Perfect Roast Duck in the Weber

Cooking duck indoors can be a smoky affair, especially in the winter when the house is tightly closed up. Our local shop had fresh duck on offer, so I grabbed two, one for dinner and one for the freezer. It was only after bumping into a neighbour in the shop that the idea of cooking the duck in the Weber came about. She had recently roasted some duck legs and found the duck fat smell in the house fairly overpowering and long lasting.

Our normal winter Sunday evening roast is a fairly random rotation of chicken, beef, pork, lamb and gammon. The duck idea freaked the young ones out a bit, but when they remembered how they loved Chinese crispy duck pancakes they relaxed a bit.

The Weber is just ideal for cooking duck. The high starting temperature gets the fat melting and skin crisping up straight away, and as the temperature subsides during the hour and a half or so of cooking time, the meat cooks more gently finishing off soft and moist inside. I followed Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Meat Book as a guide. This included the giblet stock for the gravy, but I added a tomato to his stock recipe, and a spoonful of cranberry sauce to the gravy.

The Weber guides never tell you this, but I always use a rectangular roasting dish rather than just sitting the meat on the grill. This retains all of the fat which is a must for basting. I have a pyrex dish which is perfect for this.

I made a plan for the afternoon, working out at what time I needed to light the fire, put on the duck, prepare the other veggies and so on. I filled my fairly new Weber Chimney Starter with good quality lumpwood charcoal and a piece of newspaper. I had allowed 20 minutes for this, but the charcoal was in paper packaging and was stored outside (under cover) so had become a bit damp. The chimney starter took twice as long, and the meal time was bumped further away as a result.

The starting temperature is much higher in a Weber than the 200 degrees C oven temperature recommended, so the roasting started off with a real sizzle. After the first half hour, the skin was browning nicely and it looked like I wouldn't be needing to top up the charcoal at all during the roasting. In fact I was getting worried that the outside might burn before the inside was done. An hour in, the temperature was still high and there was a lot of smoky fat spitting away in the roasting dish. I gave the duck a good basting and let it get on. Another 15 minutes in and I was still worried. I gave the thigh a poke with a skewer and from the steam it was clear that the duck was still very moist. I just hoped that I hadn't put too much fuel in at the beginning. Luckily the fire did what it was supposed to do and eased off towards the end so that by the time the 90 minutes were up, it was an aromatic, gentle sizzle.

I took the duck out of the Weber and covered the baking dish with foil to rest before carving and set out to make the gravy from the giblet stock prepared earlier. Following Hugh's advice, the breasts were removed whole, and the legs and thighs separated from the carcass. The breast was sliced thickly and offered with either a leg or thigh when served.

I was really surprised as to how moist the flesh was and how tasty the crispy bits were. There was also the distinctive smoky taste from the Weber that reminded me of the Christmas Turkey we had last December. The breast was almost creamy in texture, and the legs moist and savoury.

We had our roast duck with steamed carrots, roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, peas, gravy and some shop bought cranberry sauce. And, the kids loved it.

I found a new home for the charcoal indoors so next time it should be nice and dry.

Aussie Damper Bread on a Stick - Chapter 3

GUY FAWKES WEEKEND

And also our lovely Luca's ninth birthday. After igniting a fair sized box of fireworks in our friends Katie and Cai's garden, I spontaneously decided to make a batch of damper dough for the kids to bake on the fire in the brazier.

The simple mix of self raising flour, milk (or water) and a bit of salt was mixed in a bowl, kneaded to a light dough, and wrapped in foil for a while until the fire subsided to embers.

Cai's son Louis was sent on a mission to find sticks in the garden the thickness of his little finger and about 50cm long. He returned with some bamboo gardening stakes which were just perfect. Cai sawed off the ragged ends and washed the dirt off them before I worked a small ball of dough a bit larger than a golf ball onto the end of each one for the kids to slowly roast over the embers.

The kids took their damper and rotated them constantly and slowly over nice hot spots above the embers for about 15 minutes until the damper expanded to about double the size and was a lightly toasted colour on the outside. For the kids 15 minutes was an eternity, constant cries of 'mine's ready' were countered by me reassuring them that it would be worth the wait.

After being removed from the sticks, the dampers were broken open, buttered and topped with jam, Marmite, whatever. They loved them.

For the recipe look at Aussie Damper Bread on a Stick.

Ben's Built-in Braai - Chapter 3

THE OFFICIAL OPENING

Attended by all those who helped plus spouses and kids, this was a great night and one to be remembered. For his architect (me), his builder (Rob), his South African neighbour on a spade (Riaan), his South African friend on a spade (Dean), wives, young'uns and Riaan's sister who was visiting from South Africa, Ben and Tersia put on a proper feast and celebration.

Oxfordshire's autumnal weather kicked off with a heavy rain shower before the guests arrived, but the night stayed respectfully still, cool and dry for the occasion.

We could smell the wood smoke and spices as we approached his house on foot. When we arrived the braai was in full flame and the potjie was simmering gently with just a few embers below it. A hardwood fire was blazing in the back corner of the braai to provide warmth for the guests and a supply of embers for the potjie and braii tool (grilling rack) when needed.

We blokes hung around by the new braai admiring the set-up and talked long and hard about our barbeqeing memories. I obtained an insight into the long and sophisticated tradition of cooking with fire in South Africa. This is so unlike Australia where as a child I was often horrified at how grown up friends and relatives could so easily destroy my food. Fortunately Australia's barbequing culture has moved on since the 70's. It will although never have, in my opinion, the depth of the South African tradition as it has always been a suburban pursuit rather than a rural one.

Given the number of guests and the age range (11 adults and 8 kids) Ben deliberated long and hard about the menu for the milestone event. For the first course he made chicken tandoori kebabs served with poppadoms, home-made raita and salsa plus a sweet chutney. Boerewors sausage was grilled for the kids so they could get on to watch TV and play games.

The main course was a slow cooked lamb curry, spiced rice, saag aloo and naan bread. For dessert Tersia produced a gorgeous white chocolate panna cotta.

Chunks of lamb on the bone were meltingly tender and the handful of garam masala thrown in ten minutes before serving was Ben's special trick to intensify an already wonderful taste and aroma.

Under no pressure at all (yeah right) Ben has so generously provided his recipes because basically I gave him no choice.

Get yourself a local architect and builder and you can have one all of your own. Go on, you know you want to.

Tandoori Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 pint of live natural yogurt

1 Tablespoon Cumin powder

1 Tablespoon Garam Massala

1 Teaspoon Coriander powder

1 Teaspoon Turmeric powder

1 Teaspoon Chilli Powder

Juice 1 lemon

8 cloves garlic - crushed

1 inch grated ginger

Red food colouring

4 pieces of skinless chicken on the bone

1 Lemon

Method:

Mix the spices, colouring, lemon juice and garlic and ginger up into a paste with a little water and stir in well with the yoghurt. Marinate for 12 hrs. Shake off excess marinade and place chicken pieces on skewers. Braai for 10-15 minutes and check the chicken is cooked by piercing the thickest piece with a skewer, if the juices run clear it's cooked, serve with a wedge of lemon.

Curry recipe:

Ingredients:

2 kg of lamb stewing meat

Two tins of chopped tomato

3-4 Stems of finger length fresh ginger, peeled and grated.

5 cloves garlic chopped finely or crushed to paste

4 large onions sliced finely

4 large carrots chopped

4-5 medium potatoes cut in quarters

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon Cumin seeds

1 teaspoon ground cumin

6 cardommom seeds crushed

4-5 Star anis pods

1 Cinnamon stick

2 tablespoons Garam Masala

3 tablespoons of Mild Curry powder

1 tablespoon Turmeric

3 bay leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

Chilli powder to taste, half teaspoon for mild

Lamb stock 2-3 tomato tin full

Fresh Coriander for garnish

Chopped almonds if wanted for garnish

Method:

Brown meat in veg oil. Remove from pot. Brown onions with garlic ginger and all spices. Do not let it burn. Add meat and juices to onions and spices. Brown for a further few minutes and add tomatoes. Put two tomato tins full of stock in now as well. Cook slowly until meat is almost tender(1-1.5hrs). Add carrots and potatoes and add another tin of stock. If curry is to dry to your taste, add more stock. Season. Cook for another 30 min until potatoes are cooked. Take off heat for at least 25 minutes. Best to cook previous day. Garnish with Fresh Coriander and almonds.

Saag aloo recipe:

Ingredients:

7-9 medium sized potatoes of your choice, cut into quarters

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon garam masala

A few Cumin seeds and fennels seeds Teaspoon in total

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon dried chilli/chilli powder (or more if you like it hot!)

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

Fresh spinach, a good few hands full, dont cut

Water for boiling

Vegetable oil for Frying

Method:

Par boil the potatoes. Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat then add the garlic and spices. Drain the potatoes once they are ready and put them in the pan as soon as the garlic begins to turn brown. Turn up heat. When the potatoes are brown, add the spinach and once the spinach has wilted, turn off the heat.

Tandoori Chicken

Ben's Built-in Braai - Chapter 2

The traditional South African outdoor kitchen in Witney, Oxfordshire has become a reality.

Ben sent me this photo from his mobile on the weekend to proudly show off his new toy for the coming winter. Over the past weeks we've had plenty of discussions about firewood, cooking pots, rotisseries, you name it.

In the traditional way, this braai will be used for grilling, slow cooking in a three legged pot (potjie - pronounced poit-kee) and baking bread using hardwood embers.

The design and construction team will be enjoying Ben's delights at a ceremonial party in just a few weeks, so watch this space.

See also Ben's Built-in Braai - Chapter 1

The X-Grill Barbeque

A REVIEW OF THE X-GRILL PORTABLE BARBEQUE

Also branded as the Hotspot Notebook Portable BBQ, this has to be one of the most versatile pieces of charcoal fuelled outdoor cooking equipment I've ever come across. Lightweight and compact, it's a must have for camping and picnicking. I first saw one when we were camping with family and friends in Gloucestershire and decided to get one for a camping weekend in the Cotswolds. It folds up flat so it's easy to pack and has carry handles. The design is simple and it works.

With any charcoal barbeque I look for a couple of key features; adjustability in cooking temperature, air supply for the cooking fuel, and easy refuelling when cooking.

With any charcoal barbeque, varying cooking temperature is best achieved by concentrating the coals in one area so food or cookware can be moved around to areas of lower or higher temperature. For refuelling, I keep one end open so I can place extra coal on the fire using tongs.

Our first meal on the X-Grill was slow cooked pork with paprika cooked in a paella pan. The fire was kept to one end and I slid the grill rack to the side a bit to get better access to the fire. After the meal was finished, I closed up the open end, removed the grill rack and we used the X-Grill as a brazier for an open fire for the evening.

All in all, this is one of the best camping accessories I've bought. The only trade off is lightweight vs robust. It won't last forever like our trusty 'Go Anywhere Weber' so expect it to last only a couple of summers, but it makes up for it in every other way. So, my scores from 1-5 are:

Value for money - 5

Flexibility -5

Portability - 5

Longevity - 2

I've also discovered a larger stainless steel version at £35 which may well come up with a perfect score.

Rosé Wine Sauce with Sage Butter

IDEAL FOR PORK OR POULTRY

This was invented for a summer dinner party to accompany spit roasted pork shoulder cooked on the outdoor rotisserie. The idea is based on a white wine sauce, but uses rosé instead and is flavoured with sage infused butter. The taste is unique and summery, and suited the slow cooked pork perfectly.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 people):

- 12 to 15 fresh sage leaves

- 50g lightly salted butter

- 1 heaped tbsp of plain flour

- 1/2 bottle of rosé

- 500ml chicken or pork stock

- salt and pepper

METHOD

This sauce should be prepared a few hours earlier and then reheated just before serving. In a small saucepan, add the rosé, bring to the boil, and simmer until the wine is reduced to about a third of the original quantity. Meanwhile, gently heat half of the butter in a saucepan until melted and just starting to froth. Fry the sage leaves carefully for a few minutes being careful not to let the butter burn. Remove the sage leaves and stand on kitchen paper to use as a garnish later.

Add the flour to the sage infused butter and whisk to a smooth consistency. Add the rosé wine reduction and the rest of the butter combining the ingredients with a whisk or a wooden spoon, season with salt and pepper and add the stock. Simmer and stir, tasting from time to time, until the sauce reduces and thickens to the right consistency. Cover the sauce until you are ready to reheat for finishing your pork or poultry main course.

Garnish with the crispy fried sage leaves, they are an intense delight that compliment the more subtle sage aroma of the sauce itself.

Pork & Paprika Over an Open Fire

SLOW COOKED PORK SHOULDER

Inspired by a gloriously hot weekend in the Cotswolds, this is heart warming, slow cooked camp food at its best. I served this with garlic potatoes cooked in foil over the embers.

The promise of endless sunshine was too hard to resist so we took Roxy, our beloved 1971 VW Dormobile, for a spur of the moment weekend at the camp site at Folly Farm in Gloucestershire, about 20 miles from where we live.

I raided the freezer for some pork shoulder I knew I had, then discovered an unopened spice jar of paprika in the pantry and only had to top up with the remaining ingredients on the day. This was also an opportunity to test our newly aquired X-Grill folding portable barbeque.

INGREDIENTS (4 big serves):

- 1.2kg pork shoulder off the bone

- 2 medium onions, finely chopped

- 2 large capsicums, finely chopped

- 1 large tomato roughly chopped

- 4-5 cloves of garlic, crushed

- 1 small bottle of lager (or stock)

- 20g (4 heaped teaspoons) paprika

- Olive oil

- Salt & pepper to taste

METHOD:

First, cut the pork into large (5cm) chunks and mix in a bowl with a dash of olive oil and half of the paprika to marinate. Then prepare the onions, garlic, tomato and capsicums so everything is ready for when the fire is on.

Prepare a charcoal cooking fire suitable for a paella dish or flame proof pot, and once mature, sear the marinated pork while the heat is high in a dash of olive oil, then take it out and wrap it in foil. Add some more olive oil (I used the rind of the pork for the fat) and cook the onions until soft. Then add the capsicum, garlic and lager (or stock) and simmer it down for a while before returning the pork to the pan. Stir in the remainder of the paprika, cover in foil (or a lid if you have one) and keep an eye on it for a couple of hours until the pork is meltingly tender and the sauce nice and thick.

You may have to add a bit of water, beer or stock from time to time depending on how hot your fire is. The good thing about a charcoal fire is that it starts off hot, and then subsides steadily to give a constantly reducing cooking temperature.

I made a few customisations to the new X-Grill for this one. I kept one end open so I could easily access the fire, and kept the fire to the other end so I could move the pan along if the fire was too hot. This worked a treat and I was well impressed as to how versatile this new piece of cooking kit actually was. For half the price of a 'Go Anywhere Weber' the X-Grill won't last a lifetime (one summer if you are lucky) but it is a very practical and versatile open fire cooker. It also makes a great fire pit once the meal is done and the sun has set.