Notes about Recipes in this book

• Chilli duck salad with green mango and mint

  • StevieHolland on May 13, 2014

    Superb - fresh zingy flavours and textures A few pictures of my effort http://shrestaurants.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/duck-and-green-mango-salad.html

  • debkellie on November 08, 2016

    Totally agree with StevieHolland - absolutely brilliant - can taste all component parts, nothing dominates and its truly tasty! Well done Blue Duck boys..

• Honey-roasted brined duck breast

  • e_ballad on June 26, 2018

    The brine was far too salty, with the duck tasting more like ham than its own flavour. We only brined for 12 hours rather than the stated 24 hours, as we forgot to start the night before. I’d wonder if 6 hours would be a better option.

• Sticky pork belly

  • Dinovino on June 14, 2024

    Very tasty, easy to prepare, just takes a little time to cook.

• Mushrooms and pearl barley with macadamia bread sauce

  • e_ballad on September 18, 2017

    I had hoped that the bread sauce would be more flavoursome, given the other components are sautéed mushrooms & boiled pearl barley. Season aggressively if you're planning on giving this one a try.

• The best banana bread we've ever had - thanks Pauly!

  • e_ballad on January 21, 2017

    Another great banana bread variation, though I do think the quantity of sesame seeds & walnuts is a bit excessive. The sesame seeds are used to coat the loaf pan & I had to discard the surplus seeds - only half the quantity was needed. Similarly, the walnuts are used to top the loaf & maybe 3/4 were required to top it very generously. My oven required an additional 20 mins cooking time - find this to commonly be the case for this particular cookbook.

• Toasted muesli, the way we like it

  • e_ballad on November 12, 2017

    Having stuck to the same method of toasting muesli for nearly a decade, I decided to give this a burl. This is our new go-to. Much less faffing & a much more consistent ‘toasted’ flavour. Winner.

• Spiced black quinoa porridge

  • e_ballad on November 08, 2020

    While it did smell delicious while it was cooking, the end result was pretty meh.

• Pear and ricotta muffins

  • lou_weez on October 04, 2020

    Boring & bland. The texture was great but they lack flavour. I'm all for no sugar 'healthy' recipes but not at the expense of taste.

  • e_ballad on May 29, 2023

    Off @lou_weez’s note, I added 100g caster sugar. Flavour was good, but unremarkable. Went a bit soggy after a standing for a couple of hours, so not good for cooking ahead (failed the ‘school lunch box’ test).

• Chocolate and macadamia muffins

  • angela_woef21 on February 18, 2026

    Try cooking for 20 minutes

• Lime, polenta and ricotta cake

  • lou_weez on February 17, 2019

    A very crumbly, but not dry, delicate cake with a nice hit of lime. Took an hour and a half to bake as opposed to the 40 min the recipe stated. I wouldn't bother making this again as I think there are nicer lime cakes out there.

• Honey, mustard and citrus dressing

  • angela_woef21 on March 09, 2026

    Zesty dressing!

• Parsnip and Jerusalem artichoke soup

  • e_ballad on August 01, 2017

    A fantastic soup. The "Blue Ducks" team contributed this same recipe to "Gourmet Traveller Menus" cookbook, though this has twice the amount of cream & Parmesan - I preferred the version with less dairy that let the true veg flavours come through.

• Char-grilled honey peaches with vanilla and rosemary ice cream

  • debkellie on December 20, 2013

    I wasn't too sure about the rosemary, but as the fennel variant had been so wonderful, gave this one a try too. Again, easy, and again creamy. But the fennel tops it flavour wise!

  • debkellie on January 24, 2016

    Served the ice cream with Donna Hay's peach, honey and vanilla pie (Feb 2016) - great combo.

• Chocolate and beetroot brownie

  • e_ballad on November 12, 2016

    Had a taste test of several beetroot brownies to find a favourite. This wasn't particularly sweet, which actually appealed to some of my friends. Personally, I think that flies in the face of a good brownie, so this is unlikely to be repeated at our place.

• Fennel ice cream

  • debkellie on December 20, 2013

    A beautiful liquorice flavoured ice cream: really creamy; really easy!

• Sticky date puddings with butterscotch sauce

  • e_ballad on September 07, 2021

    While the puddings are delicious, we didn’t like the butterscotch sauce, preferring other sauce recipes that are less cloying.