Silk Duck Liver Parfait with Morello Cherry Gel and Toasted Brioche

⏱ 150 min · Serves 8

A restaurant-worthy set piece: duck livers blitzed with butter, port and brandy into a parfait so smooth it barely needs a knife, sealed under a glossy morello cherry gel and served with warm, buttery brioche. Make it a day ahead and let the fridge do the hard work.

Per serving: 612 kcal · 18.0g protein · 33.0g carbs · 44.0g fat

Ingredients

• 400g duck livers, trimmed of sinew and green spots
• 250g unsalted butter, softened and cubed, plus 25g for the pan
• 2 banana shallots, finely sliced
• 1 garlic clove, sliced
• 1 sprig thyme
• 100ml ruby port
• 75ml Madeira
• 30ml brandy
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 10g fine sea salt
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• Pinch of ground white pepper
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• 250ml morello cherry juice (or good cherry compote loosened with water)
• 100g pitted morello cherries, halved
• 30g caster sugar (for the gel)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3g agar agar powder
• 1 small brioche loaf (about 400g), sliced 1.5cm thick
• Flaky sea salt and toasted hazelnuts, to finish

Method

1. Soak the duck livers in cold milk or lightly salted water for 1 hour if you have time, then drain and pat very dry. Bring them to room temperature — cold livers split the parfait.
2. Put the port, Madeira, brandy, shallots, garlic and thyme in a small pan. Simmer gently until reduced to about 4 tablespoons of syrupy liquid, then discard the thyme and cool slightly.
3. Heat the oven to 130C fan. Line a 900g loaf tin or terrine mould with cling film, leaving plenty of overhang.
4. Blitz the livers in a high-powered blender with the reduction, eggs, salt, sugar, white pepper and nutmeg until completely smooth, about 90 seconds.
5. With the blender running on low, add the softened butter a few cubes at a time until the mix is glossy and emulsified. Pass through a fine sieve — push it through with a ladle, twice if you're feeling perfectionist.
6. Pour into the lined tin, cover tightly with foil and sit in a roasting tray. Pour in hot water to come halfway up the tin. Bake 40–50 minutes, until the centre wobbles as one set mass and reads 63–65C.
7. Lift out, cool to room temperature, then chill at least 4 hours (ideally overnight).
8. For the gel, whisk the cherry juice, sugar, lemon juice and agar in a pan. Bring to a full boil and boil hard for 2 minutes, whisking. Cool for 3 minutes, then pour a 4–5mm layer over the chilled parfait, scattering in the halved cherries. Chill 30 minutes to set. Set aside any leftover gel to chop into a rough dice for plating.
9. Toast or griddle the brioche in a little butter until golden at the edges.
10. Turn out or slice the parfait straight from the mould with a hot, dry knife. Serve with warm brioche, a spoon of diced cherry gel, flaky salt and crushed toasted hazelnuts.