Duck: The Topic

Anna N · April 5, 2018

I have the book which was a gift from someone who was kind enough to overestimate not only my culinary skills but my willingness to commit that much time and effort to one sub-recipe never mind one meal! But it is a gorgeous book and there are various bits and pieces that I might at one time have attempted. Now I am perfectly happy to admire from afar.

I do think it’s a great shame if there are errors in a book such as this which requires great expenditure for ingredients and enormous commitment from the brave.

Edited April 5, 2018 by Anna N (log)

jnash85 · April 5, 2018

21 minutes ago, Anna N said:

I have the book which was a gift from someone who was kind enough to overestimate not only my culinary skills but my willingness to commit that much time and effort to one sub-recipe never mind one meal! But it is a gorgeous book and there are various bits and pieces that I might at one time have attempted. Now I am perfectly happy to admire from afar.

I do think it’s a great shame if there are errors in a book such as this which requires great expenditure for ingredients and enormous commitment from the brave.

The dish above took about three days to put together. Lots of time planning and quite a lot of expense, considering there were no really expensive ingredients.

There was someone here a few years ago who was posting all kinds of dishes from the book. Looked amazing. I wanted the new one, but I don’t feel like dropping the cash on it. Hopefully they come out with a regular version.

weinoo · April 5, 2018

I understand that you'd like to replicate the recipe from the EMP cookbook, but once you've "broken down" the duck, aren't you defeating the purpose?

Wouldn't it be better to perhaps "roast" the duck in a pan, and do the final prep as in the book?

As to pricing, Long Island or Pekin ducks run around $15 - $20 in the Asian markets here in Chinatown.

Martin Fisher · April 5, 2018

FWIW,

From "Eleven Madison Park: The Next Chapter", 2017, page 52

Duck, Honey Glazed With Lavender and Spices.

Normandy ducks.

Hang in refrigerator until thoroughly dried, 10-14 days.

Preheat a convection oven to 205°C/400°F, high fan.

Roast ducks for 16 minutes, turning once.

Remove the ducks from the oven and let rest at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58eBsnRKh0

Dogchef · April 5, 2018

Tried duplicating restaurant roast duck several times, to no avail (always dry/tough)

Perhaps it's the duck? We get frozen skinny units on sale here in Vancouver for under $3/lb CDN.

Did a few legs and breasts "sous vide/confit" style a few weeks ago, the best duck I've ever had!

A variation on the Chefsteps recipe.

Salt/sugar, shallot, thyme, bay & orange zest for 24 hrs, then vac bagged with a hefty blob of extra duck fat, SV @158F for 16 hrs

Cool rapidly & refrigerate - let sit there at least a few days. Sear on pan + torch to finish.

Mmm! Want more! :smile:

kayb · April 5, 2018

Or put that confit in cassoulet. Be still, my heart!

Anna N · April 5, 2018

The duck in the YouTube video is like no duck I have ever seen. It is neither the shape nor the (cooked meat) colour I expect from a duck. I am accustomed to Pekin ducks so I must assume that the Muscovy is very different.

Edited to add:

Here is a discussion of ducks likely to end up on the table.

Edited April 5, 2018 by Anna N (log)

kayb · April 5, 2018

Checked at my local Asian market today. Duck was $2.99 a pound. Will make a run to the big Asian market in Memphis in a week or two, and we'll see what they run there. I have some confit wild duck in the freezer now, so I'm in no real rush. But I'd like to do some smoked duck breast sometime this spring.

jnash85 · April 8, 2018

So I broke down the duck last night and did the legs following the chef steps recipe. Sous vide for 16 hours at 80C. I then brushed it with a citrus sauce made from orange, sugar, vinegar, and the bag juices and let the legs crisp up under the broiler.

Also started making the duck jus for tomorrow. Roasted the carcass for an hour, then simmered it with 8 cups of chicken stock reduced down to 1 cup. I will be pan roasting the breast tomorrow.

jnash85 · April 8, 2018

Ok. Today was the big day. It was very good, but a bit overcooked. I cooked the breast skin side down for about 15 min. The Ad Hoc cookbook calls for 20 - 25. Then they went into a 400 F oven for 3 min. Pulled out, glazed with honey, and szechuan peppercorns, coriander, cumin, and lavender. In the oven for another 2 min.

The sauce on the other hand, was out of this world. As were the potatoes, which were simmer, passed through a fine mesh sieve, and combined with an equal portion of butter and a touch of cream.

Okanagancook · April 8, 2018

Well done.

Beautiful.

i see duck on the menu next week.

JoNorvelleWalker · November 5, 2018

I've been craving duck for some while. Amazon Prime Now disappointed the other week when they could not deliver. (Though I did get a refund.) Now I am in possession of six pan seared duck breasts left over from an event last night. As served, the breast was sliced extremely thin on a bed of cabbage: "Braised Cabbage, Applewood Smoked Bacon and Sour Orange Gastrique". Unquote. To be precise.

Typically I am not a fan of near raw fowl. But one has to taste. The cabbage was lovely. The duck looked and tasted like finest rare beef, however my dentation could not handle it. Tonight I plan to subdue a breast to doneness in the CSO and see what transpires. There is a potful of cabbage waiting, next to the potatoes. Don't mind if the duck is dry as long as I can chew it.

I welcome thoughts for the five remaining breasts.

heidih · November 5, 2018

My immediate thought is a quick cooked hot pot or soup with a good stock or broth perhaps hiding in the freezer. At this point I don't think time is your friend for dentation or texture. I love duck and goose so seeing it wasted pains me

weedy · November 5, 2018

2 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I welcome thoughts for the five remaining breasts.

have an immersion circulator?

JoNorvelleWalker · November 5, 2018

4 minutes ago, weedy said:

have an immersion circulator?

Why, yes...now that you mention it.

gfweb · November 5, 2018

I love MR duck breast done SV with a savory lingonberry sauce (chicken demiglace, touch of garlic, few drops of soy, pepper, )

liuzhou · November 5, 2018

I'm thinking of doing a Thai-style duck curry tonight or tomorrow. I'll be using breast meat (after removing and rendering the fat, saving it separately). I've done it before and enjoyed it.

I usually do curries with a mix of breast and leg, but breast is what I have today.

Edited November 5, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

JoNorvelleWalker · November 30, 2022

I am perplexed by the duck from last night's dinner:

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/163549-dinner-2022/?do=findComment&comment=2367736

Duck legs are supposed to have some fat on them, are they not? This bird had none. I had hoped to make Mark Bittman's recipe for Crisp Braised Duck Legs with Aromatic Vegetables, a dish I have enjoyed a few times in the past. The cardinal step is to render the duck fat. But this duck had no fat to render.

I googled the brand name, Mary's Duck. Free range duck from California. I figure the poor bird must have walked 4597 km to get to me.

Speaking seriously, is this a different style of duck I've never heard of? Great flavor, but it wouldn't work in any duck recipe I've ever read. Probably still some duck bits in my teeth. Too tough to be enjoyable. Is this natural or should I complain to amazon?

Anna N · November 30, 2022

12 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Speaking seriously, is this a different style of duck I've never heard of?

According to the website, it’s a Pekin duck. That’s the same as I can buy but there it is like so expensive I would never eat duck again! But something doesn’t ring very true. This, idealistic little farm supplying Amazon? Maybe I have grown too cynical in my old age.

KennethT · November 30, 2022

12 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I am perplexed by the duck from last night's dinner:

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/163549-dinner-2022/?do=findComment&comment=2367736

Duck legs are supposed to have some fat on them, are they not? This bird had none. I had hoped to make Mark Bittman's recipe for Crisp Braised Duck Legs with Aromatic Vegetables, a dish I have enjoyed a few times in the past. The cardinal step is to render the duck fat. But this duck had no fat to render.

I googled the brand name, Mary's Duck. Free range duck from California. I figure the poor bird must have walked 4597 km to get to me.

Speaking seriously, is this a different style of duck I've never heard of? Great flavor, but it wouldn't work in any duck recipe I've ever read. Probably still some duck bits in my teeth. Too tough to be enjoyable. Is this natural or should I complain to amazon?

I don't know if this helps, but the ducks used in Beijing for Beijing duck (previously Peking Duck) are usually really lean and make for an amazing Beijing duck with super crispy skin, meat that's not overcooked and no fat anywhere.... I always think that duck legs with tons of fat are a bit of a waste - I mean, how much duck fat does a person need to keep on hand once rendered? Unless making confit, and how makes a pot of confit anymore and doesn't use SV which requires little to no fat?

Anyway, if you have any more of those duck legs, I'd be happy to take them off your hands!!!

liuzhou · November 30, 2022

19 minutes ago, KennethT said:

the ducks used in Beijing for Beijing duck (previously Peking Duck) are usually really lean

Indeed, and they are Pekin ducks.

Tropicalsenior · November 30, 2022

26 minutes ago, KennethT said:

I always think that duck legs with tons of fat are a bit of a waste

When I was a kid I used to raise Muscovy ducks that that did little or no swimming. All they had to do to toughen up muscles was to carry their fat bodies around. Maybe that's a type of duck that you need to look for if you want fat.

Margaret Pilgrim · November 30, 2022

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

According to the website, it’s a Pekin duck. That’s the same as I can buy but there it is like so expensive I would never eat duck again! But something doesn’t ring very true. This, idealistic little farm supplying Amazon? Maybe I have grown too cynical in my old age.

Mary's is indeed a huge operation. Here is a prettified description. Scroll to and watch the video.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

heidih · November 30, 2022

19 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Mary's is indeed a huge operation. Here is a prettified description. Scroll to and watch the video.

Yup ya don't last for almost 70 years in today's world w/o business savvy. Don't know how "free" their "range" is but those webbed feet can travel quickly and burn calories. They see a "hawk overhead and it is a "chicken little- the sky is falling scenario. Also their diet seems on the leaner upscale side

Edited November 30, 2022 by heidih (log)

Anna N · November 30, 2022

I have always cooked Pekin ducks and have never had any issues with the amount of fat. There is always plenty. @KennethT‘s comment surprises me. But then we are not capable of quantifying, (on the spur of the moment, I mean) so we don’t know just what each of us means. I have made a dish very similar to the one @JoNorvelleWalkerdiscusses, and it has always turned out great.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Anna N
To fix a typo and clarify (log)

Sign In

Duck: The Topic

Recommended Posts

Similar Content

Recently Browsing 0 members