Duck leg recipe (cooked with plums & star anise) | Duck recipes & main courses

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sweet duck legs cooked with plums and star anise

sweet duck legs cooked with plums and star anise

main courses | serves 4
If you are the type of person who goes into a supermarket and buys prepacked chicken or duck breasts, thighs or drumsticks, then I really want to start you thinking along the lines of buying a whole chicken or duck. It’s far better to buy the whole bird and then remove the breasts or legs. I’ve also noticed that duck legs aren’t as popular, because the packs of duck legs never seem to shift from the supermarket shelves like the chicken ones do – which is strange, because all they need is some slow cooking and you’ll get thin crispy skin and beautiful melt-in-your-mouth meat. Check out this recipe, which works a real treat.

Place the duck legs in a sandwich bag with the soy sauce, five-spice, star anise, cinnamon stick and olive oil and let them marinate for a minimum of 2 hours. To really get the flavours going, you could keep this in your fridge to marinate for up to 2 days. Then get yourself a pan, casserole or high-sided roasting tray that snugly fits the duck legs. Place the chillies, plums and sugar in the bottom of the tray and then pour the marinade from the bag over the top. Mix it all up using your fingers, and place the duck legs on top.

Place the tray in a preheated oven at 170°C/325°F/gas 3 for 2 to 2½ hours until the meat falls away from the bone. Remove the star anise and cinnamon stick, then taste the sauce to see if it needs to be seasoned with a little more soy sauce. It’s now down to you how you would like to serve it. You could have it as a starter with some of the little Chinese pancakes that you can buy, or served simply with rice or noodles and the chunky, jammy plum sauce that the duck has cooked in.

• from Jamie's Dinners

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ingredients

• 4 fat legs of duck
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 teaspoons five-spice
• a handful of star anise
• ½ a stick of cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1–2 fresh chillies, deseeded and sliced
• 16 plums, halved and destoned
• 2 tablespoons Demerara sugar

user comments

18 comments

1. bravelilme Sat 06 Jun 2009 @ 00:27 i'll have a few people over for an izakaya style evening, and since is it full on summer here on the north side of our planet, i'll grill stuff. one of the things i was looking for is grilling some polenta slices and serve them asian style. i think this recipe is it, though modified as a ragu. i'll probably make it with duck i can buy already cooked at the asian supermarket. i'll stew the plums in the spice and liquids mix, add the duck meat, simmer a bit and then chill for a day so all flavours can mix. yum. thanks jamie for this recipe.

2. gardengirly Wed 08 Apr 2009 @ 14:08 I cooked this with just 2 legs but I didn't halve the ' sauce ' ingredients. After one and a half hours I opened the oven to find a black oily mess and the burnt smell stayed in the house for a couple of days. The duck tasted fine but there was not any sauce just black oil. I don't know what I did wrong - the picture looks wonderful.

3. Jen Mon 16 Mar 2009 @ 17:29 I tried this recipe today and have also ended up with a dried out black sauce. I feel like I've missed something. I noticed that the comment by Dee said she had to remove some of the sauce to reduce the amout of liquid. What liquid??? The soy and a bit of olive oil only makes 5 tbsps.

4. cooke Mon 24 Nov 2008 @ 10:48 Yes you can use breast it is delicious but only cook for 12 minutes no longer as the meat needs to be pink inside!

5. Rosemarie Fri 10 Oct 2008 @ 17:17 I wrote a couple of times to you. I really admire your cooking. I wish i can be in direct contact with you where i may also send you some oriental recipes, as i live with orientals and learned nice dishes besides our French ones!

6. dyl Mon 29 Sep 2008 @ 18:59 @Mary - probably because you had the fan on - can you turn the fan off? if not, then should cook in less time - tho' will taste better with no fan for longer
hope you're willing to give it another go - truly a delicious dish
dyl

7. Dee Sun 14 Sep 2008 @ 21:22 Cooked this dish last night for a dinner party - fantastic!

I did brown the legs first (after marinading), although not too sure that was really necessary as not that much fat came out of them. I did cover the dish for the first 1 hour of cooking, but actually ended up removing quite a lot of the sauce in order to reduce the amount of liquid. I added extra sugar and ensured I sprinkled it on the duck skin, in order for them to caramelise and look a lot more appetising.

I also added some cherries that I happened to have in the fridge. I kept some plums and cherries back and added them in 45 mins before serving time, in order for the dish to look more appealing, as the plums do tend to disintegrate fairly easily.

A very enjoyable and easy recipe.

8. imok Fri 12 Sep 2008 @ 18:58 I would not try the recipe with duck breast it would be a waste. They are different cuts of meat. Duck breast do not need to cook for a long time with a little pink left is best. Google canard recipes, it will show you how.
Mary, your oven temperature may not be accurate. Also, try cooking with lid on for 1/2 the time required and uncover for rest. Rich, good suggestion: after browining the meat you can add all the ingredients in a slow cooker. Will get the same result.
Would not try this with goose. Too much fat in goose for this recipe.

9. Dee Fri 12 Sep 2008 @ 13:00 Anyone know if you could do this recipe with duck breast instead of leg?

10. Rich Thu 11 Sep 2008 @ 18:10 The tartness will depend on the type of plums you use and their condition.
So you need to taste your food once cooked and adjust the sugar accordingly. I would suggest browning off the meat before hand to seal it, get rid of the excess fat in the skin and also reduce the cooking time.

11. Steve Smith Fri 04 Jul 2008 @ 16:56 Not good at all, I'm afraid. I feel the proportions are incorrect. The recipe as it stands will give you an unpleasantly tart sauce. Try adding double the amount of demarera.

12. shaun clarke Mon 09 Jun 2008 @ 11:44 hi
iv rated your meal tow stars because the layout of the food isnt very good and thats what puts me off

please email me back and tell me what you think of my commet

13. viola fitzpatrick Wed 04 Jun 2008 @ 17:47 Hi Jamie,
I am British and live in Alexandria, Egypt. I watch all your programs on the new fatafeat channel. I am really dyeing to find your recipe of bread you made on one of your shows. It's made with olive oil and rosemary. Please help. I am also very interested in all your recipes but unfortunately I can't always find the ingredients here but I compromise. Next time I go back to the U.k I will buy your book or better if you ever think of visiting Egypt I would be honored to have you as my guest ( please could you bring me a copy of your book).
Thank you

14. julie de lara Tue 06 May 2008 @ 04:37 This is a wonderful dish! I went to my local chinese restaurant an got some pancakes to wrap up the duck meat.

15. Mary Tue 15 Apr 2008 @ 19:19 I made this recipe today, and after two and a half hours my duck legs came out of the oven completely black and the sauce was gone (dried out and black), should I have closed my tray first with a lid or foil??? I put my fan oven 170 C.what did go wrong???? please help!!!!

16. annemie Thu 07 Feb 2008 @ 14:49 I have a goose in my freezer : do you think I can prepare it this way ?

17. Steve Burgess Thu 29 Nov 2007 @ 16:18 Cooked it for my wife who loved it.The duck and plum sauce is a classic conbination.You will love this if you love crispy aromatic duck.

18. tom cook Thu 04 Oct 2007 @ 18:02 abaolute hit with the my girl shem she loved it!!