Born in Tamworth in 1985 Ryan’s fondest food memory is standing on a stool in his Nan’s kitchen peeling produce fresh from the garden and his favourite food is still Sunday roast at home with the family.
Ryan studied at Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies and stated his first full time position at The Royal Garden Hotel as commis chef. After 18
months Ryan moved on to Chapter I, Chapter II and Paris Restaurant in Birmingham. In 2006 Ryan arrived at Mallory Court staying for 2 years and returning in August 2011 after stints at Lords of the Manor and Hambleton Hall.
In February 2013, after stages with several Michelin Star restaurants including L’Enclume and Sat Bains, Ryan took up his current position as Head Chef at Hampton Manor & Peel’s Restaurant in Solihull
Ryan and his team have a passion for creating fresh, seasonal food that honour the produce and deliver intense flavours and creative textures
Recipe – Confit Duck, Choucroute, Spiced Butternut and Shitake Mushroom
You will need (Serves 6):
For the duck confit
- 6 goosnargh duck legs
- (Duck breast is a beautiful alternate if you don’t want the hassle of
- confiting the legs)
- 10g rock salt
- Duck fat
For the butternut puree
- 1 Butternut squash
- 10g ginger
- 5g lemongrass
For the choucroute
- ¼ of white cabbage
- 1 large glass gewurztraminer wine
- (alternatively use a Riesling or another highly aromatic white wine)
- 50ml white wine vinegar
- 2 juniper berries
- Black pepper
- ½ white onion
- 50g back bacon
Garnish
- 2 heads pak choi
- 100g shitake mushrooms
Method:
To prepare a confit,
The meat is rubbed with salt, garlic and sometimes herbs such as thyme, then covered and refrigerated for up to 12 hours. Salt-curing the meat acts as a preservative. Prior to cooking rinse the legs under water washing off any excess salt, now place the meat into a deep cooking dish and cover with the duck fat until the legs are submerged. Place into a pre heated oven at 100 degrees for approximatly 4-6hours or until the legs are cooked, the meat should be tender, leave the legs to cool slightly. In the restaurant we tend to let the legs sit over night then take out and trim, taking out the thigh bone and trimming up any excess fat.
If using duck breast you can simply skip this whole stage and sit back and watch another re run of ‘only fools and horses’!
Butternut puree
For the puree, peel the hard flesh and cut the butternut squash in half, retaining the top bit
for the dice, and the bottom bit thinly slice, the reason we thinly slice it is because it will cook quicker therefore retaining a lot of its flavour, thinly slice the ginger and lemongrass, now sweat all down slowly in butter, season to desired taste. When fully sweated down add a little chicken stock just to finish off, transfer to blender and blend until smooth, again add seasoning to your own taste, in my case my Mum always says ‘easy on the salt’ of course
I have to listen as no one wants a clip round the ear from their Mum!
Choucroute
Choucroute basically means Alsatian sauerkraut. Simply yet beautiful garnish, first of all thinly
slices the cabbage discarding the root. Pour over the wine and white wine vinegar, add the chopped juniper, black pepper and let sit for a day or so, to finish sweat down half of one white onion and the diced smoked back bacon, gently sweat down in a pan with no colour, add the cabbage mix and heat together.
Garnish
Shitake mushrooms, gently sauté them in a pan in butter with a little thyme and garlic and at the last second throw in the pak choi and cook for a further minute or so.
For more recipes from Villeroy & Boch click here