Duck!

[Jenise]

Has anyone ever spatchcocked a duck?

Not me, but I have occasionally asked the butcher to put it under the bandsaw and cut it in half for me.

No, but sounds interesting.
While there are a few preps of whole duck I like (Peking!), I'd say 90% of the time we do breasts OR legs. I love breast medium rare, and no whole duck recipe does that.

No, but sounds interesting.
While there are a few preps of whole duck I like (Peking!), I'd say 90% of the time we do breasts OR legs. I love breast medium rare, and no whole duck recipe does that.

That's very French of you, Dale -- magret vs. cuisse. From what I know, the French consider them to be different meats entirely, which does make a lot of sense to me. And, yes, roasting a whole duck there's no real way of stopping it at the stage you and I like.

[Jenise]

I appreciate the conversation! So, here's what's going on: my brother in law LOVES chardonnay, and I invited them to an all-chardonnay multi-course dinner tomorrow night to celebrate. Every dish might include duck in some form. A salad with crispy duck breast bacon and raw baby corns, for instance, maybbe magrets with cranberry gastric on sorrel waffle, broiled confit on beans with toulouse sausage, along those lines.

Three weeks ago crossing the border, the agent asked if I had chicken. No, why? "Well they've lifted the ban, you can now bring poultry products over." So I bought magrets on my way home from the Spohns and declared them. Next thing you know I'm meeting with the Ag Dept and someone's in my car confiscating the duck. WTF? As I told Agent Porga, I understand the rules and follow them, but I was told three weeks ago..."Yeah, well, that's over. It was only open for three weeks." To which I pointed out that bird flu, the reason for the ban both directions still exists on both sides. "Yeah, well, but there was Thanksgiving." So rather than deal with the extra workload and a surplus of rotting poultry, they opened the border to cover travellers heading both directions with turkey. And now it's closed again.

F word! But I can get magrets locally, they're just more expensive here. Confit is another issue, though, so the next day I ordered the confit from Hudson Valley. On Sunday night I realized they hadn't sent a shipping advisory so I contacted them on Monday morning only to learn that the product I'd ordered is out of stock.

So today's Tuesday and tomorrow night's the dinner and I have no duck, in spite of great effort. So I was toying with buying whole ducks instead. And no I can't buy duck legs to confit myself, not around here. Duck's not popular. I miss the days of living next door to America's Little Saigon in California where I could always buy fresh duck in the meat case. In reviewing my options for roasting whole duck instead, I just wondered aloud about spatchcocking. I've not seen/heard of that being done.

Well, that is a very frustrating story.

If you had more time I trust that you have more mail-order sources for confit but with so little time left it does seem your choices are limited (if duck it must be).

If you have duck fat, you can just bathe chicken pieces in it and have a very good simulation of a duck leg confit (your boy Kenji says so).

yes, quite the mallard ordeal. Sorry for the double whammy.
Too late now, but I was happy with my one time ordering legs from Wild Fork (and they have confit legs, breasts, and whole as well). On smaller side but well priced compared to Dartagnan (a little less than HVFG)

[Jenise]

Solution: I got duck legs yesterday at the chef store and am making my own confit. They're curing now.

This really didn't have to be a duck meal. It's just that I can be headstrong and inflexible. I have this beautiful dish in my head and am bound and determined to pull it off. And any more, as full-time caregiver to a very ill husband who can no longer even set the table, I lack the time and inclination to do big, ambitious meals like I used to. This is an exception--I just need to prove I can. [helpless look]

Solution: I got duck legs yesterday at the chef store and am making my own confit. They're curing now.

This really didn't have to be a duck meal. It's just that I can be headstrong and inflexible. I have this beautiful dish in my head and am bound and determined to pull it off. And any more, as full-time caregiver to a very ill husband who can no longer even set the table, I lack the time and inclination to do big, ambitious meals like I used to. This is an exception--I just need to prove I can. [helpless look]

Urk! So sorry to hear about Bob, Jenise. Good luck with the meal. Making your own confit is pretty easy provided you have the requisite amount of fat to start with. I keep a supply of duck fat in our spare fridge for just this purpose.

[Jenise]

Yeah, I know it's easy, I've done it in the long ago past. Here in the duckless PNW (despite what I see floating by outside my windows), though, I've gotten away from it as duck is not popular and therefore scarce. However, I've also been wanting to try this other method, and now I'm going to:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/20 ... -the-labor

In our fowl hierarchy, turkey ranks at the bottom having less flavour than chicken (but dark meat is a half a rung above the bland white meat), then chicken, then duck on top. I also have a soft spot for quail, though they take more prep work - I think you've had various preparations of spatchcocked quail at my dinners - it makes a nice sized intermediate course although fussier to prepare and eat.

Sadly our local superstore stopped stocking duck (the idiots shot themselves in the foot by labelling drumsticks as wings - who the heck is going to buy duck wings?), but as it is a staple of the Chinese larder we can source it locally elsewhere. Too bad about the border issue, or I could have picked some up for you for next time you are up here.

Glad you found some down there. Remember what they say - "duck who fly upside down sure to have quack up!"

[Jenise]

In our fowl hierarchy, turkey ranks at the bottom having less flavour than chicken (but dark meat is a half a rung above the bland white meat), then chicken, then duck on top. I also have a soft spot for quail, though they take more prep work - I think you've had various preparations of spatchcocked quail at my dinners

My favorite fowl is guinea hen, but that's another thing that requires special ordering.

Speaking of duck, you may be amused to know that I instructed the Ag agent who searched my car to look for the duck in the very bottom of a very tall bag. I'd purchased some sausage too and had put all those together to keep each other chilled over the afternoon, as I was shopping before arrival at Chez Spohn. She asked how many breasts were involved, I'd said "two"--the precise answer to the question asked. However it was only one package. So when she got back she said "I thought you said there were two", waving the one package at me, "I only found one." To which I said, "That's correct. Each package holds two," and as she looked again at what was in her hand, I added: "It's just that Canadian birds have small boobs." We giggled.

[Jenise]

Bill, btw, the duBreton brand of Toulouse sausage carried at Stong's is what I purchased to skin and crumble into the beans that will the underlayment of my duck confits tonight. Really good stuff.

In our fowl hierarchy, turkey ranks at the bottom having less flavour than chicken (but dark meat is a half a rung above the bland white meat), then chicken, then duck on top. I also have a soft spot for quail, though they take more prep work - I think you've had various preparations of spatchcocked quail at my dinners - it makes a nice sized intermediate course although fussier to prepare and eat.

Where does goose come in that hierarchy, Bill? We have become quite fond of European quail, a bit more meaty than their domestic counterparts.

In our fowl hierarchy, turkey ranks at the bottom having less flavour than chicken (but dark meat is a half a rung above the bland white meat), then chicken, then duck on top. I also have a soft spot for quail, though they take more prep work - I think you've had various preparations of spatchcocked quail at my dinners - it makes a nice sized intermediate course although fussier to prepare and eat.

Goose? Guinea fowl? Partridge, pheasant, grouse? Ostrich? Ortolans?

Chicken is the easiest to work with and is the most adaptable. Duck is very yummy but it's also very greasy and does not yield as much meat as the same weight chicken. And don't you dare run-down turkey: if you get a good one it has plenty of flavor, plenty of dark meat, and, believe it or not, plenty of grease.

(the idiots shot themselves in the foot by labelling drumsticks as wings - who the heck is going to buy duck wings?)

Heh. I recall a dinner at an Icelandic restaurant and one of the appetizers (or was it a dessert?) was charred/roasted duck wings served with a sweet/tart cranberry yogurt. I recall it was weird but it worked. A little bit chewy but points for creativity.

My favorite fowl is guinea hen, but that's another thing that requires special ordering. .

I love pintade/guinea hen but had to be ordered (D'Artagnan sometimes has)..
Locally I can easily get chicken, duck, quail, pheasant (HMart), turkey. Used to find capon (I know it's technically chicken) locally but haven't seen in a while. My fave might be squab but has to be ordered (and not always available). HMart has silky fowl but I've never made myself.
Big goose fan, available seasonally but I think we're doing 7 Fishes Xmas Eve so not hosting a big XMas day dinner.
I like poultry.

Oh yeh and a couple times this year my farmers market had a NJ farm with ostrich. The beef of poultry!

Yes, ostrich can be good (or tough) . Pheasant isn't a regular part of my larder (although I have been called a pheasant plucker....or was that a....never mind!). I'm trying to remember if I made a ballotine of pheasant for one of our terrine events. It isn't that easy to find here - usually a special order, and it is easy to dry it out if not cooked properly.

I have never cooked guinea hen, although I have eaten it - dark meat beats white meat every time on flavour and guinea hens are dark meat. I should keep an eye out for them. My family had a farm (race horse breeding) and they had guinea fowl all over the place - they kept the insects down and we never ate them.

One thing I should try given the large Asian community here is silkie - the black skin makes them look rather pathetic once plucked (the feathers look weird when they are still running around). Take a look at

https://www.instructables.com/Fowl-Most-Foul-Roasted-Black-Silkie-Chicken-With-S/ I must get around to sourcing one (may have to go down to Chinatown to get one)

[Jenise]

So last night's deconstructed cassoulet was a major success. David Leibowitz's methodology for curing then roasting the legs is a keeper, I shall do this again and again!!!!!

I bought the legs on Tuesday, frozen. When they were thawed enough to break apart I did so and rubbed them with a mixture made of 2 T each salt and sugar, plus a few sprinkles of nutmeg and coarse ground black pepper. I then sprinkled the bottom (meat side) with thyme and placed them snugly in the dish they would eventually bake in. I tucked one 2" bay leaf and 1 smashed garlic clove under each, covered and refrigerated them for 48 hours. 3 hours before service they went into a 300 F oven for 2.5 hours covered with foil. I turned up the heat then to 400 and roasted them for another 20 minutes at which point the skin was brown and shatteringly crisp.

I served them over canned white beans simmered for a little while with chicken broth, herbs d'Provence, a knob of tomato paste, sauteed onion and crumbled Toulouse style sausage.

OUTSTANDING.

In Australia they commercially raise emus for eating. I've never had emu (I have had kangaroo), although I saw emu eggs on sale at a supermarket once. They are the same shape as hen's eggs but about ten times the size.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

In Australia they commercially raise emus for eating. I've never had emu (I have had kangaroo), although I saw emu eggs on sale at a supermarket once. They are the same shape as hen's eggs but about ten times the size.

-Paul W.

And green, aren't they?

Yes, they're a dark green. So probably best served with ham.

-Paul W.

Yes, they're a dark green. So probably best served with ham.

-Paul W.

I think that I seussed out what you mean.....

So last night's deconstructed cassoulet was a major success. David Leibowitz's methodology for curing then roasting the legs is a keeper, I shall do this again and again!!!!!

Like this?: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/20 ... -the-labor