316 ‘Black acid’ duck
This dish is called ‘black acid’ or in Dutch ‘Zwartzuur’. Beb Vuyk makes black acid with chicken and with duck. I want to try the duck today. You can probably name this dish: ‘duck braised in glühwein (mulled wine)’. It has an explicit flavor. You like it or you don’t.
I think this recipe works better with a whole duck, or pieces of duck or chicken. The bone adds to the flavor and the meat will stay tender. The combination of clove and cinnamon makes it a traditional winter dish. The sweet soy sauce and wine turn the sauce even darker.
316 ‘Black acid’ with duck, from Beb Vuyk’s Groot Indonesisch Kookboek, page 265.
Ingredients
1 duck somewhere between 1000 to 1200 grams
8 tablespoons of oil
Herbs and spices
3 tablespoons of chopped onions
6 cloves
1 small cinnamon stick (+/- 3cm)
10 black peppercorns
1 tbsp of sweet soy sauce
2 tablespoons of vinegar
1 glass of red wine
salt
nutmeg
The chicken is cut into large pieces and rubbed with salt and nutmeg. Heat up the oil and fry the chicken pieces brown on all sides. Add the onions and saute them until they are yellow. Add a splash of water, the wine, peppercorns. cinnamon and cloves. Braise the chicken until it is almost done, then add the soy sauce and vinegar and let the dish simmer for a while.
For our Christmas dinner I just made a little bit of this black duck. It has a predominant flavor, so better to serve a little bit.
Black Acid is a dish you like or you don’t. I’m not a big fan, but I make all Beb Vuyk’s recipes on this blog, so I have to try. It is a good recipe though. I can distinguish all the different ingredients in the flavor. The quality of the wine determines a great part of the flavor of this dish and the sweet soy sauce brings everything together. It also thickens the sauce.
For me, cloves, cinnamon and red wine are too strong together. This is definitely not my favorite Beb Vuyk dish. If you make this recipe think of a light dish to serve it with. Like cucumber salad or freshly made pickles.
Because I use duck breast, I take off the fat skin. I cut it in pieces and fry the skin until crispy. We love it as a snack. It is probably better to use big duck pieces with bone. It will keep the meat moist and tender.
Good luck with it. Love to hear if you like it or not 😉
I make this dish with the spices you suggest very sparingly to taste and don’t add sugar because the ketjap is sweet enough and loaded with sugar already. I serve it with sliced apple and pears devoid of seeds fried in a saute pan with cinnamon and finished at the end with a dark rum just before serving. For a vegetable I use steamed Belgian andive and sprinkle gruyere cheese cheese over it when the endive is piping hot so it melts. It is deliscious with cranberries put through a food processor with small chunks of fresh navel orange mixed in at the end and add sugar to taste. I use a Joel Gott Cabernet Sauvignon for this dish and drinking with the meal or a Pinot Noire good with duck also. I have served this dish to many of my American friends and I have received many praises for serving it to them and others. From the liquid I make a gravy and serve it with a Southern style bisquit or Cornbread.