Duck, Cranberry & Orange Terrine

Serves 8-10

 You will need

• 2 duck breasts, skinned – about 450g
• 2-3 tbsp Mandarin Imperial (orange brandy) or brandy

• 170g pancetta, diced
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• Knob of butter
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• Ground black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 1.25kg minced belly and shoulder pork
• Zest of 1 orange
• 11 or 12 streaky bacon or pancetta rashers, thinly sliced
• 125g dried cranberries
• Glaze and garnish:
• 250g cranberry sauce (your own or a jar)
• Fresh thyme leaves
• Frosted cranberries - optional
• Edible gold leaf - optional

Method

Slice the duck breasts into two, removing any sinews.  Put to marinade in the orange brandy. 

Dry fry the pancetta in a pan on the Simmering Plate until crisp, remove from the pan and put to cool.  Place the onion, butter and garlic into the same pan and gently fry until soft, add the black pepper and salt as appropriate – taste the cooked pancetta, to see how salty it is. Cool.

Place the minced pork, orange zest, cooked pancetta and onion into a bowl.  Drain the orange brandy from the duck breasts into the pork and mix together thoroughly. 

Line the Portmeirion Pie Dish with bacon or pancetta rashers, overlapping, to cover the base and sides.

Place half the pork mixture into the lined pie dish then layer with cranberries, top with the duck breast fillets. Cover with the remainder of the pork mixture.  Fold over any ends of bacon.  Cover with baking parchment then foil.

2, 3, 4 and 5 oven AGA:  Slide the pie dish into the Roasting Oven on the lowest set of runners and cook for 45 minutes.  Then transfer to the Simmering Oven for a further 1½-1¾ hours, until cooked, juices should run clear.

Take out of the oven and allow the terrine to stand for 15 minutes.  Then place some weights (cans are fine for this) on the top, cool and chill in the refrigerator overnight.

To serve, take the terrine out of the pie dish and put on a plate, remove the jelly around the meat and ‘tidy up’.

For the garnish, spoon the cranberry sauce over the top of the terrine – if necessary gently heat the cranberry sauce in a pan until spoonable.  Garnish the top with fresh thyme and frosted cranberries.  For a festive occasion drape over some edible gold leaf.

Either serve on a plate or replace the terrine in the clean pie dish, top upwards!!

Conventional cooking:  Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC, fan oven 180ºC, Gas Mark 6 and cook for 45 minutes then lower the heat to 150ºC, fan oven 130ºC, Gas Mark for a further 1½ hours or until cooked, juices should run clear.

By Dawn Roads