Great South Bay Duck Ragù

Name: Great South Bay Duck Ragù
Total time: 2 h 45 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 4 duck legs, trimmed; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 3 ribs celery, trimmed and cut into small dice; 2 medium-size carrots, peeled and cut into small dice; 1 medium-size red onion, peeled and cut into small dice; 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced; 8 fillets of salted anchovy, rinsed, dried and minced; 6 juniper berries; 1 ½ cups dry red wine; ½ cup red-wine vinegar; 3 tablespoons tomato paste; 2 cups low-sodium chicken stock; 1 tablespoon minced fresh sage; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste; 2 cups cooked polenta, for serving (optional)

Recipe from Dave Pasternack

Adapted by Sam Sifton

Updated April 30, 2024

Great South Bay Duck Ragù — Marcus Nilsson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop Stylist: Angharad Bailey.

Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
Rating: 5(319)
Comments: Read comments

This is a home cook's version of a wild-shot brant ragù cooked by Dave Pasternack of Esca in Manhattan. He served it thick and dark, a kind of tomato jam knit together with heavy shreds of meat, riding a polenta raft: poultry that looked like pork and tasted of fish, a combination to reel the mind. It was food of deep intensity and flavor, and it led to crazy, vivid dreams. Made with farmed duck amped up with anchovies, juniper, and vinegar it becomes a dish of domestic heritage, though with a feral streak, absolutely delicious. —Sam Sifton

Featured in: Duck, Duck, Anchovy

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Ingredients

Yield:Serves 4

4duck legs, trimmed
1tablespoon olive oil
3ribs celery, trimmed and cut into small dice
2medium-size carrots, peeled and cut into small dice
1medium-size red onion, peeled and cut into small dice
4cloves garlic, peeled and minced
8fillets of salted anchovy, rinsed, dried and minced
6juniper berries
1½ cups dry red wine
½ cup red-wine vinegar
3tablespoons tomato paste
2cups low-sodium chicken stock
1tablespoon minced fresh sage
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2cups cooked polenta, for serving (optional)

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Preheat oven to 350. Trim excess skin from duck legs and discard.
Step 2
Heat a Dutch oven with a tightly fitting lid over medium heat. Add olive oil to the pot, and when it begins to shimmer, add the duck legs, skin side down. Cook until the skin is well browned and the fat has begun to render, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Turn the legs over and brown the other sides, 5 to 10 minutes more. Remove to a plate to rest.
Step 3
Add the celery, carrots, onion and garlic to the pot, and stir to combine. Cook until the onions have softened and have just started to color, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Clear a space in the center of the pot and add the anchovies, then swirl them in fat until they begin to dissolve. Stir to combine. Add juniper berries, wine, vinegar and duck legs, and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, approximately 15 minutes.
Step 4
Add tomato paste and stir to combine, then enough chicken stock so that the combination takes on a sauce-like consistency and just covers the duck. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Put a lid onto the pot and place in the oven. Cook for 90 minutes, or until the legs are almost falling off the bone.
Step 5
Remove duck from pot and allow to cool slightly. Peel off skin, dice and reserve. Shred meat off bones and return to pot. Place pot on stove top over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Add duck skin to taste, sage and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Serve over polenta.

Ratings

5 out of 5

319 user ratings

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Comments

K7 years ago

This is indeed a spectacular dish. Having made it both ways, I can report that it's much better to do as Sifton suggests in his underlying article and separate the cooked sauce from the shredded duck, refrigerate both long enough so that the duck fat in the sauce solidifies and can be removed, and then recombine the sauce and the meat for serving (last time I removed more than a cup of solidified duck fat in this way even though I had trimmed the legs before cooking).

Erin Edmison7 years ago

I made this twice in quick succession, and I can say that the dish is improved by trimming the duck meticulously (this also allows you to render and save more delicious duck fat). I also used half balsamic, half red wine vinegar, as one note suggested, and I liked the mellower vibe.

Matt7 years ago

Very good. But remove the juniper berries before serving! You don't want to bite into one.

Amy7 months ago

This is fabulous. I used 8 large duck legs for 6 people and not a drop was left over. It totally makes sense to cook it one day and remove fat the next day. I'm wondering how this would work using half duck and half chicken. Anyone tried it?

Léa1 year ago

Made this tonight for my daughter’s birthday. She’d asked for a duck stew in red wine sauce and isn’t crazy about vinegar so I reduced the vinegar in the recipe to 2tbsp and replaced the rest with a bit more wine. I also replaced the juniper berries with a bay leaf and some gin. After removing the skin we threw it in a hot pan before adding it back it, found it a bit slimy before doing that. I did try to skim as much fat as possible from the top too. I served it over polenta, everyone loved it!

Carolyn1 year ago

A memorable meal, and one we’ll repeat. A tip for adding whole spices you don’t want to eat (juniper berries, allspice, etc.): put them in a tea ball and submerge them in the cooking liquid. Easy to pull them out before digging in.

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