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Duck Meatballs
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Smoked duck meatballs with cranberry sauce

We don't shy away from a good challenge. This month at the Belgian BBQ group is a "Show me your christmas balls challenge". The perfect moment to make generous duck meatballs with a festive sauce. A bite to eat on your party table?
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine Flemish, French
Keyword appetizer, christmas, Duck breast, Dutch oven, houtoven, meatballs, minced meat, smoked, woodfired
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 15 minutes
Servings 20 meatballs

Ingredients

For duck mince

  • 750 grams duck breast fillet with fat
  • 15 grams of duck spices
  • 2 tbsp Feta cheese
  • 1/3 cup crumbled toast in this case toast with tomato and olive

For the duck spices

  • 1 tsp thyme leaves
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 gram chopped mint
  • 1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper

For the cranberry sauce

  • 1 handful of fresh cranberries
  • 100 grams of sugar
  • 200 ml water
  • juice of 1 lime

Finishing

  • lime zest to taste
  • Cranberry syrup to taste
  • fresh mint finely chopped
  • feta cheese crumbled like snow

Instructions

Duck mince

  • Cut the duck breasts into cubes of +- 2 cm. and place them in the freezer for an hour for better processing.
  • Place your meat grinder on the food processor and use the largest plate (8mm) to grind the meat. Repeat this step with the already minced meat for a nice texture.
  • At the end, throw the toast into the mincer. This way you can clean the mincer nicely and no leftover minced meat remains in the food processor.
  • Mix the ingredients for the duck spice mixture. Finely chop the mint and thyme.
  • Add the herbs to the minced meat and crumble the feta in it. Mix well by hand so that all the ingredients are nicely spread over the minced meat.
  • Then roll balls the size of a ping-pong ball and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour to set.

BBQ Time

  • Prepare your BBQ for an indirect session at low temperature (+- 100°C). For this recipe I used the Vonken woodfired ovenbut this can also be done on another type of BBQ.
  • Smoke the meatballs with cherry wood for half an hour and place thyme between the meatballs for extra aromatic smoke. Meanwhile you can make the cranberry syrup.
  • Increase the temperature in your BBQ and roast the balls until they get a nice crust.

Cranberry syrup

  • Add the ingredients to a measuring cup. Then mix with a hand blender until you get a juice.
  • Boil the juice and let it reduce to half.
  • Pour the mixture through a sieve to filter out the coarse pieces. Now you have a pure syrup left which you can use to lacquer the balls or to serve as a dip sauce.

Finishing

  • Place the balls on a bowl and pour some of the cranberry syrup over them. Grate some feta cheese on top for a snow effect.

Enjoy your meal!