Duck And Humble Rissole Take Out Recipe Competition

Media release
05 August 2011

Duck And Humble Rissole Take Out Recipe Competition

Jacquie Hills from Napier has succeeded in out cooking the competition and capturing the top prize in the second annual Monteith's Wild Recipe Competition.

Jacquie's winning entry of duck rissoles paired with Monteith's Celtic Red Beer was handpicked by Monteith's Beer and Wild Food Challenge head judge Kerry Tyack for being simultaneously simple and creative, finished off with an impeccable beer match.

"Jacquie's recipe was chosen from a very strong list of contenders for its inspirational pairing of Monteith's Celtic Red with duck. The bitterness provided by the hops in the beer acts as a counterpoint to the natural oiliness of the duck, while the duck with its added spices brings out the sweet maltiness of the beer. Finding harmony in the partnership is what beer and food matching is all about," says Tyack.

Jacquie had previously relied on recipes for her cooking but recently began experimenting with new and interesting duck dishes. As part of a group of friends who meet annually for a 'duck dinner' she enjoyed the challenge of cooking well flavoured, innovative dishes. Her teenage son, who has hunted ducks for several years, was responsible for filling her freezer up with wild duck as a result of many keen hunting sessions with his friends - none of whom expressed any interest in taking the bounty home. Jacquie explains;

"The rule of hunting in our house is if you shoot it, you must eat it. Unfortunately, my son and his friends are not great fans of duck so this competition gave me the incentive to come up with a new way of cooking duck to encourage them to eat more of it."

Before submitting her award-winning wild food and beer match, Jacquie subjected the dish to close scrutiny by family members to ensure the flavours were right and the beer match perfect.

"I trialled the rissoles a few times with my son and his friends to get the recipe right - I knew I was on the right track when they came back for seconds. When the recipe had been refined we had a family evening to find the right Monteith's beer match for the dish. "

Jacquie will soon travel to Auckland, staying at The Hilton and dining at The Foodstore before watching the Monteith's Beer and Wild Food Challenge finalists battle it out for the title of winning restaurant. On her return home, Jacquie will also receive a selection of Monteith's products and over $1,200 of Le Creuset cookware.

Tyack commends Jacquie and all other aspiring chefs that entered this year's competition for their efforts;

"The standard of entries this year was high and follows nicely on from a great selection last year. I encourage Jacquie and other home cooks to continue experimenting with beer and food matching at home. Not only is it great fun and very satisfying - it's never too early to begin researching for next year's entry."

Home cooks wanting a taste of Jacquie's success can find the recipe below:
Ingredients:
4 duck breasts
2 chorizo sausages
1 onion
1 egg
1/2 tsp each of cassia, garlic pepper, cumin, ground cloves, sumac
1 tsp each of ginger, celery salt
4 small cooked potatoes

Method:
* Mince duck breasts, chorizo, onion and potato
* Mix in all other ingredients thoroughly
* Shape the mixture into patties, use small amount of flour to prevent sticking to hands
* Fry in 2 Tbsp oil and 2 Tbsp butter over medium heat until both sides are a golden brown
* Accompany with a sweet pepper jam or chutney and a cold Monteith's Celtic Red Beer

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