Duck shot
Serves 4-6
As you know, I hate wasting anything, even bones, and if I ever have a game-bird feast, the bones go into a pan, rather than the dustbin. This is a take on the classic bull shot, which normally uses canned consommé, but when I invented it, I had an abundance of wild-duck carcasses, so it made sense to make up a rich stock that you can store in your freezer for shooting days. I normally make this with Sipsmith vodka, which is distilled in Hammersmith.
Ingredients
4 shots of vodka (or more, if you wish)
500ml-600ml duck stock
4-5 drops of Tabasco sauce to taste
2tbsp Worcestershire sauce
The juice of 1 lime
1tsp celery salt
A few turns of black pepper
For the stock
4-5 wild-duck carcasses
1 onion, peeled and chopped
3 sticks of celery, roughly chopped
10 black peppercorns
A few sprigs of thyme
Enough chicken or beef stock to cover
Method
First, make the stock: put all the ingredients in a saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer gently for an hour. Strain through a fine-meshed sieve, season and leave to cool.
If you want to drink this cold as a cocktail, then mix the ingredients and pour them into ice-filled glasses, with perhaps a little more vodka.
For a warming drink out hunting or shooting, simply heat the stock up, stir in the rest of the ingredients and add the condiments and spices to taste, pour into a vacuum flask, and off you go.
Scotch duck’s eggs
Serves 4
Scotch eggs are becoming so popular these days, and not just as a picnic snack-they’re appearing on some of the best restaurant menus as starters. I think they’re a crucial shooting accessory, and you can make them the night before and cook them in the morning before you set off. You can have fun with these-I’ve used haggis, but you could add black pudding, or chorizo.
Ingredients
4 duck eggs, boiled for 6-7 minutes, cooled in cold water and peeled
200g good-quality Cumberland sausage meat
200g good-quality haggis
Flour for dusting
1 egg, beaten
50g-60g fresh white breadcrumbs
Vegetable or corn oil for deep frying
Method
Mix the sausage meat and haggis, divide into four balls and flatten them into patties. Wrap the meat around each of the eggs evenly, moulding it with your hands.
Have three shallow containers ready, one filled with the flour, one filled with the egg and the third filled with the breadcrumbs. Put the eggs through the flour first, shaking off any excess, then through the beaten egg and finally the breadcrumbs, remoulding them if necessary.
Pre-heat about 8cm of oil to 140˚C-150˚C in a large, thick-bottomed saucepan or electric deep-fat fryer. Cook the eggs for 4-5 minutes, turning them every so often so they’re evenly coloured. Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on some kitchen paper.
Serve the Scotch eggs hot, cold or at room temperature.
Mark Hix’s ‘Seasonal Food’ is available from Quadrille at £25
* Picture courtesy of cookingthebooks.typepad.com
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