justpigs

September 22, 2010

Homemade Duck Sausage and Polenta

A great many things have been cooked in my kitchen over the past few days. I bought three ducks last week and spent about three days getting them broken down, prepped, and cooked in various ways. I rendered fat, made stock, made duck proscuitto, confited the gizzards and four legs, and--a first for me--made duck sausage (I also made merguez and short rib ravioli last week! phew!).

I have wanted to try making duck sausage for a long time. I looked through my cookbooks for a recipe, hoping that Paul Bertolli or Judy Rodgers would have something fabulous I could steal. I was out of luck. What I ended up finding were a couple of recipes in Home Sausage Making that were not particularly inspiring. Consequently, I made something up. We were delighted with the results (if I do say so...).

Here's the rough recipe (I wasn't particularly exact during the process, so some measurements are approximations):

Homemade Duck Sausage with Orange and Shallot

4 lbs. duck meat and skin (approx. 1 1/2 large ducks, boned with skin on the breast and legs/thighs), cut into roughly 1" pieces

4 tsp kosher salt (1 tsp per lb)

1-1/2 to 2 tsp pepper

pinch of ground clove

1 TBS fresh thyme, stemmed and coarsely chopped

grated zest of one large navel orange

3 TBS shallot, minced

1-2 tsp minced fresh ginger

1/4 cup pinot noir, chilled

sheep casing (I'm not sure how much I actually used--8ft+?)

Season the duck meat and skin with the salt, pepper, clove, and thyme. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Add the minced shallot, ginger, and orange zest to the seasoned meat. Mix to distribute the seasonings.

Using chilled implements, grind the chilled, seasoned meat through a small dye (Kitchen Aid small dye--I can't find the exact measurement at this moment of course!) and into a bowl set in ice water. (It's helpful to grind into the Kitchen Aid mixing bowl, if you are using a Kitchen Aid grinder. Then you can use it for the mixing step as well.)

Add the chilled wine and mix in a stand mixer on a low setting for 1-2 minutes, or until the wine is distributed and the meat mixture just becomes sticky.

Make a test patty and taste for seasoning and adjust if needed.

Stuff meat into casings and twist off at desired length, or form into patties.

Gently sauté or grill to an internal temperature of 165F.

NOTE: Duck fat melts pretty quickly so keep everything as cold as possible while you are working.

These sausages are great grilled. We also made a couple of patties and ate them like burgers in pita bread. Tonight I served them over polenta with a simple sauce made of 1/2 a minced onion, 1 small minced carrot, 1 minced roma tomato, 1 cup of duck stock, roughly half a cup of red wine, fresh thyme, salt, and pepper (cooked down). I think they would be fabulous with french green lentils OR for breakfast with fried potatoes, fried tomatoes, and runny eggs. Hm. I might just have to do that tomorrow!

Filed under // duck sausage

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March 15, 2010

Duck Breasts in Red Wine with Kumquats

Even though I haven't posted anything this week doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. I've been experimenting a little more with duck (and rabbit and lamb and stuffed vegetables and cakes!). Yara placed an order with Sonoma County Poultry and I went in for one whole duck and one additional whole breast. I have had two weekends in a row of houseguests, so I wasn't up for doing a confit of the legs. Instead I made a half recipe of Canard aux Pruneaux, which was particularly delicious. (I much prefer the French name for this recipe--I could say it 100 times in a row I think. In English it is the rather dreary sounding Duck with Prunes.) I had intended to make more duck prosciutto with the breasts, but in the end I decided to cook them.

I went recipe hunting and found Duck Breast with Thyme Infused Honey. I bastardized it as follows:

Duck Breasts in Red Wine with Kumquats

--inspired by Duck Breast with Thyme Infused Honey from The Splendid Table

Four generous servings

2 whole (boneless) duck breasts, skin on and cut in half (4 half breasts)

Salt

Pepper

1 TBS duck fat (optional)

1/4 cup honey

4 small sprigs thyme

1/2 cup red wine

1/2 bay leaf

1 whole clove

1/4 cup duck stock (sub. chicken stock)

4 or 5 kumquats, sliced thin

Season the duck breasts with salt and pepper and refrigerate, covered, for as little as 1 hour to as long as 1 day in advance. Remove seasoned breasts from the refrigerator 20 minutes before cooking.

Add duck fat to the pan set over medium high heat. Let the fat get quite hot (in the absence of duck fat, just heat the pan). Place duck in the hot fat (or in the hot pan) skin side down and cook for 10 minutes or so (be warned that a lot of fat will render). Turn breasts over and cook another 7 minutes or so. You will still want the duck to be spring-y to the touch. (If you like very rare duck, reduce the time to 6 minutes on the first side and about 4 or 5 on the the second.) Remove the duck from the pan and let rest on a plate.

Meanwhile bring honey and thyme to a boil in a small saucepan. As soon as it boils turn off the heat and set aside to let the flavors of the thyme infuse into the honey.

Pour off the fat from the duck pan and discard the fat. Add the wine to the pan and deglaze scraping up all of the brown bits. Add the honey, 1/2 bay leaf, clove, duck stock and kumquats and cook down, stirring constantly, until the sauce becomes a bit syrup-y. Add the pan juices to the sauce.

Plate the duck and spoon the sauce over the meat.

You could serve this over many things including barley, farro, polenta, or wild rice. A very simple delicate salad, perhaps a bit on the bitter side, would also be a tasty accompaniment.

Filed under // duck

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March 2, 2010

Making Cassoulet on a Weekday

Crazy you say? I had my duck leg confit and fresh garlic sausages all ready to go, how could I NOT do it?!?!

I have a little crush on duck at the moment. It smells nice. And the fat on that bird. Intoxicating. Glorious. I feel like I haven't even begun to explore all of the wonderful ways to prepare duck. But how can I make anything without first making Cassoulet?

I quick soaked the beans this morning before taking Anya out to play. I returned to them in the afternoon and cooked them in duck stock and aromatics. How much warmer this rainy day became after I could smell the stock simmering away! I pulled the meat from the bones of the duck legs and added the bones to the simmering beans. I used a bit of the duck fat to brown the sausages and then to sauté some garlic-y bread crumbs. Fresh bread crumbs in duck fat. oh yes. I combined the meat and beans (removing the bones), topped the beans and meat with the toasted bread, and baked the whole thing for an hour.

I can't speak for the authenticity of this dish. I've never had cassoulet in France. But I have had it here. Recently, in fact, at a good restaurant. Their cassoulet does not hold a candle to this. The beans in the recipe hold their shape and do not become starchy mush. It is a little bit brothy and rich, but without making you feel bloat-y (or like you're going to have a heart-attack) after eating it. One smallish portion is satisfying, which means there will be leftovers tomorrow. Lucky me!

While the recipe requires a greater time investment than the average dinner, it is well worth it. And, to be honest it is an "easy" cassoulet recipe, so it takes much less time than others you will find.

Added bonus: Kids devoured it!

Cassoulet

--adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

Will feed 6 or more as a main course

2-1/2 cups dried white beans

7 cups cold water

3 cups duck stock

2 cups chopped onion (about 1 large onion)

2 TBS finely chopped garlic

Two 1-1/2 inch slices from the green part of a leek

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

3 whole cloves

3 fresh sprigs of flat leaf parsley

a half dozen black peppercorns

1 - 14 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, drained and chopped

4 legs of duck confit, at room temperature

1 lb fresh garlic sausages

Bread Crumb Topping

1 TBS chopped garlic

2 cups fresh, coarse breadcrumbs, from a baguette

1/3 cups fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Salt & Pepper to taste

Soak beans overnight or use quick soak method (cover beans with two inches of water, bring to a boil, turn off heat, put a cover over the beans and let them sit for 1 hour or more).

Drain the beans and put them back into a large cooking pot or dutch oven. Add duck stock, water, onions, garlic and bring to a boil. Make a bouquet garni of the leek, thyme, bay leaf, cloves, parsley and peppercorns tied in a piece of cheesecloth. Turn the beans down to a simmer and add the bouquet garni to the pot. Continue cooking at a simmer (uncovered) until the beans are nearly tender: 45 minutes to an hour.

Add the tomatoes and simmer 15 minutes more.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Meanwhile, remove the duck legs from the fat they were cooked in, scrapping away excess fat. Spoon the fat into a saucepan and melt over low heat. Pull the meat off the bones and add the bones to the simmering beans. Deposit the meat in a medium bowl. When the fat has melted, ladle about 1/4 cup of it into a heavy frying pan and turn the heat to medium high. When the pan is hot at the sausages and brown them for 15 - 20 minutes. Remove the sausages from the pan and add them to the bowl containing the duck meat.

Turn the pan down to medium and add the garlic for the bread crumb topping. Sauté for a moment and let the aroma release, add the bread crumbs and toast them in the pan, turning them over frequently so the small pieces don't burn. Remove the pan from the heat and add the parsley, salt, and pepper.

Remove the bones and the bouquet garni from the pot. Using a ladle or slotted spoon (do not drain! you will need the liquid!), transfer the beans to a deep ceramic (oven-safe) casserole or dutch oven, distribute the meats amidst the beans. Add the stock from the beans until it is just even with the top of the meat and bean mixture. Do not submerge the beans and meat. Sprinkle the bread crumbs evenly over the top. Bake, uncovered, for one hour.

NOTE: To make a day ahead, be sure to cook the sausages fully to 150F before adding them to the cassoulet. Combine the beans and meat and let the mixture cool to room temperature. Spread the bread crumb topping over the cooled casserole, cover and refrigerate. Remove from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before cooking, then bake as directed at 350F for one hour.

Be sure to strain the melted duck fat back into jars when finished. You can use the fat at least a couple of times in confits (or for whatever you may need it for) before it goes bad.

Filed under // beans duck pork sausage

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February 19, 2010

Duck Prosciutto with White Beans

Wondering what to do with the duck prosciutto and duck stock you just made (or plan on making)?

I love the combination of duck and white beans, so last night I threw a few things together and was pretty happy with the results.

This recipe was the result of total experimentation. I had a little help from my new copy of The Flavor Bible on a couple of ideas. Of course, we all have a concept--based on our eating habits and culinary experience--about foods (and herbs and spices) that compliment one another, but The Flavor Bible is an detailed exploration and marvelous book-length compendium of flavor harmonies. In a practical sense, it gives you a great deal of freedom to use what you have on hand and many, many options when you're staring into your pantry desperately trying to create something out of "nothing."

I knew I wanted to use my duck stock, duck prosciutto, and white beans. So I looked up duck in The Flavor Bible and found, under "Flavor Affinities," "duck+cloves+garlic+orange+prunes+red wine." I didn't have any prunes and I wanted to use kumquats instead of oranges, but I used this suggestion to get started. Here's what I ended up with:

Duck Proscuitto with White Beans

2 cups dried white beans, soaked*

5 cups duck stock

1 bay leaf

3 whole cloves

4 whole peppercorns, crushed with the back of your kitchen knife

1 TBS olive oil or duck fat

3 kumquats, minced (about 1 heaping TBS)

2 shallots, minced (about 2 TBS)

1 TBS port

salt to taste

3-5 thin slices duck prosciutto per serving

Using pre-soaked white beans (either traditional overnight soak, or quick soak: cover beans with 2 inches of water, bring to a boil over high heat, cover and turn off heat and let the beans sit for one hour, drain them and they are ready to use), cover with duck stock. Add bay leaf, clove, crushed black peppercorns. Bring all to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes, adding water occasionally if needed. At around 40 minutes of cooking time you will begin to notice that some of the beans begin to break down. I love this creamy consistency. If you don't, taste for doneness and as soon as the beans are cooked just right for you, take them off the heat. If you're like me keep the beans on the heat for 5 or 10 minutes more, stirring periodically to keep the beans from burning on the bottom.

Meanwhile, just before the beans are done, put the olive oil in a small skillet over medium high heat. When the oil is hot add the shallots and kumquats and sauté for 3 minutes or so. Add the port and stir the mixture for a minute more or until the port is absorbed and the alcohol has evaporated. Add the shallot, kumquat mixture to the beans. Salt to taste (in my opinion, white beans require a little extra salt.) Remove the bay leaf from the beans and serve them topped with thin slices of duck prosciutto.

The beans are very subtly flavored and are really quite different from white beans made with water or pork stock. Not to mention the unbeatably lovely aroma of duck stock filing the kitchen. The kids devoured the meal; though, they had one slight misconception--that the duck was bacon--I did not bother to correct. I made a simple salad of butter leaf lettuce, olive oil, and light sprinkling of fleur de sel--topped with some very delicious, fresh, tiny mandarins the girls picked out at the market--as an accompaniment.

Filed under // beans duck

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February 14, 2010

Day of the Duck, Part 2

Duck prosciutto is such a wonderful thing. If you want to save yourself a little work, just buy skin-on duck breasts and proceed with the salting and dry cure. In Day of the Duck, Part 1, I discussed the salting of the breast. To do this surround the breasts in salt and refrigerate, covered, for 24 hours. At the end of this period, remove the breasts from the salt. They will be a deep, rich reddish-brown and firmer than when you put them in the salt.

Rinse and dry the duck breasts. Sprinkle them with ground white pepper. With a paring knife cut an "x" about 1" from the top edge of the breasts and thread a 8-10" piece of kitchen twine through the hole.

Wrap in cheesecloth and hang in the fridge for one week. At the end of this period the duck will be firm, but should give just a little in the center. If you don't feel it is firm enough, leave it for a couple more days. Finally, slice it thin and eat it as an appetizer, with a lightly dressed salad, or just slice off a couple of pieces as the world's best snack.

Now for the duck legs. After they have cured in the refrigerator in the salt, crushed clove, crushed black peppercorns, garlic and bay leaf for two days, remove them and rinse them under cold water. Dry the legs with paper towels. Warm the beautiful white duck fat you made so that it is in a liquid state. Using a glass or oven-safe ceramic dish (Pyrex makes a great 7-cup oven safe glass bowl with a plastic lid which is perfect) in which the legs just fit, cover the meat with the fat. Make sure that the meat is completely covered by the fat. Put the dish into the oven at 170-200F for 6-10 hours. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature (again, be sure that the meat is entirely submerged in the fat). Store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to a month.

When you are ready to indulge in these scrumptious, tender delicacies remove from the refrigerator and allow the fat soften at room temperature. Scrape the fat off (you can save the fat and reuse it--just melt it, strain it and refrigerate it in glass jars) of the legs and sauté in a hot skillet so the outside is crisp and the inside just warmed through. Alternatively, you could put them on a baking sheet in a 425F oven and roast for 15 minutes or so, until the meat is just warmed.

There are so many things to make with duck confit. It is, of course, essential to cassoulet. You can simply place the warmed crisp meat on a salad. I have also made cheater duck sugo with it by taking it off the bone and breaking it up into mirepoix cooked in a tiny bit of duck fat, adding couple of chopped tomatoes and some duck stock, bay leaf, a couple of cloves, salt and pepper. The sugo is super on pasta or over warm, soft polenta.

NOTE: If you are interested in learning basic meat preservation techniques like these, I highly recommend Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. The Zuni Café Cookbook by Judy Rodgers also has a good explanations of some of these techniques.

Filed under // duck

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February 9, 2010

Day of the Duck, Part 1

Duck was something I never ate when I was growing up. It was only as an adult, and then only at restaurants, that I ever had it. On those rare occasions when I did sample it, I always found it quite good. Cooking duck, however, definitely felt beyond me. Way Beyond. But, a little less than a year ago--after I began a charcuterie course and learned some meat preservation basics--I decided to take the plunge. I ordered my first ducks and prepared them at home. We loved them. Rob was completely hooked on duck prosciutto and has been pestering me for more ever since.

Finally, last week, I ordered two more ducks from Sonoma County Poultry. They arrived packed in a case with 4 other ducks I had ordered for friends. Long-necked, big, and beautiful, they were perfect for what I had planned: duck prosciutto, duck leg confit, and stock.

I began by cutting them up into 6 pieces (I didn't separate the leg from the thigh), just as you would a chicken.

I skinned everything but the breasts and put the skin in a heavy-bottomed pot to render the fat. It is very easy to make purified duck fat. Just heat the skin over med-low heat for a couple of hours. Pay special attention to it for the first 45 minutes or so, stirring it now and again, taking care that it doesn't stick to the pan or burn. After that, keep the heat low and let it go for a couple of hours.

I boned the breasts (leaving the skin on). I placed all of the bones--spine, breast bones--along with the wings and giblets in a roasting pan and roasted them at 475F for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, I seasoned the legs for confit and got them in the fridge, where they will remain for the next two days.

For the duck breast prosciutto, I spread a thick layer of kosher salt on the bottom of a glass baking pan, nestled two pieces, skin side up, into the salt without allowing them to touch one another, and then poured more salt in the pan in order to completely cover them (and repeated the process for the other two breasts). They will stay snugged up in their salty bed until tomorrow.

Finally, I dumped the roasted bones, wings, and giblets into my big stockpot with some carrots, black peppercorns, salt, a quartered onion, and a couple of sprigs of fresh parsley. I covered the whole lot with water. I brought it to a boil, skimmed the foam, and will keep it simmering until bedtime.

My neighborhood friend Jessica--who has never prepared duck before, but has a little crush on duck prosciutto--came over to learn how to do all of this. She jumped right in and cut the duck up like a pro.