A nice benefit about being a chef is one learns a set of skills. Various degrees of skill, however, exist within this skill-set. I have witnessed over the years that many are okay with their skill-set and don’t necessarily want to learn more of their craft. For a LONG TIME, I passed significant judgment on a person’s choice not to take a promotion or their lack of yearning to excel at every station. Fact of the matter is, cooking is fucking hard and stressful at the highest level. There is a lot to be said about realizing ones boundaries on a professional and personal level. Plus, witnessing a bad ass short order cook is a thing of beauty. Check out the Camilla Grill in New Orleans or the cooks at a Waffle House and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
For others, such as myself, a recovering addict raised with a significant amount of pressure to succeed surrounded by religious guilt and an uneasiness to strive for more, I consistently yearn to challenge myself on an emotional, physical, and professional level.
Enter duck terrine.
The beauty of a terrine is it utilizes the whole animal in a neat little package. Some people grind the whole damn thing and bake it off. I prefer to offer varying textures within each bite which is accomplished by utilizing an assortment of cooking techniques. For this application I deboned the ducks, made stock, braised (confit) the legs, seared the breast, and made a forcemeat (sausage) out of the scrap. Thus, a lengthy process, but the rewarding final product pays homage to my craft.
Butcher 2 Hen Ducks:
1. Use 2 hen ducks or 1 Drake. reserve neck for stock and livers for forcemeat
2. Run knife down both sides of the breast bone and cut down through leg joint.
3. Flip over and run knife along backbone to separate the breast and leg from both sides.
4. Separate the leg from the breast and trim off excess fat.
Cure and Confit Legs:
Cure Mixture:
2 cups kosher salt
1 cup sugar
2 tsp allspice
2 tsp juniper
1 tsp clove
1 T fennel seed
2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 T thyme
1 T oregano
-Grind juniper and fennel seed in coffee grinder and mix with rest of ingredients. You’ll only need 4-5 tablespoons, but use this to cure sides of salmon for lox.
10 cloves garlic minced
3 shallots minced
2 bunches of thyme
-Liberally season the bottom of a pan with 2 tablespoons of the cure mixture and half of the garlic, shallot, and thyme
-Place the duck legs flesh down onto the mixture. Sprinkle remaining garlic, shallot, thyme on top and season with 2 more Tablespoons of cure mixture. Cover with plastic wrap, then another pan and press in fridge overnight.
-Heat up duck fat (buy separately) and submerge legs in fat. Cook, covered for 4 hours at 250 degrees until meat flakes off bone. Discard leg bones and save meat for terrine.
Make Stock, Sear Breasts, Make Farce
1. Toss the duck bones with oil and roast in pan in oven for 1 hour with large dice of 2 carrots, 6 stalks celery, 2 large onions stirring every 15 minutes. Deglaze with 2 cups of red wine, 2 cups white wine. Top with cold water, add 1 T juniper and anise and simmer for 5 hours. Strain and use as stock or reduce down for sauce
2. Cut 2 breast lengthwise, season with cure mixture, and sear over high heat to caramelize. Reserve for terrine
3. Grind scrape meat from duck, 2 duck breasts, and equal amount of pork butt (approx 1 lb each) with 1 clove garlic, 1 shallot, and 1 bunch of thyme. Season with cure mixture and cook off to taste seasoning. adjust accordingly. Reserve for terrine.
4. Thinly slice 20 pieces of bacon off a slab.
Assemble Terrine:
1. Collect all prep work. Line terrine mold with bacon.
2. Place thin layer of farce meat down. Top with seared breast meat and flank with confit legs.
3. Cover with more farce meat. Wrap bacon over to cover and top with tin foil.
Cover and Bake:
1. Lightly weigh down with terrine and place inside a pan with 2″ inch side. Pour 1″ of water into that pan and bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
Rest and Weigh:
1. Remove from oven and take out of water bath. It is important for this to cool at room temperature for 2 hours while weighing so it comes together.
Once it has cooled flip out of terrine and wrap in plastic wrap. This should keep well in fridge for a week. It can be consumed cold with a good mustard and crusty bread or warm with lentils and the duck stock reduction. Or a million other combos.
Notes From the Culinary Addict:
Yogism from James (my teacher): Make posture and self have significance
Recent 12-step Meeting Quote: “I didn’t realize I had a problem until I woke up with a candy cane in my ass.”
Kitchen Quotes:
-Me: “what do you think her intention was?”
Ron: “I’m not positive, but I think it probably involved her ass.”
-Greg: “Chef, you looked pimp fucking daddy last night. Your hot!”
-Me: “Chris how are you feeling after the employee party last night.”
Chris:”Oh, I’m fine. I only had about 14 beers.”
greg
-We had our employee party this week which involved bowling and alcohol. The banquet chef, Heather, is convinced someone slipped something in her drink b/c she only had 3 drinks and completely blacked out. Armed with this information, I convinced her that she was making out with Greg, so she better find a new job b/c Greg is in love. I honestly thought she was going to throw up until I came clean sometime later in which this picture was her response. Note: She has man-fingers
Search Engine Words: (words that lead someone to this blog for whatever reason): drunk cooking
Band Name of Week: Hot Duck Fat
Present Pandora Kitchen selection: Damien Jurado
