Cooking with Duck and Cornish Sea Salt

To celebrate our collaboration with Cornish Sea Salt we asked James Strawbridge, professional chef and resident Salt Geek, to share his best advice for cooking with this special breed. Here are his top tips to turn you into a seasoned pro when it comes to cooking duck at home!

The best roast dinner:

For the tastiest Sunday roast, season your duck with Cornish Sea Salt crystals and black pepper the night (or ideally 24 hours) before. Not only will this help crisp up the skin, but it’ll keep your duck nice and moist while roasting.

For the crispiest skin:

When roasting your duck, sprinkle the skin with Cornish Sea Salt flakes and turn the heat up high for the last 15 minutes. You’ll end up with extra tasty shards of quackling!

For homemade duck salt:

Blitz up cooked duck skin with Cornish Sea Salt crystals, rosemary and orange zest for the tastiest homemade seasoning that’s great on roast potatoes or chips. Pop in a sealed container and it’ll keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

For slow-cooked confit duck:

Cure duck legs overnight with a blend of Cornish Sea Salt crystals, sugar, aromatic herbs and spices. Fill a roasting dish with oil, a garlic clove and a sprig of thyme, then add your cured duck legs and cook at 120˚C for four hours. It’ll be the most tender confit duck you’ve ever made.

For BBQs:

Make a sea salt brine (10% salt, 90% water) to marinate your duck breasts in the fridge for 24 hours. Cook over charcoal with some apple, oak or cherry wood chips for a tasty, aromatic and smokey duck breast- talk about taking your BBQ to the next level!

For the seasoning pro:

The ultimate tender meat and crispy skin needs to be expertly seasoned- first at least 4 hours before you plan on cooking and then again before going in the oven. Finally, sprinkle with Cornish Sea Salt flakes just before serving: the salt will stick to the skin for the crunchiest crackling you’ve ever tried.

To avoid any soggy-ness:

Nobody likes their duck fat flabby. To avoid this, place your duck skin-side down in a pan as it’s warming up and render the fat before you roast your bird. Remember to add a drop of water to the pan to stop it sticking!

Don’t forget to enter our competition with to win a Cornish Sea Salt and Gressingham Duck hamper here

To buy some of the amazing products from Cornish Sea Salt visit their website here