Tag Archives: Duck

Charcuterie, Meat, Pâtés and Terrines

Duck Rillette with Gelée and Crackling

Leave a comment
Duck rillette with gelée and crackling

There are a few terrines and pâtés in the Eleven Madison Park cookbook that are capped with gelée. One that especially interested me is rabbit rillette topped with violet mustard gelée. I had only ever seen rillette topped with rendered lard, not a gelatin-rich liquid. Also I had only seen rillette presented in a ramekin, or perhaps shaped into quenelles, or spread on toast; I had never seen it treated more like a terrine, sliced into tidy rectangles. It’s a great example of the finesse that distinguishes these dishes from ones you would get in a bistro or brasserie. I set out to make my own version of terrine de rillette with gelée.

This past week we made a large … Continue reading.

Meat, Poultry

Duck Breast

1 Comment

Scored, raw duck breastIf you spend enough time with culinary types, eventually you’re going to hear some douchebag call a duck breast a magret.

Magret is a term from Gascony, a Basque region of southwestern France.  This is the spiritual home of modern foie gras: the liver of ducks and geese that have been forcibly fattened by a process called gavage.  The many products and byproducts of these fattened birds form the pillars of the remarkable cuisine of Gascony.  For instance, the rendered subcutaneous fat is the main cooking fat in the region, and is used to make confit.

Traditionally, magret refers to the lean portion of a bird that has been fattened for foie and confit, namely … Continue reading.

Charcuterie, Meat, Offal, Pâtés and Terrines, Pork, Poultry

Duck Liver Pâté

4 Comments

This week I made a duck liver pâté and served it with sour cherries.  Both the livers and the cherries came from Greens, Eggs, and Ham.

The recipe was adapted from that for pâté grand mère in Michael Ruhlman’s Charcuterie. Duck livers can generally stand in for chicken livers.

1: Season the pork and liver (separately), with salt, pepper, bay, and thyme. Leave the mixtures overnight in the fridge.

The pork and duck liver, seasoned and left to marinate

2: The next day, chill the meat grinder and mixer parts. Ice water is particularly effective. You can also preheat your oven to 300°F.

Chilling the grinder parts in ice-water

3: After removing the bay leaf and thyme, sear the livers quickly over high heat. This is done strictly to enhance flavour and colour. Remove the … Continue reading.

Charcuterie, Pâtés and Terrines, Poultry

Fatty Ducks and Geese: The Skinny on Rendering Fat, Confit, and Rillettes

5 Comments

Ducks and geese are fatty little creatures.  Historically even fattier than they are now.  Especially in southwestern France, where they are usually fattened to make foie gras.

This is a goose from Greens, Eggs, and Ham.  It weighs about eleven pounds.  We’re going to render some of its fat.  We’re also going to confit the breasts and legs, then turn them into rillettes.

Greens, Eggs, and Ham goose

First we cut the breasts and legs from our goose.  For a description of this process, see Poultry Cutting.

The breasts and thigh-legs

Rendering the Fat

Even though the choice fat around the breasts and legs is going into our confit, there is still lots of fat to be rendered from the goose. Look for fatty trim … Continue reading.