Yes I am being serious. It’s amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.
When I noticed that 2 duck legs from Tesco cost a mere £2.15, I thought I had to fit them into the experiment. The only problem is that duck is often cooked with red wine, port or expensive fruits like cherries and blackcurrants. I needed to think up a recipe that used less expensive accompaniments. In the end I produced this.
That is a duck leg slow cooked in honey and ginger sauce served with rice boiled in vegetable stock and seasoned savoy cabbage. Only the cabbage was on special offer and the whole thing came to £1.63 per portion. I reduced costs by using powdered ginger. It is a useful storecupboard item if you like cooking. A 47p pot from Tesco would probably last you about a year!
Ok, the portions aren’t as big as when I made the meatballs, but it was a decent size for an evening meal. It is potentially a good dish for a budget dinner party or if you are out to impress someone.
I cooked for two again and halved the cost but it is easy to just halve the quantities for this recipe. Here is the breakdown.
2 duck legs
2.15
1 medium onion
0.11
honey -about 2 tablespoons
0.25
ginger powder
0.05
1 cube Tesco chicken stock
0.07
2 small cloves garlic
0.05
200g American long grain rice
0.14
half a (half price) savoy cabbage
0.32
1 cube Tesco vegetable stock
0.07
Oil and flour
0.05
Total
3.26
I guess no one expects duck to be cheap! It is true that duck breasts cost about £15 per kilo but the legs are not very popular. This is because they need to be cooked slowly for a long time or they end up really tough. It seems a bit silly to me because you can leave them in the oven unattended while you go down the pub. Just make sure your flatmates know what is going on! In a way these cheap cuts demand less of your time than the more popular ones, which need careful attention if they are to be cooked to your liking.
The dish is simple to make too. The full recipe is here. In hindsight, I think that instead of using vegetable stock to cook the rice, it would have been a good idea to add some lemon zest and juice. It would make the dish about 10p more expensive overall. Let me know if you try it and it works!
Yes I am being serious. It’s amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.
When I noticed that 2 duck legs from Tesco cost a mere £2.15, I thought I had to fit them into the experiment. The only problem is that duck is often cooked with red wine, port or expensive fruits like cherries and blackcurrants. I needed to think up a recipe that used less expensive accompaniments. In the end I produced this.
That is a duck leg slow cooked in honey and ginger sauce served with rice boiled in vegetable stock and seasoned savoy cabbage. Only the cabbage was on special offer and the whole thing came to £1.63 per portion. I reduced costs by using powdered ginger. It is a useful storecupboard item if you like cooking. A 47p pot from Tesco would probably last you about a year!
Ok, the portions aren’t as big as when I made the meatballs, but it was a decent size for an evening meal. It is potentially a good dish for a budget dinner party or if you are out to impress someone.
I cooked for two again and halved the cost but it is easy to just halve the quantities for this recipe. Here is the breakdown.
| 2 duck legs | 2.15 |
| 1 medium onion | 0.11 |
| honey -about 2 tablespoons | 0.25 |
| ginger powder | 0.05 |
| 1 cube Tesco chicken stock | 0.07 |
| 2 small cloves garlic | 0.05 |
| 200g American long grain rice | 0.14 |
| half a (half price) savoy cabbage | 0.32 |
| 1 cube Tesco vegetable stock | 0.07 |
| Oil and flour | 0.05 |
| Total | 3.26 |
I guess no one expects duck to be cheap! It is true that duck breasts cost about £15 per kilo but the legs are not very popular. This is because they need to be cooked slowly for a long time or they end up really tough. It seems a bit silly to me because you can leave them in the oven unattended while you go down the pub. Just make sure your flatmates know what is going on! In a way these cheap cuts demand less of your time than the more popular ones, which need careful attention if they are to be cooked to your liking.
The dish is simple to make too. The full recipe is here. In hindsight, I think that instead of using vegetable stock to cook the rice, it would have been a good idea to add some lemon zest and juice. It would make the dish about 10p more expensive overall. Let me know if you try it and it works!
