Skip to content
Left arrow
FOUR Magazine logo
Search icon

Slow-cooked duck egg, white asparagus with maple syrup, hazelnut bon bons, duck crumble

Recipes
|
03 Dec 2016
|
4 min read
“There is something luxurious about eating this dish, with the richness of the yolk concentrated because of the slow cooking and the egg flavour complementing the asparagus so well” by David Everitt-Matthias.

The sweetness of the maple seems to heighten the richness and duck crumble adds texture. I serve this with little hazelnut purée ‘bon bons’, which have been set with a Japanese root starch called kuzu, something fairly new to me that is becoming a very useful part of our larder. When cooking eggs in this way, the key to perfection is to use only the freshest of eggs.

Serves 6

Ingredients

6 fresh duck eggs

Duck crumble

500g duck skins

150g water

Craquant

400g glucose syrup

400g caster sugar

100g water

200g hazelnuts, toasted and skinned

Hazelnut bon bons

200g milk

150g water

100g hazelnuts, roasted and skinned

25g kuzu, ground to a powder in a spice mill

200g toasted hazelnuts, finely ground

50g unsalted butter

Caramelised white asparagus

12 white asparagus spears

50g unsalted butter

50g maple syrup

White asparagus velouté

100g unsalted butter

100g chopped onions

50g white of leek, chopped

250g white asparagus stalks (from above)

150g potatoes, peeled and sliced

500g milk

500g vegetable stock

For the hazelnut purée

200g hazelnuts, toasted and skinned

250g milk

100g double cream

40g water

3.5g bicarbonate of soda

12g hazelnut oil

To serve

12 hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and broken into medium pieces

3 fat white asparagus spears, sliced wafer thin and kept in cold salted water

6 sprigs of hedge bedstraw

Method

Duck crumble

Lay the duck skins out on a board and burn off any stubble with a blowtorch, being careful not to scorch the skin. Roll up individual skins like a Swiss roll. Leave in the freezer overnight. Mince the frozen duck skins through a fine-medium mincing plate. Place in a saucepan and add the water. Bring up to the boil and cook slowly, stirring from time to time, until the water has evaporated, leaving some rendered duck fat in which to cook the rest of the duck skin ‘bits’. Cook until the duck skin solids are golden and crisp. Drain well on kitchen paper.Season and keep warm.

Duck eggs

Fill a water bath or large saucepan with water and heat to 64ºC. Add the eggs and keep the temperature at a constant 64ºC for 21/2 hours. Drain and keep warm.

Craquant

Place the glucose syrup, caster sugar and water in a heavy-based saucepan and dissolve on a gentle heat, then bring up to the boil and cook until caramelised to a golden amber colour. Fold in the hazelnuts, then immediately pour on to an oiled lipped baking tray. Put to one side until cold and very crisp. Then break up the caramel, place in a food processor and pulse to a coarse powder. Store in an airtight container until needed.

Hazelnut bon bons

Place the milk, 100g water and the skinned hazelnuts in a saucepan and bring up to the boil. Pour into a blender and blend until smooth. Season, then leave to cool. When cool, pour the hazelnut mixture back into the saucepan and whisk in the kuzu. Place on the heat and beat until the mixture starts to thicken and then becomes very thick. Remove from the heat and spoon into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm nozzle. Scatter the ground hazelnuts in a tray and pipe on 18 blobs of the thick hazelnut mixture; each blob or ‘dumpling’ should be about 6mm high (this will make more mixture than you need, so freeze the rest for a later date). Place in the fridge to set.

Caramelised white asparagus

Carefully bend the asparagus spears; they will snap just at the right point above the tough bottoms. Keep the bottom parts for the velouté. Peel the top parts to within 2cm of the tips. Keep the peelings for the velouté. Bring a large pot of water to the boil, add the trimmed asparagus and blanch for 3 minutes, then refresh and drain. Place on a towel to dry.

White asparagus velouté

Melt the butter in a medium heavy-based saucepan. Add the onions, leek and asparagus stalks and peelings and cook for 5 minutes without colouring. Add the potatoes, milk and stock and bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Pour into a blender and blend to a smooth, fine purée. Push through a fine sieve and season. Keep warm until needed.

Hazelnut purée

Combine all the ingredients, apart from the hazelnut oil, in a medium heavy-based saucepan. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer very gently for 10 minutes. Pour into a blender and blend until smooth, drizzling in the hazelnut oil at the end. Season. Keep warm.

Finishing the caramelised asparagus

Melt the butter in a cast-iron frying pan, add the blanched asparagus and cook until golden. Add the maple syrup and cook until caramelised. Season and keep warm.

Finishing the bon bons

Heat the remaining 50g water and the unsalted butter in a saucepan and bring to the boil, then season. Add the 18 little ‘dumplings’, then remove the pan from the heat and leave to warm through in the residual heat for 2 minutes. Scatter 100g of the craquant on a tray and roll the ‘dumplings’ around in this until coated. This needs to be done at the last minute to make sure you retain the texture from the craquant.

Serving

Make a swipe of the hazelnut purée on each plate, then place 2 asparagus spears coated in a little of the duck crumble and craquant. Crack an egg and carefully remove the cooked egg from the shell, then place it on the plate. Top with crumble and add the bon bons and cracked toasted hazelnuts, then lay 3 pieces of sliced raw asparagus on the plate and garnish with hedge bedstraw. Finally, place the velouté in a jug and serve with the egg at the table.

Find out more about David

World’s best winner 2014     |     World’s best luxury lifestyle media brand 2022

About

|

Editions

|

Contact

|

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Four magazine

|

All Rights Reserved

About

|

Contact

|

Editions

|

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Four magazine

|

All Rights Reserved

four-magazine.com use cookies to deliver an optimised experience. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of all cookies used.
Cookie settingsaccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.

CookieDurationDescription
__cfduid1 monthThe cookie is used by cdn services like CloudFare to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information.
_abck1 yearThis cookie is used to detect and defend when a client attempt to replay a cookie.This cookie manages the interaction with online bots and takes the appropriate actions.
bm_sz4 hoursThis cookie is set by the provider Akamai Bot Manager. This cookie is used to manage the interaction with the online bots. It also helps in fraud preventions
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement1 yearThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertisement".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
ts3 yearsThis cookie is provided by the PayPal. It is used to support payment service in a website.
ts_c3 yearsThis cookie is provided by PayPal when a website is in association with PayPal payment function. This cookie is used to make safe payment through PayPal.
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Functional

Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.

CookieDurationDescription
akavpau_ppsdsessionThis cookie is provided by Paypal. The cookie is used in context with transactions on the website.
nsidThis cookie is set by the provider PayPal. This cookie is used to enable the PayPal payment service in the website.
tsrce3 daysThis cookie is set by the provider PayPal. This cookie is used to enable the PayPal payment service in the website.
x-pp-ssessionThis cookie is set by the provider PayPal. This cookie is used to process payments from the site.

Performance

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

CookieDurationDescription
YSCsessionThis cookies is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos.

Analytics

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gid1 dayThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form.

Advertisement

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.

CookieDurationDescription
_fbp3 monthsThis cookie is set by Facebook to deliver advertisement when they are on Facebook or a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting this website.
fr3 monthsThe cookie is set by Facebook to show relevant advertisments to the users and measure and improve the advertisements. The cookie also tracks the behavior of the user across the web on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
IDE1 year 24 daysUsed by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile.
test_cookie15 minutesThis cookie is set by doubleclick.net. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE5 months 27 daysThis cookie is set by Youtube. Used to track the information of the embedded YouTube videos on a website.

Others

Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.

CookieDurationDescription
_gat_gtag_UA_120081375_11 minuteThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gat_gtag_UA_83740222_11 minuteThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_mcid1 yearNo description
ak_bmsc2 hoursNo description
CONSENT16 years 9 months 2 days 6 hoursNo description
ec_store_chameleon_fontsessionThis cookie is provided by Ecwid and it is used to save the font utilised in the website's online store.
enforce_policy1 yearNo description
l7_az30 minutesNo description
LANG9 hoursNo description
x-cdnThis cookie is provided by Paypal and is used in context with shopping transactions on the website's store.