I really like duck, but its one of those things that I've always been rather intimidated to cook at home (mostly on account of how fatty it is and how much grease is involved because of this). For those of you who have never seen a duck breast prior to it's being cooked, there is about an inch of fat on top of the meat and this has to be rendered out during cooking. The meat of the breast itself is very lean and therefore it is very easy to overcook. Duck breast is always cooked medium - medium rare so that its not too dry (duck doesn't have any of the same salmonella concerns that chicken does).
We started with a whole duck and broke this down similar to a chicken. According to chef, whole roasting duck is not as good as splitting the bird into the various parts and cooking them separately. We removed the legs first and then the thigh bone. We then salt and peppered these legs and rolled them up and tied with twine. We seared these. While these seared, we removed the back bone and chopped this into pieces and added to the searing legs. Chef explained that there is a lot of flavor in the backbone that will add a lot of depth to the braising legs. We then removed the breasts and scored the fat so that it would render better when we sauteed them. Okay...back to the legs. We deglazed the pan with a little orange juice once these were browned. Then we added mirepoix, a bouquet garni, and some garlic. Once this browned a bit, we added veal stock (which I'm 100% convinced is God's gift to any kitchen...throw veal stock into anything and its heavenly) to cover and put it into the oven to finish braising for about 40-50 minutes.
While this cooked, we took some of the duck fat and rendered bacon lardons in this in a pot. Once these were browned, we added sliced red onion and caramelized it. Once this cooked a bit, we added macedoined apple, some sliced red cabbage, 4 crushed juniper berries, and red wine vinegar. We cooked this down until the vinegar dried and then added salt, pepper, and chicken stock. I loved this cabbage mixture and have been craving the salty bacon, sweet apple, and vinegary mixture since class.
So then for the duck breast. We started sauteing it in a little bit of clarified butter on the lowest possible setting with the skin side down for about 20-25 minutes. We poured off the fat a few times in the process because you don't want the duck to deep fry in its own fat. After the 20-25 minutes the skin side should be golden. After it was golden, we turned the heat up to high and browned the skin until it was crisped. We then flipped the duck and then seared the other side until the meat was med/med rare (you have to judge by touch). This has to rest for 5 to 10 minutes skin side up (otherwise it losses its crisp).
Now back to the legs. We strained the sauce into a saucepan and reduced it until nappant. While this reduced we made a gastrique, a reduction of sugar and vinegar that is cooked until a light caramel. We had previously peeled an orange and boiled the julienned rind three times (the first two in a bit of water and the third in an orange liquor). We also made a pomme darphin (potato pancake) in duck fat...Ridiculously good. Once the sauce from the legs reduced, we added some of the gastrique and then the orange zest. This sauce was fantastic. I spread it on all our duck pieces and the potato. I was eating this sauce up by the spoonful. It was at this point that a few of us in class decided we were going to have a huge veal stock making party and make gallons of the stuff together and divide the bounty!
After break, we took a chicken that we had quartered earlier coated it in olive oil, salt, thyme, and red pepper flakes and then grilled it. Meanwhile, we cooked sliced shallots down with white wine vinegar and crushed black pepper. When that was almost dry we added (surprise) veal stock and some dijon mustard and butter and cooked it down a bit more. After the chicken was browned on the grill, we put it in the oven to finish. When the leg meat was close to done, we took it out of the oven rubbed it in a mixture of 50-50 mayonnaise and mustard and then breaded it in bread crumbs. We then put it back in the oven and crisped it up. This was then plated with the veal stock sauce.
This was an incredibly difficult class. I had a hard time finishing everything in time. I loved what we learned though and wish I had had more energy to get it done! I'm beyond sad that we only have 4 more classes left.
Until next class,
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