Jozef

I had asked about this on another thread a few weeks ago, i've since tried it a couple of times and get about 300ml of rendered fat from 2 medium sized ducks. All I do is puree the skin in a food processor and cook on low gas for 3 or 4 hours, (stirring every while) then pass it though a sieve. Actually I have a question, is there any preffered type of container material to store duck fat in? glass? plastic?

Hi, I’m British but have lived abroad since graduating university in 2003. I’m thinking about moving back to the UK but have very little idea about the restaurant job market over there. In a nutshell, I work for a small homegrown restaurant here in Kuwait that wants to expand into a regional franchise (that’s why they hired me). Since joining I have made dramatic changes to the menu using menu engineering (and am even working on a second version), changed the branding and logo. I have refurbished the old store and opened a new one as well as changing the operations of the central kitchen (including the introduction of portion control) and hiring new staff. I also have introduced proper guidelines and systems covering health and safety, administrative issues and operations. I have been at PANINI for 8 months now and I am planning for third and fourth stores. I had done a similar job for another smaller start up (which got bought by the current company I am working for), before that I was a Sales and Ops manager for a totally different type of business. All my knowledge is self taught, and that’s really why I want to come back to the UK as it is a much faster paced and competitive place to work and learn compared to Kuwait. So my questions are: How easy/difficult is it finding restaurant jobs in the UK? How do you go about finding them? Would my experience be considered ok? If I wanted to work on the line in a kitchen, would my basic cooking skills get me a job doing that or am I confined to restaurant management? Any advice or suggestions would be great.. Thanks

Learn about all aspects of working in a kitchen and people managment, once you begin moving up the ranks your actuall cooking skills get utilised less and your managment skills (dealing with staff/suppliers/FOH, time managment, organisational skills, innventory etc.) come into greater use. However few people who work their way up actually get trainned in these skills and that can hamper their performance, a great cook can suck as a chef.

wow.. that's a crazy story. I wonder what her manager's reaction was? I know if any of my staff did that i'd be showering them with praise. I guess she must have a great sense of duty, wish I had a couple of staff like that!

All sounds excellent, really appriciate it. I've always been a bit wary about cooking duck, come to think about it fish too.. find them both much more intricate to deal with compared to cuts of beef and chicken.. but I guess thats cause i'm more used to preparing them. Just another question, anyone tried 'sous viding' duck?

Thanks for the ideas, i'm going to try rendering the fat using a bit of water as I had heard about that before. Our ducks are medium sized, i'm going to wait till I have about 3 or 4 so I can make up a batch of both the stock and rendered fat at the same time. How long should I leave the stock on for, i usually leave my chicken/beef stock on for about 4 hrs, would that be too much? what temp should I be roasting the bones at, about 425F? So what kind of a dish could I use the stock in? Reduce and serve with pan fried duck breasts, or is that duck over kill? Perhaps braise some beef in it? If I added brandy or wine, what would that sauce go with?

At my restaurant we use a fair amount of duck, but all the skin, fat and bones are left to waste.. I would really like to use them in some way, perhaps use the bones to make a stock and render the duck fat. However i've never come across duck stock, what would I put in and what would I use it for? I imagine it would be quite rich when reduced. And how do I render the duck fat? I'd like to use it to make a duck confit or just roast some potatoes in it. This is my first ever post. I've been reading this forum for a while now and it's great to finally participate!! Any guidance would be appriciated. Thanks