Birds

I buy free range organic ducks. After washing and trimming the duck, I make rows of slits throught the skin and fat, but not into the meat. I pull the skin and fat a little bit away from the meat at each slit, forming a tiny pocket. Into each slit, I place a slice of garlic and a couple of green peppercorns that have been rehydrated in Cognac, then push the pocket closed. When all the slits have been filled (about 30-35 of them), I rub the bird all over with a little evoo, then spinkle on some salt, pepper, dill, sage, and rosemary.

Our grill has an infrared rear burner for the rotisserie. I turn the burner on and place a large Corningware on the grid. There is no heat from below, just the rear infrared heater, so the pan is just there to collect the drippings. I put the duck on the skewer and put the skewer into the rotisserie. In 1 1/2 to 2 hours, I have a perfectly done duck. This is something I have been unable to do in an oven.

green peppercorns rehydrated in cognac....i like that a lot.

aren't ducks magnificent? to be honest, we 've kind scaled down on whole ducks in the past couple of years and don't do them nearly as often as we used to, but duck legs are a staple. once the sun goes on vacation, i always have a bucket of duck legs around to pass out as gifts to friends and neighbors.

your duck sounds very good indeed, but i'm still too impressed by the peppercorns to really talk about the duck itself though.



p.s. slight adjustments to wine selection tonight:
'02 Baudry Chinon, not "Les Granges", just straight Chinon bottling and
'02 Olga Raffault Chinon "La Popliniere"

both highly recommended for Cab Franc lovers.

I do pan-seared magret with green peppercorn sauce, but I've posted the recipe for that previously. How do you prepare the duck legs?

i buy fresh muscovy legs, 12 legs per bag. trim the extra fat off (for schmaltz), salt them with kosher, and pack'em in a roasting pan with duck fat. low temp, around 250, cover with foil and let it go for a couple hours. then remove foil and crank up the temp to 350 for color. once done, i put them in a big plastic container pour duck fat in it and i'm done. i have duck confit at my disposal for 2-3 weeks.

green lentils and a duck leg with a glass of bordeaux is something i really look forward to after day's work. even the kid likes it!

p.s. i have guests coming in an hour, so i'll be off now, but'll post another recipe later that you will probably enjoy - duck legs in green peppercorn sauce.

p.s.2.
brief menu description: pumkin soup, fennel gratin, lamb kebabs and couscous salad, Kahlua tiramisu.

confit is one of my favorite dishes, though I've never made it, but I have a good stock of frozen rendered duck fat.

it is really easy to make and besides, the store bought confit can be too salty sometimes.


i also grill duck legs and serve them with creme fraiche, moutarde and green peppercorns sauce. extremely simple and...addictive too!
quack, quack...

Board-O,
there are changes to my confit recipe. I still buy the same stuff from the same place, but the process is a little more elaborate.

I now rub legs with garlic and pre-salt them for 24 hours. Everything else is pretty much the same.

I thought you might want to know. Salting is tricky, but so far I haven't oversalted it yet.

I still haven't made confit, but I will soon. Thanks for the tips. Do you remove the salt before covering them with the duck fat?

Absolutely. The salt penetrates skin and meat by first drawing liquid out of meat and then releasing it back into the meat. Leaving it on the surface would make legs too salty. I rinse it off, dry the legs and then cover them with either goose or duck fat. The place where I buy duck legs also sells big cans of goose fat from France. You can eat out of the can it's so good.

I believe I'll pass on that. I have sealed jars of rendered duck fat in the freezer.

I have always been enamored by the marriage of fowl with fruit. I live alone, yet still manage to cook several nights a week. I don't know what a recipe book looks like, but perhaps I
i should consult one some day. I am often the recipient of professional courtesy gifts and Harry and David's fruit, though highly overrated and overpriced, often makes its way to my doorstep. Several days ago ripe plums came. Tonight I peeled two plums, put them in the blender with a little honey, then coated several chicken breasts that I had liberally punctured with a fork, added several sprigs of rosemary, baked them, and voila! I had created something. I believe the flavor would have been enhanced by duck or pheasant, but my rifle is being retooled for now. I can envision several simple variations using peach or nectarine in summer.

Dick

I see geese as nobles and ducks as peasants. Nothing wrong with either, but goose fat is finer and has much more delicate flavor than duck fat. I don't waste it on confit usually, but if I am running low on duck fat I add that of goose.

If you ever come across it, try spreading it on a slice of a freshly baked levain. Heaven!!

I would like to add a thought. Eat your fowl now. Avian flu is on its way. My fishing guide in Montana says he'll be the first victim since he virtually subsists on duck and geese with occasional venison, elk, and Omaha steaks (from me). The wholesale price of chicken has been dropping while that of beef and fish are rising. People and markets are starting to pay attention. It may only be a matter of weeks before some of our migratory birds are affected. When that happens, the public will shun fowl out of fear. I have looked on the market for pure plays in beef or fish but almost all of these companies handle fowl too. Pork belly futures are a little out of my line, but those of you familiar with commodities know better than I. The point I make is, enjoy your fowl now (as I do), because it is possible that within months the market for it may collapse. Comments?

Dick

Scary stuff, I know. I hear Russians are dealing with this right now and Moscow is completely free of poultry. link

"To become a pandemic strain the H5N1 bird flu would have to mutate on its own or mix its genetic material with a human influenza virus to become highly infectious in humans who would have little or no immunity against it"

Its speculation, I guess it is possible but I suspect unlikely. I would not worry about it too much.

NO, don't worry about it too much. Let others worry for you. Admittedly, it is a worst case doomsday type scenario, but simply the spread to domestic fowl would have far-reaching consequences in this economy. Ostriches put their heads in the sand.

Dick

quote:

but simply the spread to domestic fowl would have far-reaching consequences in this economy.

That is true, but the mad cow disease scare blew over pretty quickly. It will be interesting to see what happens.