SethG

It is fairly close-- there are minor differences. Jacques does not ask you to add the mussels back to the soup, either pureed or as a garnish. He tells you to "save for another dish." There are also some small differences in the proportions. But otherwise not that different. Note to everyone: Jacques says this soup is traditionally served cold (although he gives permission to serve it warm). He also says it is very rich, and that servings should be no more than half a cup per person. Doesn't really sound like a meal in a pot. Maybe we should do the other one?

Heather, do you refer to Jacques' Mediterranean Seafood Soup or to Jacques' Billi-bi (mussels and cream soup)? I'd be up for either one. I'm up for bread too, but I may need to be directed to a recipe.

Not that I wouldn't love to, but You're teasing me, aren't you? Or trying to tempt me into misbehaving? If I propose another project for this weekend, I think Heather will have my head. I promised to wait until after turkey day. (Although a little bird told me Heather is making risotto tonight...) Oh yeah, what happened to Dave? And Erin, are you out there?

Okay Maggie, I counted 'em up last night. It didn't take long. I liberally counted every book with a recipe in it, including things like Tender at the Bone and Between Bites, and then threw in Harold McGee for good measure, and still came up with... ... a lousy 54 cookbooks.

Good for you, Heather, and good luck! Monday night: ribeye steaks, pan-broiled, sauced "a la Bourguignon," with leftover Bourguignon sauce from the freezer; roasted asparagus; and winter squash pilaf with bulgur, from Paula Wolfert's Mediterranean Grains & Greens.

For a moment, I wished that I'd thought of this idea first, Melkor. But after reading your first posts, I see that your Thanksgiving dinner is going to be a good deal more interesting than mine. Keep posting!

Guajolote, I couldv'e PMed you some salad instructions. Sorry. The salad involved roasting extra strips of skin and fat until crisp (about half an hour or forty minutes), chopping up the giblets and sauteeing them in a couple Tbsps of duck fat for about two minutes, and putting all of this on top of greens with a simple mustard vinaigrette. That's about all you needed to know. Maybe you could post your duck hash recipe/method? And by the way, the wife and I liked the parsnips just fine. I might make some again.

Dave, I think you've hit upon the reason for the sogginess/lack of deglazing material. I used a 12 inch skillet, as Jacques instructs us to do, and my pan became very crowded. I don't think this is a "problem;" I think this is as Jacques wants it to be. He wants the veggies steamed, not browned. I used a cast-iron skillet, by the way. How can you cook a duck and not do it in cast-iron? It's so good for the pan! And Heather, you get credit for admitting your shortcomings! Maybe someday you'll see the light. I don't think I'd go for medium-rare chicken or turkey. (I understand that in Japan, where salmonella is unheard of, they serve chicken carpaccio. This sounds pretty weird to me.) Duck just seems so much more gamey; it seems right to me at medium-rare.

I had the same issue with the skin that you did, G: it was so nice and crunchy after the sauteeing portion of the prep, but pretty limp after another half hour under a lid. I also had your other issues relating to the onions and the lack of bits to scrape up, but I didn't really think either one was a problem. And I cut the end pieces of the parsnips in half. Aside from the skin (which was something of a letdown), I thought the dish was really very good. It felt like a crime to cook duck breasts this way, though. I wanted to take them out and eat them about ten minutes into the recipe. Not that they weren't good Jacques' way-- they were well flavored. I just like them medium rare. I enjoyed cutting up a duck. I usually just buy duck breasts. Was your duck fresh or frozen, Guajalote? Mine was a fresh Long Island duckling. I saved the carcass, wishbone and wing tips for Julia's stock, which I might make tomorrow. Or I might not. A question: is the leftover rendered duck fat very useful, since it was cooked with rosemary, shallots, garlic and parsnips? Won't these flavors stick around? I have probably two cups of the stuff left over. Did you make the giblet salad? I thought it was great. Loved the giblets and the cracklings with the mustard vinaigrette. It also made me feel so economical! If I make stock, I won't waste one bit of this duck. I think the duck took me about an hour and a half, which became an hour and three quarters with the salad. I was able to cut up the duck, then do all the other prep while the duck pieces sizzled. But not with a lot of time to spare.

Saturday night: Jacques Pepin's Skillet Duck with Parsnips and Shallots; and his Duck Giblets and Escarole Salad; and for dessert, a recent Martha Stewart frozen lemon mousse: My plating skills don't compare to Martha's, and the picture doesn't do it justice. But I think you can still tell it was awfully good.

I just looked it over, G, and it seems more like one-and-a-half hours to me. There's about an hour's worth of cooking, and everything but the duck can be prepped while the duck is browning/rendering for the first 25 minutes, right? But I always think things are going to go more quickly than they actually do, so don't plan based on my assessment. Dave: I understand you have some lemons laying about! This morning I made that Martha Stewart frozen lemon mousse I mentioned earlier. I'll let you know how we like it.

Friday night: Oven-braised pork chops with red onions and pears, from Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen, which I just checked out of the library today. I have to say, this one recipe, selected at random, impressed me greatly. I may buy the book based on it alone. And I say this even though I ate the dish without the garnish of reduced basalmic vinegar that is intended to provide an extra bite. I would have included the vinegar, but my reduction went too far. In the end, it resembled (and still resembles) volcanic rock. I may have ruined the pot. But whatever. The dish was great without it. The chops are browned and then roasted with some onion and pear wedges, along with some wine vinegar and honey, which caramelize into a delicious glaze. Good stuff. Wish I'd had time to brine first. And I sauteed some mushrooms with garlic, parsley, and a little wine. And I blanched some broccoli.

Another excellent report, Tommy! Edited to remove a comment responding to something else that's gone now.

Heather, I just found out that two of Lidia's books that I reserved are waiting for me at the NYC public library. I'll let you know what I think! Aside from that, I too recommend Marcella.

Adam, I just wanted to add that I too enjoyed your piece. I find risotto (and polenta, which also seems to scare people) among the most soothing of meals to make. There's an easy rhythm to it that I find (contrary to many people's thinking) a nice accompaniment to conversation with guests, so long as you don't mind having your guests in the kitchen! Fat Guy had a good piece a few years ago with his buddy Chef Matt about making risotto. I tried to locate a link, but fat-guy.com is currently undergoing reconstruction. This, by the way, is not Fat Guy's site. Steven, do you feel like posting a link to your article? If I recall correctly, it had step-by-steps for a couple different risottos and also gave restaurant-style tips for how to make risotto ahead of time-- slightly undercooked-- and then finish it in five minutes for guests.

So somebody give me tips as to what I should look for in a good parsnip. I've never cooked with them, and I'm not sure I've ever even tried them. I have some turnips in the house. I might throw one or two of those in with the duck too. And everybody knows I was kidding about the whole risotto thing, right? Later. We'll do that later.

That sounds great! I need to make me some more stock-- my eGCI stuff is long gone already. Maybe sometime next week we could.... Stop! [slaps self.] Down, boy! Bad! Bad!

I never got around to cancelling my duck reservation, so I think I will be making the duck on Saturday or Sunday. I'll let y'all know what I've messed up, and save any big philosophical questions for when more people have tried the dish. And I won't push for any other dishes until after turkey day, I promise! I don't know the answer to any of snowangel's questions. What else I've made: Julia's salmon en papillote, which I made with snapper instead. It did not work very well and I would love to try this again with all of you. One of the roast chicken recipes, which is hardly worth talking about. It was great, but we all knew that about roast chicken already.

Wednesday night: Roasted chicken & two lemons; roasted buttercup squash with a little butter & brown sugar; and rice pilaf. Thursday night: a tomato and veal sauce over egg fettuccine.

I'd be remiss if I didn't point you to another way to roast a turkey.

Did someone else around here just have a baby?

I could wait-- I bet it wouldn't be a problem for me to cancel my duck order. But if Dave and possibly marie-louise are still into it, I'd like to try it this weekend. And I can obviously keep mum about the results, even for a week. I don't want to pressure anybody. I know when we talked about doing this joint enterprise, we all seemed to think every two weeks was ideal. So I'm down with whatever. I do confess that I've moonlighted a bit. I was very excited when I finally got the book and did a couple recipes from it right away.

MatthewB, I hope I didn't give you insufficient lead time for the duck! I've reserved a fresh one myself for Friday at a local market, so I will be making it this weekend. I haven't decided yet on the profiteroles. I saw a Martha Stewart dessert show* a couple weeks ago, during which she made this frozen lemon mousse that looked so amazing, I just might make it this weekend. It involves three different preparations, some of which have to be completed at least a day in advance, but it really looked spectacular when she put a plate together for service. * Don't know how you guys feel about Martha, legal problems aside, but after ridiculing her for years I've suddenly started to grow very fond of her, perhaps out of sympathy. I've never cooked from any of her recipes, though. Edit: Heather, how'd your fish come out?

So I've been absent from this thread for about a week (what, you didn't NOTICE?), and I'm just catching up. Last Monday, Nov. 3, we ate out, so to speak. Tuesday: ordered Chinese. Wednesday: was going to cook a chicken, but it was fowl. I mean, it was foul. Well before the sell-by date, and an expensive organic bird, but totally nauseating when I opened the package. So I looked around the kitchen, and made smothered onion sauce for pasta. Thursday: made a big lasagna, from the recipe on the box. With ground beef. Good for two dinners and a couple lunches to boot. Friday: more lasagna. Saturday: Blackfish fillets a la meuniere, roasted asparagus, and rice pilaf. With key lime pie for dessert, homemade but not by me. Sunday: Moroccan fragrant lamb tagine with carrots and celery. Made use of my recent batch of preserved lemons. Yum. Served with instant couscous. A warming dish on a cold night.

Hey Dave, Erin? Wha'ppen? I want to put in an early vote for duck next weekend. Since it's really cold all of a sudden here in NYC, I'm of a mind to do something hearty like Jacques' Skillet Duck With Parsnips & Shallots. This dish is a meal in one pot, but if anyone wants to suggest other stuff, like a salad or something, I'm more than open to suggestions. Also: Thanksgiving is just two weeks away. Some of you may have noticed that I've been kind of fixated on this particular holiday in recent months. Despite the fact that I spent some time trying out one kind of turkey recently, I'm tempted to give either Julia's Deconstructed Turkey or Jacques' Galantine (or both!) a try. If any of you are also thinking about it, my fate is sealed. What say you, fellow explorers? We have nothing to lose but dry breast meat, right?