December 20th - December 26th
December 20th - December 26th
I happy to report, I am indeed very full. This week was Christmas. There was Monday, Tuesday, Christmas prep day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and pretending it's still Christmas Day. The entire week has blurred together. I blame these social distant times we are in for that but it wasn't a bad thing. Although we missed our family we felt like we were on a cabin trip. With nothing to do besides sit by the fire, drink festive beverages, and eat all. day. long. I loved every second of it.
Our week started by picking up Denise Shannon, our duck. No, I am not a freak that names my proteins before I eat them. There was a mix up of ducks at our local butcher and we ended up taking home a duck that was reserved for Denise Shannon. It was our butcher's idea to name the duck Denise so we obviously kept her name.
Denise was a Muscovy duck, a leaner variety that takes well to roasting. I followed David Tanis' recipe for Roasted Duck with Orange and Ginger from NYT Cooking. Early Wednesday morning, I started my day by grinding black peppercorns, Sichuan peppercorns, fennel, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, and allspice to make homemade 5 spice powder. Like other spice blends, you can buy 5 spice at the store but there was no need to when I had all the individual spices at home. Then it was time to prepare Denise.
Roasting a whole duck is something I did once in culinary school and then never again. I have enough knowledge, and I read through about 15 recipes to prepare, that I wasn't worried. I have mastered chickens and turkeys, and figured duck couldn't be that different. I was right. I started by removing her neck. A cleaver is on my list of things to buy but I haven't yet so I used my kitchen shears. Easy. Then I trimmed off some fat, I cleaned up some extra skin around the neck and tail area. You already know I saved it all and rendered that fat to cook with another time. No waste!
Melissa Clark prepared a duck for Thanksgiving and posted tips along the way. I went back and watched her video of how to pierce the skin and then I pierced my duck's skin in the same fashion. One difference when preparing duck vs. other poultry is how fatty they are. You have to take special care to make sure all the fat is rendered. Cooks Illustrated recommends scoring the skin in a crosshatch pattern. Honestly, I don't think it looks as pretty as perfectly smooth skin, so I went with Melissa's technique.
Post gentle repetitive stabbing, I seasoned Denise inside and out with 5 spice, salt, orange zest, ginger, and garlic. Marco agreed to a mild poisoning to ensure we had the most flavorful duck possible. Into the fridge she went, uncovered, where she sat for 24ish hours. Every time we opened the fridge a beautiful spicy aroma smacked you in the face.
Christmas Eve, we grazed on a cheese board for breakfast, lunch, and snacks in between. Don't worry I put out some fruit and crudité too. I made this board and shared tips on my Instagram story. If you missed it stay tuned for more board tips in the near future.
I sent Marco out in the morning to get oysters as an appetizer. Truthfully I don't like oysters. It's a textural issue for me. I'll eat them but after two, I'm over it. I really just wanted to learn how to shuck them. Once you get the hang of it, it's not hard but I could see it becoming a pain in the ass. We did a little tasting and had six different types. I tried the four small ones and then...see those big guys? I couldn't do it. Nope.
Around noon I threw Denise in my Big Green Egg. I used the Conveggtor for indirect heat and roasted her at 300 degrees. I didn't want to deal with fat splatters or smoke in the house, plus since she was in the Egg I added a few smoking chips for extra flavor. I forgot to pick up a grease pan to line the Conveggtor with. I used a 12-inch cake round cake pan that always stares at me in my extra pantry area. When am I ever going to be baking a freaking 12 inch round cake?! Never.
Denise cooked faster than expected and was done after around 2-2.5 hours. I glazed her with orange juice, honey, sugar, soy, ginger, and star anise that was reduced down into a syrup. Brought the temp in my Egg up to 400 and attempted to get crispy skin. It wasn't happening without overcooking and I decided to pull her. I was bummed but pleasantly surprised when we tried the skin that although not super crispy, the fat was nicely rendered. It was still enjoyable to eat a piece of skin and I was glad because it was loaded with flavor.
We turned the duck into lettuce wraps served with jasmine rice, kimchi, pickled carrots, cucumbers, scallion ginger sauce, and chili crisp. I had to pat myself on the back after this meal. It was a big day of firsts and besides the lack of crispiness on the skin, I was happy with how things were executed. While eating a few wraps, I couldn't stop thinking about how fun it would have been to have a table full of friends to share them with. This would be a perfect party meal.
I am certainly not one to toss beautifully roasted poultry bones away. That's like throwing away gold! The carcass was simmered with ginger, scallions, onion, carrot, celery, a bay leaf, and peppercorns and strained before bed. The night ended with many episodes of The Crown and working on a puzzle by the fire. Dreamy you might say? It sure was.
Christmas Day we did our normal rotation through our parents. Three of our four sets of parents celebrate Christmas and the holidays are like musical chairs sometimes. Except for this year, we saw everyone over Zoom. Nothing is the same as in-person hugs but I have to say seeing people over Zoom is still pretty great. The rest of the day was filled with puzzles by the fire, lots of champagne, The Crown, and more duck! I didn't change out of my pajamas or wash my face until bed. We laid around all day and I couldn't resist the urge to baked fresh cookies. I indulged in the comfort and laziness of the day.
To enrich the duck broth I had made the night before, I simmered it with extra ginger, star anise, and dried shiitake mushrooms. To round out the flavor I added a few splashes of tamari at the end. That broth was spooned over GF ramen and topped with an egg, bok choy, enoki mushrooms, and LOTS of scallions. Duck ramen for two was a mega success and a new requirement for the day after roasting a whole duck.
Our 1000 piece puzzle was finished on Saturday morning as well as the last of the duck. I fried it up with bacon, vegetables, and old rice to make fried rice. Marco has been talking about learning how to hunt for some time now. After successfully cooking Denise Shannon, I'm all in for him to bring home some more duck! My next project may be learning how to clean one...oy. Circle of life?
Recipes From This Week:
Pasta e Ceci (something similar to this)
Thing Everybody Needs:
If you caught my cheese board tips on Instagram I showed you how to cut soft cheeses with a wire. This is one that I have and use often. A cheese wire will change your cheese game forever!
Animal Cuteness:
Christmas kitties.
Coming Soon:
Gluten-Free Chicken Pot Pies!!! Did you see it on Instagram this week?! I'm going to test it once more and that recipe is coming to you guys
Kimchi Project! I'm newly obsessed with kimchi and we are going to do a deep dive.
Oh, I'm sure you noticed that this newsletter got a facelift. I couldn't wait until the first newsletter for the new year. I was too excited.
Next week we will be having a New Years' feast for just the two of us. I'm thinking caviar, steaks, and lobster pasta...? I'll give you guys the recap, and then we are into 2021. Good things to come!
See you next week,
Marcella
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