Duck Tales, A-Whoo Hoo!

Tonight marked the "real" first meal in our new place that was made using our own cookware from home. Have to say that I've felt naked the last month and a half cooking with other people's sub-par pots and pans. It definitely showed in my cooking, too; wasn't too proud of it. But, you do what you do to get by. Tonight was different, though. Tonight was good.  Real good. Nice to be able to bust out the All Clads again and go to work.

Broke in the kitchen and our new (old) pots from home and laid down a classic French recipe courtesy of Mrs. Julia Child: caneton roti a l'alsacienne and puree de pomme de terraa l'ail. Better known as roasted duckling with sausage and apple stuffing and garlic mashed potatoes. Also threw in some sauteed kale for some green. We lived off sauteed kale back on B.I. and have been very happy to find it out here at the farmer's market.

I was in the kitchen for about 4 hours, but it was worth it. Decided that we're only going to do a "cookbook" recipe once a week as that's just too much time to spend in the kitchen when there's other stuff to do around here and with Roo.

Anyway, back to the meal. It was my first time cooking duck, and although I do a roasted chicken in the oven every couple of weeks, I was still a bit intimidated. Piece of cake, though. I also made a real nice and very rich duck stock with the neck, fat globs and other parts and turned some of it into an even better sauce. The sauce asked for port wine, but we didn't have any so I improvised with some plum brandy mixed with red wine -- did the trick. I love the fattiness of ducks. I surprised me how much fat they carry. Good for them, even better for me. Oh and duck skin? Well shit. I wanted to sleep with it. Yeah, I said it.

Per the recipe, I used a baster to suck out the fat of the baking dish on a few occasions during cooking. That did not go to waste as I saved it all in an empty Illy coffee can that is now in the freezer just waiting for the next time we need some duck fat to add some love to a dish. Also made a 6 cups of stock out of the carcass after cooking was done. That is going to come in handy next time we make risotto or pasta sauce. Or, if we don't have any meat in the house and I'm desperate for some animal protein.

This was actually the second time that I made the garlic mashed potatoes from the Mastering the Art of French Cooking book and things turned out much better this time. Last time, they tasted too pasty as I didn't cook the flour long enough in the boiling milk after adding each to the garlic and butter saute. This time they were top 5 of my life. I've always prided myself on my mashers and have been making them without any kind of recipe for about 10 years. Milk, butter, sour cream, salt, chives and that's it. 30 minutes start to finish. Julia's recipe was quite a change. Quite labor-intensive for mashed potatoes, but so worth it. It was also fun following this recipe (and the duck and others from the book) as I learn something every time I cook one of her meals. It's a great book and very educational for the cooking enthusiast.The French know what they're doing when it comes to food. Their decisions with regard to providing nuclear capabilities to the middle east is a different story. Nobody's perfect. Take me for example, I'm the guy that picks up carcasses and tells them how much I love them while skin and fat hang from my teeth and face. This is who I am. And again, nobody's perfect.