And don’t forget your kamo … 

Japanese-style duck orange

Sequence matters too, apparently, so spare a thought for poor Salmon if he can’t tell his yuzu from his ponzu.

This dish was prompted by Kimiko Barber’s book Cook Japanese at Home, which in turn was inspired by the famous French dish. Long story short, you will need two duck breasts (skin on and scored), and side vegetables of your choice: in Barber’s book it’s daikon (a root vegetable similar to mooli) and mizuna (or rocket salad) – actually we used pak choi, but stir-fried komatsuna (Japanese spinach) will be fine too.

The key ingredient in the dressing is yuzu (a citrus fruit typical of Japan) which can be found bottled in the oriental section of good supermarkets. If really pressed (ahah, see what we did there), you can replace it with lime juice.

So, for the dressing you will need: 2 tbsp yuzu, 4 tbsp sake, 2 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp soy sauce. In a small saucepan bring the sake to the boil (to burn off the alcohol), mix with the remaining dressing ingredients and set aside to cool.

Next, prepare your side vegetables of choice (we simply griddle-panned some pak choi).

Then the duck: bring a heavy frying pan to heat then place the duck breast skin-side down and fry for 6–8 minutes. Turn to cook the other side and also the edges so that it is seared all round. Set aside to rest covered loosely with a piece of foil.

When ready to serve, cut the duck in 2cm slices and arrange next to the vegetables. Drizzle the dressing over the dish and serve. Don’t be discouraged by the exoticism of the ingredients, they are all quite readily available. And despite Trota’s heavy briefing, the recipe is totally Salmon-proof and really rather tasty.

Wakatta, Salmon?