Canard a la presse
Photo: Benoît Prieur · CC0

History

Canard a la presse is a nineteenth-century Parisian ritual from La Tour d'Argent, and Pasjoli on Main Street made it Santa Monica's signature splurge: the duck roasted whole, carved, the carcass crushed in a duck press and the juices mounted into a sauce at the table. The dish survived the restaurant's recent loosening into bar-food territory and remains its calling card.

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Common allergens: Dairy

Make it at home

Yield Serves 2-3Hands-on 1 hr 15 minTotal 2 hrDifficulty Advanced

Ingredients

  • 1 whole duck, about 2kg, wishbone removed
  • 50g butter
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • 100ml red wine
  • 50ml cognac
  • 200ml strong duck or chicken stock
  • Salt, black pepper

Method

  1. Roast the seasoned duck at 220C for 25 minutes so the breast stays rare; rest 15 minutes.
  2. Remove breasts and legs. Return the legs to the oven to finish while you work.
  3. Chop the carcass and press or crush it hard through a sieve, collecting every drop of juice and blood.
  4. Sweat the shallot in butter, deglaze with cognac and wine, reduce, add stock and the pressed juices, and mount with butter without boiling. Slice the breast into the sauce and serve, legs to follow.

Tip from the editors. Without a duck press, crushing the chopped carcass in a sturdy potato ricer over a sieve gets you most of the way there.

Where to eat canard a la presse

Canard a la presse in Santa Monica

Pasjoli ★ 4.8

$$$ FrenchMain Street

Pasjoli on Main Street is Santa Monica's French bistro benchmark, lately loosened up with a bigger bar menu and its famous tableside pressed duck restored.

OrderTableside canard a la presse, or the cordon bleu chicken wings at the bar

TipThe pressed duck is a 350 dollar whole-bird production for the table; order it when you book, not on arrival.

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