Upcoming dinner party

[Harry91]

I have to make a dinner for 10 next saturday. I already know what i'm doing for App and Desert, i'm a little hazy about entree.

I want to do a roulade of duck (wrapped in kale/swiss chard), served on top of a potato cake, with a wild mushroom sauce.

Should I replace the mushroom sauce with a corn sauce (corn juice with fresh corn and seasonings) or some other veg/ sauce.

If anyone has an idea for a sauce or veg to serve, let me know. Thanks.

Also, i've only cooked duck once before, and it was an asian recipe. If anyone has an tips on poaching duck, please let me know. (I assume it's very similar to chicken).

-Harry

[Chris Amirault]

Hi Harry. A few quick thoughts:

I want to do a roulade of duck (wrapped in kale/swiss chard), served on top of a potato cake, with a  wild mushroom sauce.

Kale's a lot tougher than swiss chard, so right there I'd want to know whether you're finishing the roulade quickly in a sauté pan with duck fat (chard, maybe) or whether you're braising the entire contraption with the leafy wrap (kale, maybe).

Should I replace the mushroom sauce with a corn sauce (corn juice with fresh corn and seasonings) or some other veg/ sauce.

I think that this question depends on what else is in that roulade. To me, a corn sauce with a potato cake is too much starch. Also, if you can get some genuine wild mushrooms in season....

Also, i've only cooked duck once before, and it was an asian recipe. If anyone has an tips on poaching duck, please let me know. (I assume it's very similar to chicken).

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If it's breast meat, it's not that similar to chicken because it's all dark meat (different type of muscles/protein) and is a bit more forgiving than chicken. However, there's nothing as grainy and awful as overcooked duck.

So, are you rolling pounded breast meat? What are you rolling it around? Are you wrapping the roulade in duck skin?

Tell us more!

[the g-man]

I made a dish like this not long ago, from the French Laundry cookbook. I dumbed it down a little, using chicken stock rather than the duck stock that I believe the recipe called for. It turned out pretty cool, and the corn sauce was simple, sweet and really good. The portion was a little small for an entree, so if you are doing this as an entree I would serve two or three pieces together rather than the way I did it below. Check it out:

[Kouign Aman]

FWIW, Kale can be pre-steamed to render it amenable to short term heat as part of another dish.