Clay-baked Duck

Origin: Ancient      Period: Traditional

This is a very traditional way of cooking wildfowl in hot coals. The clay coating acts both to seal all the flavour of the meat inside whilst also protecting it from the heat of the fire itself. Traditionally river clay was used (this is generally poor-quality and not good enough for pot making, but it is more than adequate for cooking). If you want to be completely authentic dig a pit, place dry gorse wood in this (gorse is good as burns very hot and doesn't spit). Cover your meat in clay and place in the fire. It's probably easiest if you use a plank of wood to support your meat and clay casing as the clay is very sloppy and will simply fall off if you carry it. Using the plank you can set the duck by the fire to dry the clay a little before placing the plank and the clay-coated meat in the fire. The plank will simply burn away and the clay will harden cooking the meat inside. If you want to try this in your own kitchen then buy raku clay from a craft store and use your oven. Raku clay contains a fair percentage of sand and approximates river clay very well. The recipe here is for duck and wild duck is best, but you can use farmed duck. In ancient times this method of cooking would have been used for a whole range of wildfowl and waterfowl. Anything that could have been caught, essentially. This recipe stuffs the duck with wild fruit. These both taste wonderful, provide a sauce but also have enough liquid content for the duck to steam in its clay case without drying

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized duck, gutted with head, wing-tips and feet removed
wild fruit: any of blackberries, elderberries, plums, apples, cherries (or a mixture) grass, straw, ramson leaves, myrtle leaves or burdock leaves (basically anything you can use to cover the fish and protect it from the clay)

As always, if you're not completely certain in recognizing a wild plant, do not pick it. However, this basic guide to wild edible palnts is provided as a basic guide.

Method:

Preparation

Stuff the prepared fish with the fruit (blackberries, or a mix containing blackberries is good) then completely cover the duck in the straw, grass or leaves so that it is completely covered (use twisted grass to tie this on). (This prevents the clay from sticking and makes it easier to serve the bird). Lower the bird onto a layer of clay placed on a layer of foil in a baking dish. Use more clay to completely cover the bird then place in a hot oven pre-heated to 200°C. Bake for about 60 minutes then turn the duck over onto its back (this both keeps the breast moist and ensures even cooking) and continue cooking for a further hour.

At the end of this time the clay will be hard. Break it open and this will reveal the juicy duck inside, complete with its own blackberry-based sauce. Carve and serve with the sauce.

Clay baking is the fore-runner of modern en croute cookery where pastry or bread is used to coat the meat before cooking.

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