Smoked Duck Breast

Bottom of the Barrel



Several months back I ordered some duck legs to make confit from Hudson Valley Foie Gras and they tossed in a whole breast, gratis. Woo hoo! But I was focused on the confit so I tossed them in the freezer and promptly forgot about them. Then the economic downturn hit some of my clients (and me), food prices continued to rise, and tax time hit. I've been scraping the bottom of my larder and what should I find? Duck breast.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love what I do for a (cough) living? I never have any money and I work all the time. But I wrote off the duck legs as an expense because they were part of two articles and when duck breasts are scraping the bottom of your larder you must be doing something right. So what to do with them?

When duck breasts are scraping the bottom of your larder you must be doing something right.

I happened to be working on a review of the Cameron Stove Top Smoker and smoking them seemed like a great idea. I'd previously smoked a duck breast, but in that case I was working from a recipe for preserving them. They were really good, but too potent for a main course, much more suited to an antipasto or flavoring in some other dish. This time I planned to eat them straight up.

As I had the previous time, I made a brine but kept it simple and didn't include the sodium nitrate. After 24 hours in the brine I smoked the breast halves to 160F using oak sawdust. Served with a steamed artichoke it was delightful.

Smoked Duck Breast
Serves 4.

2 whole duck breasts (12 - 16 oz each)
Brine:
2 c apple cider + 1 c water
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic — smashed
6 pepper corns
8 juniper berries — crushed
1/4 c kosher salt

Place all brine ingredients except salt in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in salt until dissolved. Cool brine to room temp. Place breasts in a ziplock bag, add brine, and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Prepare smoker and place over heat. Score the skin of the duck breasts, cutting almost all the way through to the flesh, in a crosshatch pattern.

Insert a digital probe thermometer in one of the breasts and cook to 160F. Set on a platter, cover with foil, and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | duck | smoked duck | main dish

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Paisano: Duck Rillettes

For years I thought the Paisano was essentially a bum. A charming, well-groomed, erudite bum who could cook like a top chef, but a bum nevertheless. He spent most of his life wandering from place to place, he certainly didn't work for a living, and he seemed to survive largely on the generosity of others (including me). So it was a tremendous surprise when, shortly after moving to California, he invited me to spend Thanksgiving with him in Tahoe. Frankly, knowing he sometimes house-sat for friends, I assumed that was the case here. I had no other plans for T'day and hadn't been to Tahoe before, so I readily agreed.

I drove up on Thanksgiving, a glorious sunny day, forsaking the Interstate and instead taking a blue highway that wound slowly into the mountains. There'd been a couple of snows already, but the roads were clear and it was a delightful drive. I'd bought one of Charles Kuralt's books on tape and his warm baritone, telling of his travels across the country, was the perfect company. After a couple of wrong turns I finally found the place: a medium-sized, 1 1/2-story log cabin some distance out of town on the lake.

The rillettes were a revelation, how could something so simple taste so good?

The cabin had huge great room/dining area/kitchen dominated by a stone fireplace in which a fire was crackling noisily. The mantle featured a huge copper tray that I recognized as Arabic. Beside the chimney were five or six of shelves featuring a huge collection of ceramic and terracotta platters and bowls. The other walls sported a few impressionistic watercolors, which I subsequently learned were originals, not prints. A stairway led up to a loft and the second of two bedrooms.

As you might expect, the kitchen drew my attention. It sported a commercial (genuinely commercial) range, a large work island, a fridge, and a huge soapstone sink. The cabinets were stained green (as was all the trim in the house) and a similarly green door led into what I found was a walk-in pantry — thus sealing my complete envy. It almost goes without saying that the house smelled wonderful.

Paisano was making duck confit, or I should say, he'd just finished making duck confit. There were half a dozen legs cooling on a pan. Also on the counter was a pork loin — our Thanksgiving dinner. We sat and had a couple of glasses of wine and caught up, and that's when I learned the cabin belonged to him.

He told me it stood vacant much of the year, except for a housekeeper who kept an eye on it and dusted and vacuumed as needed. As we chatted I learned he kept the cabin because he needed a place to keep the few things he valued — the paintings (it turned he'd done several of them), his collection of platters and bowls, and a few other things. And also, despite his wanderlust, he found that he needed a home base where he could paint, and cook, and catch his breath. I also learned that my invitation to the cabin was an exceptional honor. It was his private space and he seldom shared it with others.

We started making dinner at about 4:00, the pork loin was browned in a cocotte (as Paisano calls it, a Dutch oven in my terms) and then he added milk and garlic. I steamed some beans to be sautéed with garlic, pancetta, and anchovies. Then I prepped Potatoes Anna while Paisano made Tiramisu for dessert. The last step was duck rillettes for an appetizer. I knew about rillettes but had never made or eaten them.

Rillettes are some kind of meat (rabbit, pork, goose, or in this case, duck) slowly cooked in fat and then pounded into a paste. Rillettes are an old method of preserving meat, very much a peasant dish in origin. It's served spread on bread or crackers.

Duck Rillettes
Serves 6 as an hors d'oeuvres.
Recipe adapted from Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn.

8 oz duck confit at room temperature, about 2 legs
2 tbsp duck fat
1/4 c duck gelatin (from duck confit, a friend calls it "duck goo", it's the liquid that settles to the bottom when making confit)
plenty of ground black pepper
some salt, maybe

Place all ingredients in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle blade. Process at high speed until meat is completely shredded, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve on slices of baguette.

The entire meal was delicious, but the rillettes were a revelation. How could something so simple taste so good? Even when you factor in making the confit it's simple and easy. The champagne Paisano opened was perfect for cutting through the fat.

Note: Paisano is a fictious character and events presented may or may not be true.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | paisano | duck | duck rillettes | French | charcuterie

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Duck Confit

Confit to be Tried



Sometimes it takes me forever to get around to things — years even. It's because there are so many things I want to do, so many things I have to do, and because sometimes when I have time to do some of the things I want to do there are things I need to do instead that I also haven’t gotten around to. Nevertheless, "God willin' and the crick don’t rise," I do eventually get around to most things.

The particular thing I've finally gotten around to in this case is making duck confit.

Duck confit has long been on my list, I initially planned on making it a few weeks after I made pork confit, somehow I didn't get around to it. Oh sure, I got busy, but the real sticking point was the duck fat. The idea of buying rendered fat from a company such as Hudson Valley Foie Gras (HVFG) offended me. I can get both pork and beef fat free at the grocery. If I need duck fat I should just cook enough ducks to have the fat I need. Paying for fat just seems wrong.

However, I never managed to cook enough ducks in a short enough period of time to accumulate enough fat to immerse even one leg in. The problem is duck fat is so good that it simply doesn't last long in my freezer. (Try making a grilled cheese sandwich using duck fat instead of butter or adding a dollop to grits or polenta.) So when NPR's Kitchen Window accepted my proposal for an article about beans I broke down and placed an order for 2 pounds of duck fat (1.75, actually) and six legs.

Beans persuaded me to make duck confit?Yes. Specifically cassoulet, that marvelous, multi-step bean dish from France. This is to be the primary recipe of the article and although you can skip the goose or duck confit it's just not the same. So I looked up HVFG on the Web and placed an order. Two days later I received a large box containing six vacuum-packed fresh legs, a quart of duck fat, and 2 duck breasts. I didn't order the breasts but I learned that HVFG often tosses a freebie into an order — you've gotta love a company that gives away duck breasts. I'll be smoking those babies.

With duck on the way, I needed a recipe. I began with the recipe from Charcuterie then moved on to the 'Net. I also queried Derrick Schneider at An Obsession with Food who had written a blog post on duck confit that had stuck in my mind. Derrick was a tremendous help and sent me three e-mails with suggestions and advice. I owe Derrick something tasty.

So I combined everything I'd learned and did the following:

Duck Confit

3 duck legs (with thighs)
1 qt duck fat (minimum)
Seasoning:
20 g kosher salt
1/8 tsp cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp Herbes de Provence
3 small bay leaves
2 cloves garlic — sliced

I trimmed all visible fat from the legs and trimmed the skin so it just barely covered the breast (harvesting more fat). The fat went into a small pot with a cup of water over low heat where I rendered the fat until the solid parts were mahogany brown. This garnered about another cup of fat. I drained the solid chunks on a paper towel, sprinkled them with sea salt, and enjoyed a snack.

Meanwhile, I mixed together the salt, pepper, and Herbes de Provence in a pinch bowl. I rubbed this mixture into the legs, then placed them cut-side up in a deep baking dish, rubbed in the garlic on the cut side, and pressed a small bay leaf into the meat. I covered the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerated it for about 36 hours.

At the end of that time I rinsed the seasoning mixture off the legs, dried them, and arranged them in a dutch oven. Then I added the duck fat I'd purchased along with the fat I'd rendered after trimming. As you can see in this photo, a quart plus 1 cup of fat barely covers three legs.

At this point there are three options: cook the confit on the stove-top, cook it in the oven, or do both. I elected to do both.

I brought the fat to a simmer (190F) on the stove-top then placed the pot in a 225F oven. I pulled out one leg at the two-hour mark, the next at three hours and the third at four hours.

Notes:
Ruhlman recommended starting on the stove and then continuing in a 180F oven for as long as 10 hours. Derrick recommended cooking on the stove top (again at 180 - 190F) for around 2 hours, and Madeleine Kamman suggests a 275F oven for 2 - 2 1/2 hours. The real key here is that you're not frying the duck, you're poaching it in fat. It's a gentle process.

I have a bias toward oven cooking — I like the indirect heat coming from all sides for this type of dish. But I didn't want to wait 10 hours. Nevertheless, Kamman's 275F oven seemed harsh, so I chose 225F.

As for the seasoning mix, the recipes were all over the map. I decided on the Herbes de Provence because I like the mixture and thought it would be perfect for the cassoulet. I did mean to add some allspice but forgot. Spices we associate with sweet (as opposed to savory) flavors figure prominantly in a lot of the recipes I found. I've quit making such presumptions about the fitness of one flavor for one kind of dish and the fitness of another flavor for another kind of dish. But I understand my culinary roots and so where I need to begin learning. I plan to try "sweet" spices on the next three legs.

Many of the recipes I perused recommended 3 - 4 cups of fat for as many as six legs. Wrong. As you can see in the photo 5 cups of fat just barely covered three (moulard) legs. I found the same apparent disconnect when I made pork confit — not nearly enough fat called for. Perhaps it's simply that my pots are the wrong size and so require more fat. Or perhaps it's because the writers are afraid to mention how much fat you really need. But whatever the case, it's better to have too much fat than too little. And trust me, you'll find a use for it.

Results:
Each leg was good, but the 4-hour leg clearly shone for tenderness and savor. Next time I'm planning on four hours in the oven at 225F. The seasoning mix was surprisingly mild despite the 36-hour cure. Part of the explanation is that the skin side absorbs relatively little flavoring, but I still plan to increase the herbs used and choose just a few. (note that I expect the spices such as allspice and nutmeg to have more impact). Nevertheless, even the salt had less impact than I expected.

There's still a lot of fat (even after 4 hours) under the skin over the thigh. Depending on your plans for the confit this may or not be good. In the cassoulet I suspect I want that fat to render during cooking, but for rillets perhaps I don't. I'm going to score the skin on one leg next time.

The duck fat can be filtered through cheese cloth and reused. Because I have another three legs to work on, I decided that instead of literally storing the legs in fat that I would filter it, let it cool, then dip each leg in the fat before wrapping in plastic and storing in the freezer. I ended up with six cups of duck fat (meaning another cup rendered out while making the confit), clearly you need to have duck fat to make duck fat.

And in case it's not clear, confit is more than worth the trouble. The poorest leg I made was like a bite of heaven.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | charcuterie | preservation| duck

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Smoked Duck with Cranberry Coulis

A Small Affair



This past Thanksgiving day dawned gray and chilly. There's still a bit of color on the trees, but most of the leaves have fallen. To some degree this harks back to childhood Thanksgivings when it was often cold and rainy, although it was usually colder than this and almost all of the trees would be bare except the oaks, which keep their brown leaves throughout the winter.

I spent most of the day on the phone working the Chefsline hotline. It was a busy day, as you might expect, but not as interesting as last year, no really weird questions or tough problems. The most common question this year was about cooking two turkey breasts at once. It's a good question but the answer is simple — treat as separate birds (not one big bird) but allow some extra time for cooking. And between calls I managed to do my prep for dinner.

Thanksgiving was a small affair this year

Thanksgiving was a small affair this year, my sister wasn't able to join us and as usual my brothers' families and their distance from here prevented them from coming. So it was just my parents and myself. I made some Cece Fritos to munch on before dinner, and brined a couple of duck breasts in a cider brine. I smoked the breasts and made a cranberry/orange coulis to go on them.

My mother and I both had an urge for dressing, so she made some and I made a smoked-turkey gravy thinking the smoky flavor in the gravy would complement the smoky flavor of the duck — it did. We also had braised red cabbage, sautéed green beans, and store-bought plum pudding with assorted cheeses for dessert.

Smoked Duck Breasts w/Cranberry Coulis
Serves 4.

Duck Breasts & Brine:
3 1/2-lb duck breasts
2 c apple cider
1/4 c kosher salt
2 tbsp sugar
4 cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Place all ingredients except breasts in a small sauce pan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt. Cool to room temperature, place in the refrigerator and chill. Score the skin of the breasts in a cross-hatch pattern, being careful not to cut through to the skin. Put breasts in a zip-lock bag and add brine. Seal and refrigerate for 8 hours.

Lightly season the skin side of breasts with salt and pepper. Smoke breasts in a stove-top smoker for 30 - 35 minutes. Pour the rendered fat into a skillet, place over medium-high heat, and briefly cook the breasts, skin-side down, to crisp the skin. Slice, plate, and spoon warm cranberry coulis over the slices.

Cranberry Coulis

6 oz cranberries — picked over
1 lg orange — zested and juiced
1/4 c sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 c orange liqueur (Triple Sec, Cointreau, Grand Marnier)

You should have about a cup of fresh orange juice, if not, add water (or more orange juice to bring to 1 cup). Put all ingredients in a small sauce pan including orange zest but excluding liqueur and simmer until berries burst — 15 - 18 minutes. Add liqueur and process in a blender or food processor until pureed. (Note, this is a case where I love my immersion blender because it minimizes cleanup.) Warm before serving.

This coulis is also excellent on roasted pork, lamb, turkey, and chicken.

A simple meal but good and festive, and we were happy to share it with each other. After all, that's what Thanksgiving's about.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | smoked duck | cranberry coulis | thanksgiving | holiday

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