Our family was lucky enough to have a wonderful Slovakian au pair for a couple of years. When we visited her family out in Slovakia, they prepared a wonderful roast goose and duck dish. Now, whilst this isn’t as simple as Keith’s roast duck, it is not complicated…
Ingredients
- Goose or duck – cut into portions skin on. Split breasts into 2 pieces.
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Rosemary
- Cabbage
- Fresh bread
Directions
- Salt all the portions generously and leave for a minimum of 12 hours. This draws out a lot of the water within the meat.
- Wash thoroughly
- Oven to 150°C
- Place the portions into a baking tray/roasting tin, skin side up
- Sprinkle of salt, generous grate of pepper, tear the rosemary over the pieces
- Cover with foil (or use a roasting tin with a lid)
- Bake for 1 1/2 hours
- After 1 1/2 hours, remove the foil and jack the heat up to 250°C
- Shred the cabbage and cook in whatever way you most like – we steam ours over a pan of boiling water then add a generous knob of butter
- Cut the bread into thick slices
- By this time the skin should be nice and crispy so it’s time to serve
- Collect the fat that’s come from the bird portions into a serving jug – not only does this taste excellent when drizzled over the fresh bread but it’s a good start to making lovely gravy and (if you separate off the white layer at the top, using it to fry bacon and eggs in) it’s a fine dripping to go on toast.
- Enjoy. Pleasantries like knives and forks are strictly optional, especially if you pick a leg/wing piece!
If you happen to be able to lay your hands on a bottle of Becherovka, so much the better.
Now, head over to the Recipe Shed for more inspiration.
