Matt's Secret Duck Liver Parfait

We often share recipes suited to the RV lifestyle and easy to make on the road. However, Matt's secret duck parfait recipe is one to cook at home and take away with you, complementing cheese platters or by itself with some fresh bread bought at the local bakery.

​For those who don't know Matt used to be a chef so it’s well worth trying it and letting us know what you think. It may also be quite a challenge if you are not used to making parfaits and will be fun to try. Enjoy!!!

Duck Liver Parfait is something special that can be made prior to your next trip away and taken on the road with you. The recipe involves a little bit of work and requires some precision. However, it's well worth the effort.

I used this recipe during my time as a chef and served the parfait at Highfield Winery Restaurant between 2009-2011 here in Blenheim.

The recipe produces 1kg however you could reduce this to 500g if required. It's also suitable to freeze if you don’t want to eat it all in one go. Alternatively, you could also use chicken livers if duck is not available.

For best results I certainly recommend using duck liver, take your time, enjoy, serve with your chutney of choice, crackers, or sour dough bread.

Ingredients

• 300ml Red Wine
• 300ml Port
• 1kg Duck Livers at room temperature (this is important as the mixture may split if they are cold)
• 2tsp Ground Juniper
• 8 Egg Yolks
• 4 Eggs
• 500g Block Butter
• Few Sprigs of fresh Thyme
• 3 Dry Bay Leaves
• 1 Star Anise
• 3 Glove’s Garlic
• 1 good sized pinch of Salt
• 1 good pinch of white Pepper

Method

1. Reduce the wine, port, juniper with the thyme, bay leaves and star anise in a saucepan to 200ml.

2. Strain and measure the amount, if you have over reduced just add cream to make up the difference, if under reduced return to the heat and continue the reduction, make sure it measures exactly 200ml though.

3. Place the garlic in a blender and blitz, add the Livers and blitz, whilst the motor is running add the warm melted butter, be sure to add the whole amount of melted mixture including the white stuff at the end as this is the gee or salt in the butter itself, then add the eggs and yolks one at a time, season to finish.

4.Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove any of the livers sinew, this is also important.

5. Pre Heat the oven to 160°C on fan bake or steam bake if you have that function.

6. Either line a suitable sized terrine/loaf type baking tin with glad wrap making sure it sits nicely around the edges or use individual ramekin type baking dishes (the ramekins do not need lining) or alternatively take muffin tins and line them with glad wrap to make individual portions. The last option is how I used to serve them.


7. Take whatever you have chosen to bake the mixture in and place them in a high sided oven tray, fill with the parfait mixture to about ¾ full, then pour enough warm water into the tray to sit halfway up the baking dish to help steam the mixture, cover with foil.

8. From here the process gets a little bit tricky. You want to cook the mixture to soufflé with a slight bounce, over cooking it will result in the parfait bubbling up and becoming coarse. Under cooking it the mixture will not set correctly so keep an eye on it.

9. Check after 15 minutes if you are using ramekins or the muffin tins or 25 minutes if you are using a terrine mould.

10. Re-check every 5 minutes after that, the ramekins or muffin tins should take est. 20-25 minutes. A loaf type tin may take 35-40 minutes. The exact cooking time depends on your oven and it's better to keep checking the parfait than over cooking it.

​11. Once cooked remove from the oven tray and set aside, cool, then place in the refrigerator.