The duck hearts and tongues are cooked sous vide in this Nuno Mendes recipe to achieve perfectly tender, intensely flavoured results, whilst the dehydrated enoki stalks add texture and height to this beguiling dish.
To prepare the duck hearts, clean with a J-cloth to remove the thin outer skin. Dissolve the salts and sugar in the water to make a brine, add the garlic, thyme and pepper then add the hearts. Set aside in the brine for 4 hours
Remove the enoki tops from the stems (the tops can be reserved for other dishes), shred the stems and place in a dehydrator for 1 hour at 55°C. Alternatively, spread on a baking parchment-lined baking sheet and dry in the oven at a very low heat for an hour
Meanwhile, prepare the spiced broth. Gently fry the garlic in a pan with 1 tbsp of the olive oil. Once golden brown, remove and drain on kitchen paper. Repeat with the ginger and the other tablespoon of oil
Add a dash of oil to a pan and cook the chopped onion until golden brown. Remove the cooked onion and add the duck leg meat to the same pan. Cook through, then add the diced apple, cinammon stick and star anise
Add the water and chicken stock and reduce by half. Strain, return to the heat and add the garlic and ginger. Reduce by half again and add the rice vinegar
500ml of water
250ml of chicken stock
1 tbsp of rice wine vinegar
9
Add the olive oil to a pan and sauté the morels. Clean the St George mushrooms with a wet cloth and slice as you would a truffle
Cut the duck hearts in half lengthways and sauté them in a little butter
1 knob of butter
11
To plate, divide the duck hearts and tongues into bowls. Scatter over the mushrooms, pour over a generous serving of the spiced broth and and top with the dehydrated enoki stems. Serve immediately
For a chef, having mentors like Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Ferran Adrià must be akin to taking music classes with Chopin and Brahms. Nuno Mendes' London restaurant demonstrates the qualities of ambition that most good protégés possess.
