Three days of the duck.

[cdcox]

I bought two ducks for Christmas dinner (my wife, me, and daughter).

Actually I only made the breasts for Christmas. First time I'd cooked duck breasts. They came out okay, but I'll do way better next time. They came out about medium, when medium rare was my goal. The skin was a little less crispy than I wanted, due to selecting the wrong recipe. And they weren't as warm as I would have liked at serving time, due to trying to do to many things that finished at the last second. But it was a good learning experience and I'll knock them out of the park next time.

Tonight we had the legs and thighs. I did a braise but kept the skin crispy. They were phenomenal, maybe better. Used this recipe:

http://www.randomhouse.com/broadway/...rance/duck.php

The rest (carcass, wings, neck, and giblets) went into a stock. If it were me, this would go into a gumbo. But the Mrs. doesn't like gumbo. Any ideas that would show off a great stock?

[RJ]

Man, a duck stock gumbo sounds great. I say make another pitch to the wife. If it still doesn't fly you could make a soup that tastes like gumbo but is cleverly disguised with some pasta or beans. I'll bet a white bean soup would be good with duck broth.

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by RJ

Man, a duck stock gumbo sounds great. I say make another pitch to the wife. If it still doesn't fly you could make a soup that tastes like gumbo but is cleverly disguised with some pasta or beans. I'll bet a white bean soup would be good with duck broth.

She's not a big fan of okra. So if I leave the okra out...

I'm thinking about laying down a base of the onion, celery, green pepper trinity, adding the stock, then throwing in some shrimp and andouille sausage, and spicing it up with some tobascco and cayenne pepper.

I could also make the rice optional...

She'd see through my ruse in the end, but she'd probably like the finished product

[Ari ümlaüt]

that shit sounds delicious.

[RJ]

Originally Posted by cdcox

She's not a big fan of okra. So if I leave the okra out...

I'm thinking about laying down a base of the onion, celery, green pepper trinity, adding the stock, then throwing in some shrimp and andouille sausage, and spicing it up with some tobascco and cayenne pepper.

I could also make the rice optional...

She'd see through my ruse in the end, but she'd probably like the finished product

That's what I was thinking, that there was probably a specific part of gumbo she doesn't like.

Maybe you could do what you just described, then add some cream or half and half, let it thicken a bit and then serve over some pasta, maybe penne or egg noodles or fettucine. Tell her it's Cajun Bolognese.

[RJ]

Oh, and throw in some parmesan. Chicks dig cheese.

[2bikemike]

I have never prepared duck myself I am a bit intimidated by it. I have had it prepared for me a few times. Twice it wasn't very good kinda greasy. And the rest of the times it was pretty good.

[Fish]

Did you guys hear the McRib is back?

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by RJ

Oh, and throw in some parmesan. Chicks dig cheese.

That whole deal you described with the cream and cheese and pasta sounds pretty damn good.

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by 2bikemike

I have never prepared duck myself I am a bit intimidated by it. I have had it prepared for me a few times. Twice it wasn't very good kinda greasy. And the rest of the times it was pretty good.

The whole grease thing has to be managed properly. Duck meat is very lean and muscular. But it is surrounded by a 1/16" layer of fat and skin. You want to keep the skin (which is great when cooked correctly) while getting rid of a good portion of the fat. I never eat chick or turkey skin, and always keep all of the duck skin that is attached to meat. (I trim and throw away all of the loose skin not attached to meat).

Tonight's dish was perfect. The skin was crisp and delicious and most of the fat had rendered away from the meat. Where did it go? Some of it was trimmed away before going in the skillet, some got poured away, but the rest of it was soaked up by the carrots, celery and leeks. The meat was very tender. We had a nice pinot (I'm not drinking any of that F'n Merlot) that also helped cut the fat. A bite of the meat, with the veggies cooked in the fat, and a swig of pinot was just about as good as it gets.

All the fat is skimmed off the stock, so the fat will be no issue there.

[ClevelandBronco]

How is it that Chiefs fans know more about food than any others? Maybe it's just the freewheeling nature of the board itself, but I've never run across any football fans who know as much about food as some of the folks here. I've bookmarked several food discussions on the Planet.

If the guys that run your favorite team ever learn jack shit about football, this could be the best site ever.

[seclark]

Originally Posted by ClevelandBronco

How is it that Chiefs fans know more about food than any others? Maybe it's just the freewheeling nature of the board itself, but I've never run across any football fans who know as much about food as some of the folks here. I've bookmarked several food discussions on the Planet.

If the guys that run your favorite team ever learn jack shit about football, this could be the best site ever.

if the guys that run our favorite team ever learn jack shit about football, we'd never talk about preparing food, etc.
sec

[DBO82]

Originally Posted by seclark

if the guys that run our favorite team ever learn jack shit about football, we'd never talk about preparing food, etc.
sec

So its Carls fault our wives are fat....

[RJ]

So what'd you do with the duck broth?

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Deck the hawrs with boughrs of hawry

fa ra ra ra ra/ ra ra ra ra