A Goose and a Duck Walk Into a Bar...

Los Angeles, California

And so, it was Thanksgiving, and this year we found ourselves, once again, at loose ends. Not that it is a bad thing to no longer have a tradition in place. It allows you a certain footloose quality that is enticing in its flexibility. There were options . . .

The decision was made to stay at home, and cook our own Thanksgiving. Something I have not done since I was back in college, and cooked a full-on Thanksgiving dinner for my boyfriend (yes, same one I referred to in my last post entitled Flying Solo, available right here on this blog for a limited time). Since we were cooking a deux, and we're truly not turkey people, outside of the ubiquitous lunchtime staple of turkey sandwiches, we decided to roast a chicken. But, need I remind you of our footlooseness? When we got to Gelson's market, we got enticed by other poultry.

Billy decided that he wanted to cook a goose. If not for Thanksgiving, then for the dinner party we were having the following Saturday. The free-range goose in question was $89. Eighty-nine bucks! I told him that if he wanted a goose, he should go over to our nearby golf course and shoot one! I wasn't about to lay down ninety dollars for a frickin' goose, unless it was that fabled one that lays golden eggs [I was pretty sure it wasn't, since this one was DYK (dead, you know)]. My first set of brackets to appear in my blog!!! But, I am so digressing...

And then. And then a duck caught my eye! Also free-range, but only about $35. And next to said duck, were fresh "petite turkeys" ranging from around seven to nine pounds. Need I go on to say we came in for a chicken, dissed a goose, and ended up with a duck and a turkey. A fowl turn of events...

As we all do, we cooked way too much food for Thanksgiving. And, for the first time since college, I baked the pie that I had prepared for my boyfriend on that long-ago Thanksgiving. That is a Shoo-fly Pie; a recipe which called for light molasses. This I could not find at my local market. So I bought the molasses I recall my mom and grandmother buying, which is Brer Rabbit. It said full flavor, and turned out to be way too much dark for this pie. Billy had a few slices and reported that he liked it. But it was a far cry from the Shoo-fly Pies we ate when we lived not far from Pennsylvania Dutch Country, one winter when I was eleven years old.

Everything else turned out quite good. We dry-brined the turkey, then roasted it. With this, we had roasted brussels sprouts; yam puree which was flavored with both orange juice and zest, and bourbon. We had the apple cranberry sauce (see recipe in previous post entitled Flying Solo available...oh, just have on at it). But the real hit of the weekend was the duck. The recipe was from Amanda Hesser's Cooking for Mr. Latte, and it was easy and delicious. Billy's mom was here with us, and we invited his nephew and the girlfriend. Girlfriend, Deanne, is a vegetarian, but she, rather ecumenically I thought, had a bite of the duck. Lucky thing she didn't eat much actually, since I had forgotten how few people a duck serves. In the future I will make it just for Billy and me. The leftover meat will be delicious in duck tacos or tamales, or in a pinch, quesadillas. The duck is cooked with ginger and soy, so I'm totally going for the fusion thing here.

The secondary gain on the duck was in that I got a lot of duck stock, and a nice amount of duck fat. I roasted potatoes in the duck fat, but I'm really jonesing for double-frying-up some frites with it, or maybe doing one of those rosti jobbers. Something with crisp potatoes, duck fat, and salt. Be still my heart...

Ginger Duck

1 duck             (fresh or thawed overnight in the fridge), giblets removed
1 onion,           peeled and cut in half, or 3 shallots, peeled
2 stalks            celery, cut into 3-inch long pieces
2 teaspoons    ground ginger
1/2 cup             sugar
1/2 cup             soy sauce
1 teaspoon       sea salt
1/2 cup              sherry
1 small bunch watercress, washed and trimmed

The day before serving, stuff the duck with the onion and celery. Place it, breast side up, in a large dutch oven, and add enough water to half cover it. Add ginger and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat so that it simmers gently for one hour.

After an hour, flip the guy over. Add sugar, soy sauce and the salt. Continue simmering for another hour. Turn the duck breast side up once again, and simmer for one more hour. Remove from heat and let cool. When you can handle it without scorching the digits, remove it carefully from the pot (I used a large, wide fish spatula that I rarely use for fish but find it comes in handy in other applications such as this). Use care as the duck will want to fall apart after so much cooking. Cover and refrigerate. Pour broth from the pot into a bowl and chill.

The following day, scrape off the layer of fat that has formed on top of the broth. Our friend, Amanda, says to throw it away, but I implore you not to! Set aside; freeze or use within a few days. Remove one cup of the broth to use when roasting the duck; freeze the rest. It is delicious when used to cook rice, or whisked into a 'blond roux', then adding cream, sauteed mushrooms, and slivers of leftover bits of duck or turkey and tossed with pasta (riffing on Turkey Tetrazzini here). But let's get back to the duck.

Bring the duck to room temperature, and place in a roasting pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add the sherry and the one cup of defatted duck broth to the roasting pan; place in the oven. Roast uncovered for 30 to 45 minutes, basting occasionally with the drippings in the pan. The duck is done when it is heated through, and the skin is crisp and a dark chestnut brown.

Transfer duck to a serving platter lined with watercress (using the stems to disguise where legs and wings have fallen off, if that has occurred).

Four servings.

Again, as I wrote above, it was easy; it was delicious. And, it will be made again, probably soon. I haven't used the rest of the broth. When I see it in the freezer, I always think of the Marx Brothers movie, Duck Soup. Groucho said that it was a reference to their mother, Minnie's, cooking. Evidently, she was such a bad cook that when she prepared soup, all the brothers would duck soup. And, on that note... I thank you for reading my blog. Thanksgiving is pau (over, finished, done)... Oh-oh, here it comes! Happy Hanukkah and a very Merry Christmas to you all!