always use the Giblets. You can do this by using them as the base of a good stock, or (in the this case) in the bottom of the roasting tray – neck, lungs and liver, get it all in – the juices will come in handy later, not to mention adding to the flavour of your gravy!
Pinch the fatty skin areas of the duck to allow the fat to escape and crisp the skin.
Stab that fucking bird.
More stabbing.
Chop one large chopped onion, six or seven garlic cloves. You can also add carrots, celery, anything that will add to the flavour of your gravy stock at the end.
He’s almost ready. I glazed this bad-boy with and honey glaze. To do that pour a good glug (three tablespoons) of olive oil in to a bowl, with two tablespoons of honey, and a pinch of salt. Brush over the skin thoroughly. Then put this in the fridge to chill overnight, or have your oven pre-heated to maximum temperature, place the duck in and reduce the heat immediately to 180°. Cook for 40 mins per kilo.
Back to the SweetMeatMince Pies. For the Wings and Legs you’ll need a large plastic, zip-locked sandwich bag. Place inside the wings and legs. Add to the bag a chopped, de-seeded red Chilli, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and Dark Soy Sauce, one crushed cinnamon stick, six-12 plums, five star anise and soy sauce.
Looking good. zip-close it, and stick it in the fridge overnight.
Having eaten the whole duck yesterday (the gravy… you missed it), place the contents of the bag in to a roasting tray. Cook for around two hours on 180°.
In a large frying pan add 50g of butter, and sweat two banana shallots with two teaspoons of Demerara sugar for around ten minutes on a moderate heat. Don’t let it boil, otherwise you’ll have the makings of a syrupy caramel – nice, but not right for our dish. Once the onions have become translucent add some of your duck gravy/stock from the roast you had yesterday. Let this simmer for five minutes.
While the sauce is cooking pull the duck from the bone (resist the temptation to eat it all).
Add it to your frying mixture.
Add a good glug/glass of port. You could also add (as I did) some (, homemade) cranberry sauce and/or plum sauce.
Turn of the heat and add knob of butter to give your sauce that demi-jus glaze.
Now for the sweet-flakey pastry for the Mince Pie cases. Sieve 250g of fine (ideally double “OO”) plain flour, 50g icing sugar, and 125g of unsalted butter. Mix the all together with your hands by rubbing you fingers and thumbs through the mixture.
When it is the consistency of small crumbles make a volcano shape and crack and egg and a splash of milk. Mix this in until you end up with a dough-like mixture. Don’t need too much or you will encourage the butter to melt and ruin the pastry.
Roll the fucker out until you have a thick pizza-base looking thing. Wrap in cling-film and put it in the fridge for 30minutes. Then roll the pastry until its about 4-5mm thick. Use anything you can to cut the shape you need to fill the pie base (cup-cake tray). I used the base of a large tin of chestnuts – I said use anything. Push each pastry base in to the allotted cups.
Crack an egg in to a bowl with a tea spoon of caster sugar. Whisk and the brush the edge and top of the pie generously. Then cook the fuckers for 12-15 minutes or until the pastry has turned golden brown.
Allow to cool. Dust with icing sugar. Take to MeatClub and let all the cunts eat them with a glass of port and a good cheese – goats or a mature cheddar.
