Duck breast

Sour stone fruit hits the iron in meat left deliberately pink.

Brushed on late it caramelises with the skin fat, not against it.

Rendered fat drips into the pulse and the pulse does not go soft. Bistro maths.

Berry tannin does what cherry does for game, but with acid attached.

Fat coats the tongue; the green heat scrapes it back off.

Sweet fruit heat where you would otherwise reach for cherry.

Piperine dissolves into the fat cap and spreads through every slice.

Sweet acid reduced to syrup: it clings to skin where vinegar would run off.

Crystals on rendered skin are texture as much as seasoning.

Berry acid cuts duck fat and the perfume survives the pan juices.

Roast them in the rendered fat. Sugar and fat cook to the same colour.

Sharp and slightly sulfurous, which is exactly what iron wants.

The numbing resets the tongue so the second slice tastes like the first.

Earth under blood. Both go sweet the moment you roast them.

Brew it strong and use it as a brine. Cheaper than a smoker and more even.

Red acid with no fruit sugar. A cherry sauce with the pudding removed.

Molasses-sweet allium, no pungency left. It behaves like a fruit here.

Smoke it over the leaves. Tannin is the one thing that beats duck fat.

Floral against iron. Two pinches in the rub; three and it is soap.