With a mortar and pestle, combine and grind to a powder the anise seed, juniper berries, salt, and pepper. Set aside.You may want to do more than drizzle that sauce over your duck . . .
INGREDIENTS
¾ tsp whole anise seed
5 whole juniper berries
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 lb duck breast
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup Madeira wine
1 cup chicken stock
⅓ cup brown sugar, packed
2 tsp rosemary, minced
2 cups blueberries
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
DIRECTIONS
With a mortar and pestle, combine and grind to a powder the anise seed, juniper berries, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
Wipe the moisture from the duck breast with paper towels. Lay the duck down, fat facing up. Using a sharp paring knife, score the fat in a crisscross pattern. You want to go down deep enough in the fat without piercing the flesh. Take your time with this. The deeper into the fat you go, the more it will crisp up.
Rub the spice mix all over the duck, including over the fat.
In a saucepan, add the balsamic vinegar and Madeira wine. Cook on medium heat until the liquid has reduced by half. Add the chicken stock and again reduce the liquid to half. Add the brown sugar, rosemary, and blueberries. Cook for 5 minutes. The berries will become nice and plump.
Remove from heat and strain through a sieve over a saucepan. Press the berries with a wooden spoon to get all the juices into the pan. Return the strained liquid to medium heat, and discard the solids. Add one pat of butter at a time, whisking constantly until all the butter is gone. Leave on the heat, set at simmer.
Place a heavy sauté pan on the stovetop. Do not put any cooking oil in the pan. Turn the heat on medium to medium high. Once the pan is hot, lay the duck in the pan, fat side down. In addition, turn on your stove fan. Cook for 10–15 minutes to get it super crispy. You will notice that there will be a large amount of fat in the pan that starts to brown and smoke. Turn the stove off. Using tongs, gently turn the duck so the crispy side is facing up. The hot fat in the pan will continue to cook the duck. Depending on desired doneness, cook for at least 5 minutes for rare. Remove the duck from the pan, and let it cool slightly on a cutting board.
Cut the duck meat, and serve with the blueberry sauce and our Wild Rice Cakes (page 30).
Sarah Josepha Hale (1788–1879)
We have Sarah to thank for today’s version of Thanksgiving. Hale wrote to five presidents over a period of seventeen years to petition the feast to be observed as a national holiday. Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan ignored her requests. It was Abraham Lincoln who finally took the request to heart and acted on it. Persistence eventually paid off. In 1863, it was finally declared a national day of celebration. Before that, there were only two other national holidays on the calendar: George Washington’s birthday and Independence Day.
The Mother of Thanksgiving, Sarah Josepha Hale
More on Mrs. Hale
Sarah was born in Newport, New Hampshire, and was well-educated as a child. She went on to be the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book (eventually known as the Ladies’ Magazine) for over forty years. She had several novels published, and—get this—she wrote a little nursery rhyme you may have heard of, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” (originally titled “Mary’s Lamb”). She was extremely outspoken for girls’ education reform and advocated for girls and women to enter respectable professions, such as teaching and medicine.
FUN FACT
Even more impressive—she did not retire until 1877 at the age of eighty-nine. You go, girl.
