Sean Gillies (Posts about duck)https://sgillies.net/tags/duck.atom2023-12-31T01:26:19ZSean GilliesNikolaQuack, quack, quackhttps://sgillies.net/2018/01/14/quack-quack-quack.html2018-01-13T20:59:45-07:002018-01-13T20:59:45-07:00Sean Gillies<p>I ate duck often when living in France and have been missing it this winter.
Farm-raised ducks are not easy to find in Colorado. I've never seen duck at
King Soopers. Whole Foods has whole frozen ducks occasionally. Some local CSAs
advertise duck eggs, but not meat. In Montpellier, fresh never-frozen duck was
not cheap, but it was almost always available.</p>
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<img alt="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4748/38760801605_67e1819239_b.jpg" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4748/38760801605_67e1819239_b.jpg">
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<p>The green sausage is chicken, duck, and spinach. To the right: cuisses de
canard (duck legs) and magret de canard (duck breast).</p>
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</figure>
<p>I never bought a whole duck, but bought a pair of duck legs or duck breasts, or
some links of chicken, duck, and spinach sausage from a vendor at the Arceaux
market almost every other Tuesday. She sold chicken, too, both raw and roasted
in the rotisserie at the back of her stand. Her only non-poultry product was
polenta, which is delicious fried in duck fat.</p>
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<img alt="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4676/39658228801_a6da2920df_b.jpg" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4676/39658228801_a6da2920df_b.jpg">
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<p>Magret de canard and foie gras</p>
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<p>Duck breast is my favorite red meat and Florence Fabricant describes my
favorite way to cook it in <a class="reference external" href="https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1294-basic-roast-duck-breast">this recipe</a>. Seared
and then roasted gently in the oven until medium rare, if I had to choose
a last meal, this would be it. The sweet and sour five-spice marinade and glaze
is nice, but salt and pepper is really all a flavorful duck needs.</p>
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<img alt="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4759/38959886554_44655a97f7_b.jpg" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4759/38959886554_44655a97f7_b.jpg">
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<p>Magret de canard with homemade kimchi</p>
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<p>Because I mostly worked from the house we rented in Montpellier, I could
execute slow cooking recipes while pushing pixels on my computer. Duck legs
confit, simmered for hours in their own fat and juices, are easy to do in
parallel with other tasks and are extremely delicious.</p>
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<img alt="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4628/25796742878_1bd89599ba_b.jpg" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4628/25796742878_1bd89599ba_b.jpg">
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<p>Cuisses de canard that have spent a couple days wrapped up with spices</p>
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<p><a class="reference external" href="http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/01/ask-the-food-lab-what-the-heck-is-confit.html">Confit</a>
is the past participle of the French verb confire, "to preserve." Before
refrigeration, this was one of our options for preserving meat. Pork or duck,
covered in steralized fat which keeps oxygen and microbes at bay, can keep
stable and healthy for weeks. I never managed to keep any for longer than a day
or two.</p>
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<img alt="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4745/25796746078_d2859c6568_b.jpg" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4745/25796746078_d2859c6568_b.jpg">
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<p>Lentilles vertes du Puy are my favorite side for cuisse de canard</p>
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<p>I enjoy foie gras and have a picture of it above, but I don't know enough to
write about it. Ruth and I developed a preference for foie gras mi-cuit
(half-cooked), which is a gently cooked piece of a single whole liver, not
reformed or "en bloc." I don't definitely know which are the best producers,
but had a good experience buying vacuum packed mi-cuit foie gras from a couple
of vendors at the Arceaux market.</p>
<p>I'm going to keep searching for local producers of duck and with a little luck
might be able to return to these recipes in the fall.</p>