KNW red blend with a cauldron dish

While in many parts of the world cauldron is a pot for witches’ potions, in Hungary and the neighbouring countries cauldron is the obligatory equipment for the summer. We can practically cook anything in a cauldron, though goulash and stew are the most traditional meals to be cooked on open fire. Let us introduce a less usual recipe: duck breast & leg with root vegetables and red wine paired with Cool by Kovács Nimród Winery from Eger.

By Ágnes Németh

Varieties in smooth harmony

Kovács Nimród Winery has a whole line of wines “composed” to pair with music. “Jazz is a music of intimacy and spontaneity that is often inspired by a passing idea or feeling, which many times transforms into a blooming masterpiece of complexity, where the journey takes precedence. Just like jazz music: our Dixie, Cool, Blues, Rhapsody and Soul wines inspire you to take a journey through the different varietals that call Eger their stage.” We did so, we bought a bottle of Cool and let it inspire us. In a summer evening we created a dish that probably had not existed before, and certainly music accompanied us from the first step of cooking.

About Cool Nimród Kovács says the following: “This elegant cuvée presents a harmonic balance of the individual grape varieties, very much like the smooth harmony of musical instruments in the Miles Davis’ Cool jazz music.” The blend consists of 45% Syrah, 28% Kékfrankos, 20% Pinot Noir and 7% Cabernet Franc. The Pinot accounts for only 20%, for me it was still quite present in the wine, making it silky, somewhat ethereal. The wine aged in barrique (French, American and Hungarian) for 15 months. Used oak, so the barrel did not overtake the bright fruitiness of the wine. It was obvious that this wine should be paired with something delicate, this is why we decided on duck. We used breast and legs, however, the breast was much better, so good that we ate it all without taking a photo. The cover picture was made the other day with the leftover duck legs – well, cauldron dishes are even better the next day, so finally we were equally happy with the legs – especially because we had another bottle of Cool…

More about KNW Cool

For the recipe scroll down

KNW wines are available in several countries, you can see the partners here. In you are interested in importing KNW wines, contact Nimród Kovács.

Duck breast & leg with root vegetables and red wine

For 4-5 persons
– 2 duck breasts and 2 duck legs
– carrot, celery, parsnip
– onion, garlic
– salt, pepper, rosemary, juniper, coriander seeds
– red wine

When the fire is moderate, place the empty cauldron above and put the duck pieces in. Fry them for a while, the grease will come out. Take the meat out and put the chopped onion in the hot duck fat. When it gets golden, add the chopped garlic. After a few seconds (be careful not to burn the garlic) add the chopped root vegetables and fry them together for about 10 minutes. Place the meat back, season with spices, add some red wine (we did not want to “waste” KNW Cool in the dish, so we used another, yet decent wine). Cook it for about two hours on moderate fire. Serve the meat with abundant vegetable and sauce from the cauldron. Fresh, good bread is enough and some pickles (we had cucumber), to garnish.

Happy guests, sold out wines – KNW recipe for success