Duck challenge

[bouche]

I want to make this. I need a couple of days to pull it off. Has anyone here pulled this off, or even tasted this?

Nanjing Saltwater Duck

A duck dish to die for

Ingredients:(any decent Asian grocery should have all of these)

1 large duck, at least 1.5 to 2 kg

Dry rub for duck:

100 g Sichuan peppercorns

100 g sea salt

Master Stock spice mix:

100 g old ginger, sliced

6 stalks spring onions, cut into 4 cm lengths

100 g rock sugar

100 g sea salt

5 star anise pods

5 cinnamon quills

3 tsp fennel

3 tsp cumin

3 tsp Sichuan peppercorns

1 whole dried Chinese citrus peel

50 g licorice root slices

5 liters water

Method:

1. Prepare the dry rub by toasting the Sichuan peppercorn and salt

mixture over a gentle fire. When the mixture releases its fragrance,

remove, cool and pound the mixture until the peppercorns are well

incorporated with the salt.

2. Rub the mixture vigorously over the duck skin and pay equal

attention to the body cavity. Make sure a generous layer of the

salt/peppercorn mix covers the whole bird. Place the duck in a

zip-lock bag and let it stand in the fridge for at least 48 hours,

longer if possible.

3. While duck is marinating, prepare the white master stock.

4. Place all the dry spices in a muslin bag (or soup bag), tie tightly

and add to a full pot of water (about 5 liters). Bring to a boil, add

the salt, rock sugar, spring onion sections and the old ginger slices.

Allow the master stock to return to a boil. Skim the surface to remove

any scum.

5. After 5 minutes, reduce to a simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Remove

the ginger and spring onions. Keeping them in the stock will make it

bitter.But leave muslin bag in forever!

6. On the day you want to cook the duck, rinse off the bird in COLD

water and let it sit covered in iced water for an hour. This will

remove the surface saltiness.

7. Bring a pot of water to the boil and plunge the duck in.

Immediately remove and refresh in ice-cold water. This step tightens

the skin, and removes any "flabbiness".

8. Heat up the white master stock and when this is boiling, ease the

duck into the pot. Bring the stock back to boiling point, then

IMMEDIATELY remove the whole pot from the stove. Set it down to cool,

with the duck still in the pot.

9. After half an hour, drain the duck and allow to cool completely.

10. When the master stock has also cooled to room temperature, replace

the duck and allow it to sit in the stock overnight.

11. To serve, remove the duck, drain well, and cut into serving

pieces.( or you can deepfry @ this point-- to die for)

12. Return the master stock to the stove and bring it up to the boil.

Turn off the heat, cool and store. The master stock gets better and

better with every duck it cooks, so make sure you keep it safe in a

corner of the fridge.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

Newspaper editor: We're looking for a new food critic, someone who doesn't immediately pooh-pooh everything he eats.

Homer: Nah, it usually takes a few hours.

[TheSloth]

I fired one of these puppies off on my coleman at Deer Creek 97 using this exact recipe only substituting human sweat for sea salt and crack cocaine for rock sugar, it was delicious. I think the master stock is still in my cooler. Good luck!

[bouche]

I got a duck for $13 in chinatown today. I'm starting the process with the stock today. The duck needs to thaw before it gets the salt and pepper rub.

[bouche]

the stock was made on sunday and i've just covered the duck in the szechuan rub. only a few more days.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

'A French duck farmer has been given a one-month suspended sentence and fined 500 euros (£428) after feeding cannabis to his birds saying it was an excellent dewormer. The farmer from the village of Gripperie-Saint-Symphorien on France's Atlantic coast admitted that he smoked some of the drug himself but said most of it was given to his 150 ducks for medicinal purposes. "There's no better worming substance for them, a specialist advised me to do it," the farmer, Michel Rouyer, said, without being able to identify the specialist in question. "This is for real, not one (duck) has worms and they're all in excellent health," said Rouyer's lawyer, Jean Piot, in an effort to convince the court. Police arrested Rouyer after discovering 12 cannabis plants and around 11lb of the drug in a bag during a visit to his home following a theft. "It's the first time we've heard something like this," police said' - The Daily Telegraph.

[jaybone]

I actually bought 6 duck legs today.

I'm planning on doing a confit and using them for a cassoulet.

The only tough part now is getting enough duck fat for the confit- all the specialty butchers charge way too much.

[fluffhead77]

I actually bought 6 duck legs today.

I'm planning on doing a confit and using them for a cassoulet.

The only tough part now is getting enough duck fat for the confit- all the specialty butchers charge way too much.

Too bad you don't work for some kind of food supplier of something.

[jaybone]

I bought the fat at St Lawrence Market. $4.00 for a 1/4L. I had to buy 6 tubs. At least duck fat keeps for a long time and can be re-used. I see lots of confit and braised pork belly in my future. I can feel my arteries clogging.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

works well for sexytime, too, jb

[Ms Zimmy]

works well for sexytime, too, jb

Seriously?

[Davey Boy 2.0]

don't make me come up with a rhyming compound word for the act, highlighted with a smilie featuring a pair of bananas!

[jaybone]

I made this Cassoulet recipe last Friday.

It was pretty involved, but sometimes I like a project. The results were really good. I still have tons left over so be prepared to feed a crowd it following this recipe.

It turned out really well. I have some of the confit left over so I think I will make it again this week to bring to my family's Christmas gathering.

[bouche]

that's the great thing about peasant meals..they feed ALOT! not calling you a peasant, but the history of the cassoulet speaks for itself. Using preserves to make a big stew helped people survive winter, and that really ends up helping us premake meals for the winter too.

I've made cassoulet once, with prebought duck, sausage etc. Would love to do it all from scratch. Need to do duck confit soon.

I made rabbit legs last night. DELICIOUS!

[jaybone]

I haven't tried making cooking rabbit yet but I am excited to try.

I have an uncle in NFLD who hunts rabbits and he makes the most amazing rabbit stew- complete with pastry topping...Yumm.

I think the best dish I have had in the past couple months was chef David Lee's rabbit papparadelle from Nota Bene!

How did you prepare the rabbit and how were the results?

[bouche]

i seasoned, seared then braised in broth with standard aromatics. Strained the braising liquid and reduced it for a sauce.

I think they could have braised longer. I probably gave them only about 1 1/2 hours...but I'm sure they'd be much more tender doubling that time.

Tasted great though.