A Feast to Warm Your Soul

Spring is just around the corner, but winter is still at our doorstep. What better way to stay warm and positive than a gathering centered around good food and drink? Here we offer culinary inspiration: Spicebush Duck Legs from Marie Viljoen’s Forage, Harvest, Feast, to be coupled with hot, mulled Wassail from Jereme Zimmerman’s Brew Beer Like a Yeti.

The following are excerpts from Brew Beer Like a Yeti and Forage, Harvest, Feast. They have been adapted for the web.

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Wassail

Ingredients to serve 6–8

6 apples
1 teaspoon each freshly grated nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, or any other spices that suit your fancy
½ cup (125 ml) organic cane sugar or brown sugar
1 cup (250 ml) water (or substitute hard cider, ginger beer, red wine, Madeira, port, mead, or what-have-you)
1 small lemon or orange
4 pints low-to-no-hopped ale, preferably British-style ale, spiced dark ale, or bragot

 

Procedure

• Core the apples and place them in a pot or deep baking dish.
• Sprinkle the spices and sugar and pour the water or what-have-you over the apples.
• Squeeze the juice of the lemon or orange (or both) over everything.
• Place a pot on a medium-high burner, or put a baking dish into the oven at 350°F/180°C.Cook for about 45 minutes or until the apples are soft and mushy.
• Remove from the heat and allow the apples to warm enough to carefully remove their skins.
• Once the skins are removed, take a masher, large fork, or blender and blend everything (including the ale) into a puree (for the lambswool option; otherwise, remove the apples and make them into boozy applesauce).
• Place the lambswool in a bowl with a serving spoon, or ladle it into individual mugs. Add as much additional dark rum, brandy, or other spirits as you desire; I like to keep this going for several days by continuing to add various drinks and spices to it and rewarming it.

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Spicebush Duck Legs with Persimmons and Brandy

Ingredients to serve 4

4 whole duck legs (thigh and drumstick)
¼ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₃ cup (80 ml) Persimmon Brandy
1 teaspoon ground spicebush
2 large onions, quartered
12 bayberry leaves
8 very ripe native persimmons
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup (125 ml) water

Procedure

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
• Trim any excess fat from the duck legs.
• Sprinkle the salt all over the duck and let it sit for 15 minutes.
• Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the duck legs
  to the pan and brown for a few minutes on each side.
• Add the brandy and let it bubble for a few seconds.
• Add all the other ingredients, place a lid on the saucepan, and
  reduce the heat to cook at a gentle simmer for 2 hours.
• Scoop off the melted fat.
• Taste for seasoning and add salt if necessary.
• Preheat the broiler. Place only the duck legs on a tray and roast
  them under the broiler for 8 to 10 minutes just to brown them.
• Return them to their hot pan and serve at once.

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Recommended Reads

The Old Fashioned Way: Homemade Ginger Beer

Sweet Fermentation: Strawberry Kvass