Duck Tale Part Two

So here we are in studio B with the drying box. You may remember this decommissioned kitchen cabinet from Hunt for Proscuitto. In there you see a couple of devices to measure temp and humidity, and a casserole for adding water in the box.

But let's jump back to this morning.

I degreased and bagged the duck stock, then I got all the duck fat I made yesterday, I got all the duck fat and lard I made a month ago, and put them into a dutch oven along with the legs, lollipops and gizzards we saw in Duck Tale Part One.

Into a 200F oven, see you in six hours.

Meanwhile back in Studio B:

Duck Prosciutto.

It's been twenty-four hours since I put the duck breasts in a salt bed. Now rinsed and dried, they are noticeably darker and firmer.

Here I use a bamboo skewer to make a hole. I'll thread the hole with a stainless s-hook off an old IKEA pot rack.

So like I was saying yesterday, I used the fourth breast for dinner. I cross-hatched the skin then seared each side (skin side first) in a dry skillet. Three minutes per side. I sliced it up and put it on top of a salad. Bonne Femme accused me of being "gourmet." What? pan sear, salt and pepper, what is gourmet about that? Duck should be served like beef or tuna, rare.

As you can see above, I covered the opening with landscape fabric so the box can breath while filtering light. I found a draughty spot in the basement and I hung the box in front of it. When I last checked the temperature was about 50F with a relative humidity of 40%. I'll leave it for a week.

Confit.

Back upstairs in the test kitchen the confit is ready to come out of the oven. I carefully remove the bits putting the legs and lollipops in a crock and the livers hearts and lights in a glass jar.

I strain the fat through a china cap lined with muslin then top off each vessel.

I'll cover them with foil and set them in a cool spot for a few days. I wonder what I could make with that?

For further reading on confit or duck prosciutto, check out Charcuterie, by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn.

Stayed tuned from Part Three when we find out if the drying duck has blossomed into prosciutto or turned to just jerky.

Cheers.

Duck Tale Part One

I bought two ducks at Walt's last week. It has taken them five days in the fridge to thaw. I cut them up today.

I laid the breasts on a bed of salt then added more salt. I saved one for dinner tonight.

I seasoned the gizzards, the legs and the lollipops with salt and pepper. Everybody goes into the fridge for twenty-four hours.

I roasted the bones and bits for brown stock. (Note: Roasting duck bones gives of the aroma of McDonald's. If you happen to have been a child in America, then you know this is a good thing.)

The skin and fat are rendering on the stove right now.

Tune in tomorrow we will confit the legs and prep the breasts for prosciutto.

Cheers.

Christmas Party

The proper way to open cava as demonstrated by Zack.

Office Christmas Party 2007

Once again the holiday party for Bonne Femme's office was held at a tony Lincoln Park location. As with any party I like to bring some food:

Rôti de porc à la porchetta.

I love this roast. A boneless pork loin is wrapped with a pork belly. In between the layers a cream of olive oil, salt, rosemary, juniper berry, garlic and pepper is applied, then smoked over hickory.

Fazzoletti della nonna coi funghi secchi e spinaci.

Italian crepes. I think it literally translates to "grandma's headscarf with wild mushrooms and spinach." I got the idea from Marcella Hazan.

I got these Criminis (baby bellas) River Valley Ranch in Burlington Wisconsin. Stop by if you are in the neighborhood.

I made the mushrooms into a Duxelles, pureed sauteed spinach, and made a white sauce with Parmesan cheese. Making crepes was fun.


Rillettes du canard.

After receiving Brian's letter, The Jersey Report: Confit du Canard, I got a duck. I like to think I aways read the label but in this case I didn't and when I got home I realized that my pintail had been "flavored" with a brine solution. So I skipped salting it. Rillettes is potted meat, but to get the meat I have to make a confit first.

I threw away the orange sauce, saved the neck and the carcass for stock, and rendered the skin and fat.

I got about 12 ounces of fat from the duck. I needed more so I made some lard.

For the confit I probably added 16 ounces of lard to the duck fat to make sure everything was covered. I put in the meat the gizzards and the wings. They cooked in a 200F oven for about 6 hours.

For the rillettes, I took the confit meat and a little duck fat and ran it through the Cuisinart.

Gravlax.



I feel no holiday is complete with out some home cured fish. This one with dill, white pepper and caraway.



Other Additions:



Kiff made a magical mango chutney to go with the pork. Audrey roasted chestnuts for a superb chestnut cheesecake. Corine's spinach salad added color and balance to the holiday fare. JJ made Christmas cookies, and Bonne Femme made her signature bacon and onion tart, polenta and the ever popular Ice box cake. Thanks everybody for a great party.



Merry Christmas



Cheers.

The Jersey Report: Confit de Canard

The good stuff's in there.

[Dear MAC]

I finally got a whole duck from the Chinese grocery store recently($8). Once it had thawed, I cut off the leg/thighs, breasts, and wings (minus the tip) for confit. I roasted the carcass and bits at 350 for an hour or more to brown them. The skin and fat I rendered down to a couple cups of pure, white, snowy fat. I felt bad throwing away the giblets but I'm not THAT rustic or poor. I salted and seasoned the parts for confit and let them sit overnight. The next day I made the confit in the oven at 180 for 7.5 hours. I threw the roasted bits into a Dutch oven with about 4 quarts of water and left them in the oven for 4-5 hours too. I finished the stock with onion,etc for the last hour. At then end of all that cooking, I had nothing to eat for dinner but I had a pot of confit and a few quarts of duck stock in the fridge. I can't wait to try the confit in a couple weeks. I may try the wings earlier than that if I can't wait.

Brian.

Dear Brian:

Thanks for writing, you inspire me. In cooking class a few weeks back we boned ducks. We also roasted the bones and bits to make stock. Chef had us put the fat into a pot. We used the first and second joints of the wing for stock, with the third joint we worked the meat loose from the bone then pulled it over the end to make lollipops. The next day Chef made a confit of the
lollipops and the gizzards (confit de foie, cœur et mou est très bien) we ate them on the spot.

When were in Des Moines last weekend Bonne Femme and I dined at Sage . Our favorite dish was the duck. I'm not much for fancy pants descriptions but the menu said: "Pan roasted marinated breast over a duck leg confit, roasted shitake & tart cherry risotto & a duck stock reduction." Yahoo.

Anyway I'm all jammed up with the end of the quarter and a certain someone's b-day next week, but duck (and confit thereof) is on my horizon. They have ducks over at Walt's, I just have to walk over and get one.

Cheers.