Ponte de Sor Duck Rice

Ponte de Sor duck rice starts in the pot: the duck is stewed with onion, garlic, pepper, bay leaf and chouriço until the meat comes easily away from the bones. The sauce seasons the rice, the meat is shredded and the whole dish goes into the oven with a thin layer of egg on top.

A festive-day recipe

In the Alentejo Gastronomic Guide, this recipe was collected in Ponte de Sor during an interview with Isabel da Graça Tapada Neves Nunes. The source identifies it as a festive-day recipe and presents three ways of serving it: stewed duck accompanied by rice, meat mixed with rice in the pot, or an oven-baked version with shredded meat and egg on top. In this recipe, we follow the oven-baked version.

Estimated yield: 6 people
Approximate time: 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours, depending on the duck

Ingredients

• 1 cleaned duck, weighing about 2 to 2.5 kg, cut into pieces
• 350 g carolino rice
• 100 g meat chouriço, equivalent to half of a 200 g pack
• 2 medium onions, about 300 g, cut into thick slices
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 red pepper, about 150 g, cut into strips
• 1 bay leaf
• 10 g fresh parsley
• 40 ml olive oil
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 500 ml hot water to start the stew, plus enough to maintain the sauce and complete the rice stock
• 1 egg, beaten, for brushing
• Salt, only after tasting the sauce

Step-by-step preparation

1. Prepare the duck and ingredients.
   Pat the duck dry with kitchen paper and remove only the larger excess pieces of external fat. Cut the onion and pepper, chop the garlic and wash the parsley. Remove the 100 g of chouriço from the pack and keep it whole while it cooks in the stew.
2. Start the stew.
   Heat the olive oil in a wide pot with a lid. Add the onion, garlic and bay leaf and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add the duck and stir for a further 5 to 8 minutes. Add the pepper, parsley, chouriço, white wine and 500 ml of hot water. Bring to a gentle boil.
3. Let the meat tenderise.
   Partially cover and stew over low heat for about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes, turning the pieces occasionally. Add small amounts of hot water if the bottom starts to dry out: there should be enough sauce for the rice. The duck is ready when the meat is completely cooked and comes easily away from the bones; if it still resists, continue cooking. Taste the sauce before adding salt, as the chouriço already seasons it.
4. Shred the meat and prepare the stock.
   Remove the duck and chouriço. Let the duck cool only enough to handle, then shred it, removing the skin, bones and cartilage. Carefully look for small bones. Remove the bay leaf and parsley stalks from the sauce. Strain part of the sauce to obtain the liquid for the rice and reserve the drained vegetables to mix with the meat. Use a spoon to remove the excess fat from the surface of the stock.
5. Cook the rice in the sauce.
   Measure the volume occupied by the 350 g of rice in a cup or jug. For this oven-baked version, measure twice that volume of liquid, using the strained sauce and adding hot water if necessary. Bring the liquid to a boil, taste and adjust the salt. Add the rice, stir once, cover and cook over low heat for about 14 to 16 minutes, until the liquid has been absorbed and the grains are cooked but still firm. If it dries out before the rice is cooked, add a little hot water.
6. Combine and assemble the baking dish.
   Preheat the oven to 190 °C, without fan assistance. Cut the chouriço into thin slices. Combine the rice with the shredded duck and reserved vegetables without crushing the grains. If the mixture is dry, add a few tablespoons of the remaining sauce or hot water. Spread it in a baking dish measuring about 30 by 22 cm, smooth it slightly and brush with the beaten egg. Arrange the chouriço slices on top.
7. Bake and serve.
   Place on the middle shelf for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the surface is golden and the centre is thoroughly hot. Do not let it dry out excessively. Remove, leave to rest for 5 minutes and serve directly from the baking dish.

The secret is in the sauce

Keep enough liquid during the stewing process and remove only the excess fat. The rice should take on the flavour of the duck without becoming heavy or dry. Taste the stock before using it and adjust the water according to the indicated volume measurement, not the weight of the rice.

Wine and product for the preparation

To accompany it, we suggest Cartuxa Tinto 2022 – DOC Alentejo–Évora. This is the pairing wine, reserved for serving at the table; the stew in this version uses dry white wine.

For the preparation, you can use Chouriço de Carne de Campo de Porco Preto, 200 g. The recipe uses 100 g, half the pack. The choice of this product and the pairing are suggestions from Herdade do Estacal, not brands specified in the source.

Make-ahead preparation

You can stew and shred the duck the day before. Cool the meat and sauce promptly in shallow containers and store them covered in the refrigerator. The next day, heat the sauce thoroughly, cook the rice and finish the baking dish. Avoid leaving cooked rice at room temperature for hours.

More flavours of the Alentejo

For another poultry and oven preparation, discover our Évora-Style Partridge in Dry Soup.

Source and adaptations

Alentejo Gastronomic Guide (2013), p. 395, “Duck Rice”, Ponte de Sor. Interview with Isabel da Graça Tapada Neves Nunes, by Teresa Simão, Leader-Sor, in 2012.

Recipe collected in the Alentejo and adapted by Herdade do Estacal for the “À Mesa com o Alentejo” blog. We kept the duck stewed with onion, garlic, bay leaf, pepper, parsley, half a chouriço and wine, choosing the oven-baked version with shredded meat and egg. We established quantities, dimensions, temperature, timings and doneness indicators; chose white wine and carolino rice; added hot water instead of the small amounts of cold water in the source; strained part of the sauce and removed the excess fat. We kept the ratio of one measure of rice to two of liquid for the oven-baked option. The chouriço slices on the surface are a presentation choice for this version. Yield and timings are estimates. The source refers to festive days, not to a specific association with Christmas.

Illustrative image generated for this article.