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This is in answer to a remark posted by @rotuts on the dinner thread here. Rotuts, leave the skin on your duck legs. When sous-vide-ing, the duck fat will largely melt. I sous vide duck legs at a much higher temperature (160ºF for 28 hours) than duck breast (133º for 2 to 2.5 hours). Note your and @Dave the Cook's suggestions for making a sauce to spice the duck leg after completing sous vide. Run the duck leg under the broiler to give it a finish for a couple of minutes. After broiling, you will eat the skin and any unmelted fat. There's nothing in the world which tastes as good as duck fat (😂). Another idea: when I buy a whole duck, I remove the breast from the duck and bag it separately for sous vide. My favourite method for roasting a whole duck, is to put the bird (sans breast) in a Romertopf clay pot. First add a few cut potatoes in the bottom. Make the potatoes 2" high because there will be a lot of liquid. Maybe add some garlic or ginger; also a half or whole glass of pink or white wine, and then the duck, back side up. Put the clay pot into a cold oven and set the temp for 425ºF or 400ºF. My oven takes 3/4 hour to warm up, so I inspect the bird in about 2 to 2.5 hours. Take the lid off when you think it's done, so that the surface of the bird browns. Decant the juice and fat, then put it in the freezer. Use a scoop of duck fat on nearly everything (for flavour). I usually do several bags of duck legs sous vide at the same time, then into the sink with ice, then into the freezer. It takes an hour or so to rewarm the duck leg for dinner. Edited to add: the reason for the Romertopf clay pot is to minimize the mess which a duck makes all over one's oven. Using a Romertopf with a lid, the mess stays inside the pot. Also all that duck fat is retrievable! 🤣

@rotuts, my answer is over here on the sous vide thread.

Valentines amongst friends. We started with an appetizer of monkfish with fish sauce. Sorry no photo. Frozen sous vide duck legs (160ºF, 28 hours), thawed, fat removed, duck reheated sv. Newly toasted and ground Chinese Five Spice from spicetrekkers @Dave the Cook in a response to this question designed a sauce which I simmered, painted on top of duck, grilled under APO broiler for 4 minutes. Peeled, cut, rutbaga (swede). Cut, cored pear. Both painted with duck fat, roasted. Also small red and gold potatoes roasted, then rolled in duck fat. Fresh biscuits with sugar topping, split. Large dollop lemon curd, topped with blueberries and whipped cream.

My kitchen is quite small with a doorway on either side. Amusingly, my spice cabinet is outside of the kitchen proper, on a wall leading into the kitchen, taking up not very much space for a big return (6" deep including backing and cabinet doors). It fits on the back of the coat cabinet (which faces the hallway). I should find you a modern picture of the contents of the cabinet.

Thank you very much, @pastrygirl.

No, having never confit-ed anything, I've no idea how to. The duck legs were sous-vided at 160ºF for 28 hours, then iced and frozen (Dec 2024). There is a lot of duck fat and some fluid in the bag (there was no fluid or seasoning added to the original bag). The Guardian recipe calls for "Mix the salt, five-spice and orange zest in a small bowl. Put the duck legs on a plate, scatter the spice mix over both sides, then cover and chill overnight, or for at least six hours." Does spicing in the fridge help cooked meat? If I re-cook them sous vide, what temperature and for how long? @Dave the Cook and @rotuts maybe could help.

The Guardian has a nice Valentine's Day recipe for spiced duck. Can I use previously sous-vided duck legs (unspiced) and marinate with these spices? I thought I might mix the spice and marinate the cooked duck for a day, dry it, then put under a hot broiler for a couple minutes. Feasible?

The jungle (with the moisture) has been razed, yes?

@OlyveOyl (and @oli ) Yes, please.

Thanks for taking us on another fabulous vacation, @liamsaunt.

That's fabulous, Mitch!

@rotuts, I can't tell from your pictures about the total space in that closet, but I want to tell you a story. Moving to current house, there were plenty of those 9" or 11" deep shelves inside cabinets and on the walls of some rooms. Those shelves always get stuffed full of junk which is impossible to move (or organize). Seems like you have a lot of dead space in the middle of that pantry room. What if you could convert that to useful storage space? Maybe redesigning that space so you have 24" deep pull-out drawers on some walls? See Shelves That Slide. They have blind corner units and other stuff. I googled "pantry organizers" and got some more ideas.

@rotuts, he's retiring. Worse, I already have a fully full fridge -- and shortly I will receive a shipment of ham!

@MissTaurus, at about the same age, I did something similar. In my case I heated sugar in a sauce pan and thought I was making caramel. Took it out to the backyard to consume and was shocked -- shocked, I tell you -- about how awful it tasted. You're sure to make many friends here. Welcome.

The nuts are roasted first, off the salmon -- yes? Anything in the nut coating but ground cashews? The salmon looks like it could have been done sous vide -- yes? Paul, that dish looks totally divine. I'm gonna copy it first chance I get !

I just loaded the washer with 10 shirts. I swear 8 of them had food stains! Do you suppose that old people could learn a new habit (apron wearing) ?

A long ago boyfriend's German mother had made her living as a cook/housekeeper travelling the world after WWII. One day she showed me how to make peas and carrots, starting with canned peas (400ml). Add 2-3 cups carrot diced finely; pinch salt, sugar and pepper; 2 tablespoons Maggi seasoning. Into frying pan went 1/2 cup butter, browned slightly, then 6 tablespoons removed directly to pea and carrot mixture. Remaining butter mixed with 1/4 cup flour and browned slowly. Bit of nutmeg at end. These peas were quite edible.

Also @rotuts, the Natural Release will just slowly let out pressure. Worth noting that if one selects Fast Release, the contents actually boil. On my instant pot, I can select to turn OFF the Keep Warm. Pity that the IP will not remember that choice.

Hello Hudson. I have a pizza dough (makes 2 balls) with very low yeast which lives in the fridge for 3 days first, then one has another 7-10 days to use the other ball. It's a bit cracker like if you wait until the end to use the dough. It uses bread flour and semolina, and develops marvellous flavour. Originally I had a favourite recipe, which was then translated into Baker's Percent for me by Pete-zzza over at pizzamaking.com. I use a bread machine. Original recipe by Eckhardt & Butts. If you're interested, send me a PM and I'll send you back the recipe. Welcome to eG!

Shoes too, right? (Wasn't it @KennethT who told us all about this?)

I think it's exotic that the shape of the salt cellar changes with the lid on or off. With the lid off, the cellar is mostly a square box shape, almost reaching the counter surface before there's any roundness. With the salt cellar top on, the whole salt box looks like a rounded mushroom. Very ingenious!

We mere Paradice 9 owners are not as lucky as you @ElsieD !

@rotuts, I'm afraid how that last sentence might end!

Hello @wishtoBakeforall0513. You're quite right, this is a very cool place. Perhaps you could tell us one of your favourite dishes? Welcome!

@rotuts, I had 5 blades (2 for dicing grid) and their accoutrements (spindle, dicing gearbox, dicing cleaner) as well as the bowl and its parts. After washing, I stacked them at the rear of the topside dish tray (manual says using dishwasher will dull the blades), piled up in a way that most of the blades were under or behind something. Then I laid the bowl parts on top. In the morning water came out of the handle of the big bowl, as well as the parts of the feed chute, as I turned them into a different position than they were in the dish tray. What it boils down to is that I had to leave the parts all over the kitchen so they could dry . . . .