Idea for a Ducky Meal ==================== So I'm thinking of a lozenge of pink duck breast, crisp skin closely scored. A smear of ruby red beetroot purée, it might need to be loosened with beetroot juice. Shallot cylinder(s), caramelised at the end. Fondant potatoes? Beetroot cylinders (or balls?). Overkill? Savoy cabbage leaves, cut shell-shaped from the stem, blanched then warmed in butter with the edges scorched with a torch. Several decreasing sized layers to look like an oyster shell with a pile of horseradish pearls - simmer milk (and cream?) with agar agar, off the heat infuse with grated horseradish, cool slightly, strain into a sauce bottle, then drop into cold oil. Drizzled with orange sauce. Shallots sweated, white wine reduced, splash of chicken stock, orange juice, emulsified with butter or xanthan gum. Scattered with a few long chives. Torched orange segments? Saturday ------- - Juice Horseradish, Orange, Beetroot. - Make Beetroot Purée, Orange sauce, Horseradish Caviar? Roast/Boil beetroot. Blend with butter + water/beetroot juice. Thicken with xanthan gum (0.1%-0.3%). Sieve. Simmer white wine with shallots. Add orange juice, chicken stock. Season (honey, thyme, blanched orange zest). Reduce. Butter? Thicken with xanthan gum (0.1%-0.3%). Strain Bring milk with a little cream to the boil. Whisk in agar agar (1g/100ml seems too much, plus you need large drops - perhaps pushed off a spoon) and cook for 2 minutes. 80ml white wine, pinch of salt. Bring to simmer. Whisk in 8g agar agar. Off heat add 20g finely grated horseradish and 10-15ml (heated) double cream. Keep hot for 5-10 minutes to infuse, strain, then drop into chilled oil. I discovered I needed to "flick" the liquid down into the oil off a teaspoon to get large droplets (pearls, if you will) to sink into the oil rather than splat on the surface and float there. Keep the mixture warm as you do so. Off the boil add horseradish/juice. Drop into cold oil. Keep caviar in oil until required. Wash if necessary. - Score duck breasts. Salt. Refrigerate. Sunday ----- - Shallot barrels Forget the shallots - Beetroot barrels? - Make potato fondants Cut fondant shapes. Sear in olive oil. Baste with butter, thyme. Add chicken stock to cover ⅓. Bring to simmer & bake in Gas 5 oven for 20-30 minutes. - Fondant/Beetroot barrels - Caviar now or yesterday? - Sous Vide the duck - 2 hours at 54°C - Reheat Beetroot purée & Orange Sauce - Crisp the duck skin. - Cut cabbage circles. Blanch & shock first? Cook gently in beurre monté. Sear the edges