Sous Vide Duck Leg with Celeriac | Recipe by sousidetools.com

Sous Vide Duck Leg with Celeriac Choucroute, Bulgur Wheat and Cherries

COOK TIME: 2
PREP TIME: 1 hour
DIFFICULTY: Medium
SERVES: 4

Ingredients

4 duck legs
salt

Duck sauce

1kg duck bones
400ml of brown chicken stock
100ml of white wine
1g of xanthan gum
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp five-spice powder
1 pinch of black pepper
1 tsp of Chardonnay vinegar

Celeriac choucroute

500g of celeriac, cut julienne
5g of salt
25g of duck fat
25g of white wine vinegar

Bulgur wheat

100g of bulgur wheat
300ml of water
15ml of olive oil
1 tsp chives, chopped
1 tsp parsley leaves, chopped

To serve

8 cherries

Equipment

EQUIPMENT

Method

METHOD

Preheat the water bath to a temperature of 68⁰C.
First, cook the duck legs. Rub a pinch of salt into the meat, then, using a chamber sealer, seal the legs inside a vacuum bag with a little duck fat. Place the bag in the water bath and cook sous vide for 6 hours. After this time, transfer the bag to the fridge and leave to chill.
Preheat the oven to a temperature of 180⁰C/gas mark 4.
For the duck sauce, arrange the duck bones on a baking tray and place in the oven. Cook until the bones turn a rich golden brown.
Place the chicken stock in a large saucepan over a high heat. When the stock reaches the boil, stir in the roasted duck bones. Simmer over a gentle heat for 1 hour, then pass the mixture through a fine sieve. Tip the strained stock into a clean saucepan.
Heat the white wine until it boils, then pour it into the pan with chicken stock. Mix in the garlic, five-spice powder, black pepper and vinegar and place the pan over a medium heat. Cook, simmering gently, for 2 minutes, then strain through a fine sieve. Add the xanthan gum and stir until the sauce thickens. Set aside until needed.
Next, prepare the choucroute. Toss the celeriac with the salt, then leave to drain in a colander. The salt will draw the moisture out of the celeriac. When 30 minutes have passed, press down hard on the celeriac to squeeze out as much of the remaining moisture as possible.
Transfer the celeriac to a saucepan and add the duck fat. Sauté over a medium heat, ensuring that the celeriac does not colour. After 20 minutes, take the pan off the heat and stir through the white wine vinegar to finish.
To cook the bulgar wheat, spread the wheat over the base of a saucepan and pour over the water. Place the pan over a medium heat and boil for 8 minutes. After this time, take the pan off the heat, add the olive oil, chives and parsley and mix well.
Lay the chilled duck legs skin-side down in a hot frying pan and sear over a high heat until the meat is heated through and the skin is crispy and golden. While the legs are browning, stir the cherries into the sauce and reheat.
To serve, spoon some of the choucroute into the middle of each plate and cover with a thin layer of bulgur wheat. Top with the duck legs and pour over the reheated duck sauce, making sure there are 2 cherries on each plate.

Back to Recipes

Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

...