Bhindi and Duck Masala

Julia and I try to eat Indian food about once a month, and why not? The earthy flavors and not-so-subtle spice of Indian cooking always yields a satisfiyingly flavorful meal. You could make this dish with beef instead of duck, but stay away from any chicken or seafood – they will not stand up to the bold flavors. I use the duck becase its fat adds another layer of richness to the dish.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pounds duck breast
• 1/2 pound okra (bhindi)
• 1 medium yellow onoin
• 1/2 cup clarified butter (ghee) or 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons masala/curry base
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2  teaspoon tumeric
• 1/2 teaspoon cooking oil

Trim the stem end off the okra, and split the okra lengthwise. Reserve.

Cut the duck breast, fat included, into 1/2 inch cubes. Reserve.

Dice the onion into a 1/4 inch dice. In a large skillet, render the clarified butter (or butter) over medium heat. Add the minced ginger and garlic and fry until just beginning to brown. Add the diced onion, and continue to cook until the onion begins to brown. Add the masala base, the red pepper, tumeric and salt, and stir to mix well.

Add the duck breast cubes. Continue cooking over medium heat, until the duck fact begins to render. Do not overcook ! When the duck fat had begun to render, add the okra, and cook until the okra begins to sweat, and release its moisture. Again, do not over cook, or the orka will become quite gooey. The goal is to leave the okra slightly firm to the bite. At this point, the dish is finished.

Serve with rice, especially basmati rice, and especially with my recipe for fragrant basmati rice !

Charcuterie 101 : Duck Ham

Charcuterie is the art of preparing and preserving meat. It includes all kinds of things (sausage, pâté, terrines, salamis, etc.) and techniques (brining, smoking, curing, aging, etc.). As such, it is probably my favorite branch of cooking.

This recipe is about the technique of curing, the use of salt (and other things) to preserve meat. In this case we are going to do a ham, but not just any ham – one made from duck breast. If you do this right, I guarantee a delicious end product. And this is very easy to do correctly ! It ends up being very like prosciutto.

Ingredients 

• One duck breast
• a box of coarse kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• cheesecloth
• twine

Take the duck breast, and remove the skin, if it is still on. Leave as much of the fat as you can. Pat the breast dry with paper towels.

In a dish which is large enough to hold the breast nicely, line the bottom of the dish with some of the kosher salt. Do NOT use fine grain salt. Set the duck breast on top of the salt and then pour more salt over the breast until it is completely covered. There should be no part of the breast exposed to air. Cover the dish and refrigerate for 24 hours, no more and no less.

After the 24 hours has passed, remove the breast from the salt. Rinse off any salt remaining on the breast (using fresh water) and pat it dry again with paper towels. You may note the breast is significantly firmer than it was before – this is what you are trying to achieve.Dust both sides of the breast with the white pepper. Wrap the breast in a couple of layers of cheesecloth (do not use too much – a couple of layers will do it), and secure the cheesecloth with the twine.

Now comes the part that freaks out most people. Hang the breast in a cool, dry place for 7 days. I use a spare closet – I am not kidding ! Do NOT refrigerate the breast. The ambient temperature should be about 60- 70 degrees, and the humidity should be kept low. I do not normally do this during an Atlanta summer, as it is extraordinarily difficult to keep the humidity low enough. After seven days, the breast should be ready ready to go. Remove it from the cheesecloth and feel it – it should be quite firm by now.

To serve, slice the breast on a diagonal into thin slices, as shown in the photo above. Any unused breast may be refrigerated and kept as long as you might keep any other cured meat, like salami.

It may take a leap of faith to keep a piece of meat,unrefrigerated, in your closet for a week, but trust me. People have been doing this for thousands of years, and you too, can benefit from the process of curing.

French Dog

This is another of my series of Inspired Hot Dogs, in this case, based on elements of French cuisine.

To make this hot dog, you will need the following, already prepared :

• Mushroom and Onion accompaniment for beef (Deluxe Version)
• Duck Confit

Of course, the duck confit takes quite a while to prepare, so you will either need to purchase it (if you can find it anywhere) or think about making this well in advance !

I started with a 6 inch long mini-baguette, as you might expect with any French meal. This was split, not quite in two, and buttered with a compound butter made of the following:

• 2 tablespoons salted butter
• 1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence
• 1 clove of garlic, finely minced

The bread is then toasted on the grill.

On this, I used what would typically be a French country sausage:  A mild pork sausage link seasoned with garlic and herbs. These were grilled over low heat until brown and crispy on the outside.

Place the sausage on the toasted baguette, top liberally with the onion/mushroom mixture, and add pulled duck confit to the top.

This is rich in two ways: the flavor, and the cost, which ended up being about $12/dog, not even counting the time. Still, it was well worth it.

Duck Confit

Duck confit is one of those items that few every really make because 1) Duck leg quarters are hard to find, 2) it takes a decent amount of time, and 3) a lot of folks do not know what ‘confit’ means. And all that is a shame, because when done, you are amply rewarded by a rich and flavorful treat.

First, the basics, and the resolution of issue number 3. ‘Confit‘ means to slow cook in fat. Although liquid other than fat my be used, this is normal considered braising, not confit. The confit cooking process is a form a charcuterie, the preparation and preservation of meat. Allowing the fat to solidify around the meat after the cooking process allows the meat to be preserved for a couple of weeks, and longer if refrigeration is used.

I solved problem number one, the duck leg quarters, by simply buying a whole duck and breaking it down. Even Kroger had whole frozen duck available.

After breaking down the duck (just as you would a chicken, but with lots more skin and fat), you will have 2 leg quarters, and 2 wings, which will also be used in the confit. The breasts are rarely used for confit, but for no other reason other than the hugh number of other ways they may be utilized.

The next step in the process is the curing of the meat. For the cure, I used the following:

• 2 tablespoons of coarse kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon of coarse black pepper
• 6 garlic cloves, smashed,
• 12 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon of ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

Take half of the curing mixture, and spread evenly on the bottom of a glass or ceramic dish which is large enough for arranging the duck pieces in a single layer. Then add the duck, and top with the remainder of the curing mixture.

Cover this and refrigerate the duck for at least 1 day, preferably 2 days. OK, so I was not able to solve issue number 2 about the length of time it takes to make this !

Remove the duck pieces and scrape off most, but not all of the cure mixture. Reserve a couple a garlic cloves and a couple of thyme sprigs.

And now for the fat. If you can find it, duck fat is the traditional way to go. And I can’t get this anywhere locally that I am aware of. It can be ordered online. So I opted for the next best thing – Lard. Believe it or not, in this age of vegetable oils, this can still be found in most grocery stores.

Add about 16 ounces of lard to the dish you use to cure the duck in (after cleaning, of course), and melt the lard in the oven at 220 degrees. When melted, remove the dish from the oven and add the reserved garlic and thyme, then the duck pieces in a single layer as shown below.

I leave the top skin side of the duck un-submerged in the fat, to allow the skin the get a little crispy during the cooking process. You may have to add or remove a little lard to get this just right, based on the size of your duck pieces and the size of your dish.

Place the dish back in the oven, still at 220 degrees, and allow the duck to slow cook for about 4 hours. You may wish to turn the heat up to about 300 degrees during the last hour to help brown and crisp the skin.

After cooking, remove the confit, and allow it to cool to room temperature. At this point you have 2 choices. The preferred way is to then refrigerate the confit (lard and all) for at least a day. This really concentrates the flavor, and as mentioned earlier, can be used to keep the confit for several weeks. Reheat the confit to melt the lard and remove the duck. Or you can just remove the duck pieces and enjoy straight away !

You will be amazed at how rich and tender the duck meat is, and I think you will agree that it was time well spent during the preparation.

“Parts is Parts” – How to deal with leftover offal

I bought a whole duck recently (there will be more about this) and included in the body cavity was a hidden treasure – the offal. More colloquially know as giblets, these tasted innards can be used alone or together in a variety of dishes. Sadly, as the the typical palate has become sensitized to eating only the muscle flesh of animals, these bits are frequently disposed of – a complete waste of flavorful protein.

Now we all know that livers and gizzards are pretty good fried up, but it really is easy to make something special from them – a pâté. Pâtés can be pretty complex to make, but this one is simple and quick.

Ingredients

• 6 oz of offal (liver is best, but most anything can be used)
• 2 ounces of fat (use the fat from the animal being prepared, but bacon fat will work)
• 1 small shallot
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 2 tablespoons of sherry or other sweet cooking wine
• 1 tablespoon of bread crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon of coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon of allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

Prepare the offal by removing any excess membranes , fat or tissue still connected to it. Finely chop the shallot and garlic clove and sauté it in the butter until translucent. Let cool. In a small food processor, combine all ingredients and the shallot/garlic mixture. Process until it is a smooth paste. Butter a small baking dish, and spoon the pâté into it. Place the small baking dish into a larger baking dish filled with water (this will prevent the pâté from burning/browning), as shown below:

Bake the pâté at 200 degrees until the internal temperature is 165 degrees. Remove from the oven and let cool, then refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serve as a spread with a butter crostini, as shown above.