A Festive Feast – Christmas Mallard

The Game Chef visits Berry Bros. & Rudd to celebrate the season with glorious game and perfect wine accompaniments.

The dish eats well with all the usual Christmas accompaniments, and don't neglect the sticky soft orange slices.
Having lazed for hours under the duck, absorbing the slowly reducing juices, they are glorious!

Serves 4

• 2 whole mallard
• 50 ml hoisin sauce
• 1 whole orange
• 200 g marmalade
• 4 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 150 ml sherry
• Splash of water

Stuffing:

• 300 g venison mince
• 2 tbsp marmalade
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 100 g walnuts, lightly crushed
• Good pinch salt and pepper

Method:

1. To make the stuffing, simply mix all of the ingredients together. Fully stuff the cavity of the bird.
2. Mix the hoisin, marmalade and sherry together in a bowl, adding a good pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Smother this mixture over the two birds, working the mixture into every crack and crevice.
4. Place the birds in a solid roasting dish, and pour over any remaining mix, along with 100ml water. 5. Slice the orange into quarters, then slice each quarter into six, widthways.
6. Push a few orange slices into the edge of the stuffing, and push the rest underneath the birds, forming a trivet of sorts.
7. Cover the dish with three layers of tin foil, bringing together tightly at the edges of the dish.
8. Place in a preheated oven at 140c for 2½ hours.
9. Remove the tin foil, turn up the oven to 180c and cook for another 20 – 30 minutes, basting frequently to ensure a good glaze on the meat.