Cooking in progress

[badseed1980]

Tonight is the night of the Great Duck Feast. I'm making the following:

1. Roast whole duck with a cornbread and dried cherry stuffing
2. Cherry wine-port reduction sauce for the duck
3. Mashed potatoes (probably with garlic)
4. Roasted zucchini (because I happen to have some from Boston Organics)

I have made the sauce, and am currently oven-drying the cornbread for the stuffing (since I didn't get a chance to make it in advance). I'm so excited about this! I've never roasted a duck before! The sauce is, in my humble opinion, extremely tasty. I simmered dried cherries in it, and they are now plump and rehydrated. I'm a little nervous about the stuffing since I'm kind of winging it (har har, "wing," get it?) but I am hopeful that it will turn out ok. I think oven-drying the cornbread will be very helpful. I'm going to sautee some onion and celery with a little garlic, add the cornbread, some sage and thyme, and some chicken broth and maybe a little egg to bind it, and stuff that duck. Then I'm going to prick the duck all over so that the fat can drip out as it renders, keeping the skin crispy instead of chewy and fatty. Nom nom!

I really do love to cook. I'm so glad I seem to have inherited some talent for it from my father. My mom can bake well, but her cooking is only mediocre. My dad's amazing. I'm learning. :)

Comments

[library-sexy.livejournal.com]

The meal sounds great.

I have never heard of adding egg to stuffing.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm only going to do that if it seems like the stuffing isn't working well with just the broth.

[library-sexy.livejournal.com]

Are you just doing this for fun or do you have others joining you to eat your yummy duck? I have cooked with duck breast but not a whole duck. We did grill a goose over a fire pit one year. That was interesting.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

This is just for us, actually. I bought a duck one day at McKinnon's, just on a whim. I kind of want to make sure I can cook it without screwing it up, before I serve it to anyone besides myself and pierceheart. The boy wants to cook a duck in his smoker eventually, which should be truly awesome.

[library-sexy.livejournal.com]

Enjoy.

The quantity of fat is what you need to be careful with an open flame cooking style, but I can only imagine a smoked duck would be fantastic.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

When I smoke food, there's ZERO open flame near my food, even though I use a hardwood charcoal smoker - it's in the baffling. (http://www.amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/offset_smokers.html)

[library-sexy.livejournal.com]

Understood. That would be the right style to use. My family has a vertical one and I would not want to try to cook a duck in that.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

It's fine in a vertical, if you just have a drip pan, especially if you have one with water.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

He has an indirect smoker, actually! The firebox is separate from the smoke chamber where the food cooks, so there's no open-flame issue.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Hope so. :)

[cuddlycthulhu.livejournal.com]

That sounds very tasty, though I don't know if I've ever had duck before.

How does it compare, texture/taste-wise, to other fowl?

Edit: Oh, and I love your icon.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Well, if you've ever had goose or other waterfowl, it's most like them. It's all dark meat, even the breast, and therefore it's moister and richer than chicken. It's got a layer of fat under the skin, fairly thick, to insulate the bird in cold water. That also makes it very moist and rich, but unless that fat is well rendered, it can be kinda...blubbery, IMO. I like the flavour it adds to the meat, but I don't like having a thick layer of fat to eat. I like it when most of what's under the skin has run off, so I am going to prick the skin for that reason.

Duck is AMAZING. I love it.

[vanguardcdk.livejournal.com]

Normally I'm not a big duck fan, but this:
1. Roast whole duck with a cornbread and dried cherry stuffing

Sounds amazing. Hope your dinner goes well!

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

[wench33.livejournal.com]

Good lord it sounds yummy.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

I hope it turns out ok! This is my first time making duck.

[muninwing.livejournal.com]

i so read that wrong at first. was confused when you started talking about cooking.

had to go back and say "ohhhh. DUCK!"

oops. dirty mind on my part.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

*snicker*

Hey, they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but it's always possible to involve other organs!