The trial
Product: Cherry Valley honey roast half crown duck; confit leg. Cherry Valley 01472 371 271 www.cherryvalley.co.uk
Trial one: the Crown, Cuddington, Aylesbury, BucksTrial two: the Black Horse, Ireland, Bedfordshire
Poultry is a mainstay of pub menus, but for the most part it's chicken, and seasonally turkey, which feature most strongly. However, duck is growing in popularity throughout the UK, with a third more people wanting to see more of it on the menu.
While duck's status as an ingredient in oriental dishes has driven much of its success, duck also has a proud heritage in European cuisine.
For the latest in our series of Pub Food product trials, we asked two pubs to stop ducking the issue and put two of the newest products from leading supplier Cherry Valley to the test.
Having identified that there was consumer demand for new duck products, testing was done to identify which flavours were most in demand - honey roast and confit came out top.
The honey flavour was identified as being the perfect finish for duck, with the infusion of the honey complementing the duck taste perfectly.
Cherry Valley's honey roast half crown duck is delicious with mashed potato and seasonal vegetables. The new pre-prepared confit leg saves valuable time by eliminating the need to marinade, cook and then preserve the leg in-house.
At the Crown in Cuddington, owner Heather Berry says: "The confit duck was served as an oriental glazed leg on spiced plums with vegetable noodles as a main course special which proved to be a hot seller with our customers. During our busiest periods we rely on products of the highest quality to not only leave customers satisfied in a short space of time but to increase profits.
"Both products worked particularly well for the summer season but could be adapted to match each season perfectly," continues Heather.
Head chef at the Crown pub Fraser Hamilton Gunn enjoyed using the half crown. "We used the honey roast half crown on crushed new potatoes with a summer bean casserole which worked particularly well.
"Both products were easy to work with and are some of the best poultry products we have used to date. The half crown was an excellent product with great presentation as a finished article," says Fraser.
The Black Horse is a busy country pub which often serves up to 1,000 covers a week. During the trial, head chef Trace Buggins served up a delicious range of duck-based dishes to put both products to the test.
"The confit duck leg was surprisingly easy to use and took away the guesswork usually required in achieving such a moist and tasty dish that appeals to customers," says Trace.
"We served the confit leg with a mixed leaf salad and a drizzle of Cumberland dressing. Preparation time was minimal at four to five minutes, so it fitted in with our speed of service in the best way possible and was flexible enough to use as a starter or main course. It proved particularly popular with business people."
The honey roast half crown was served with sweet potato, spring onion and cream cheese mash with a red wine jus poured round the edge.
Darren Campbell, general manager at the Black Horse, says: "The product was a front-runner, winning in the taste and presentation stakes and never shrinking in size."