Duckin' Around

I hope everyone is enjoying a nice long weekend. On Thanksgiving morning, I took Da' Boyz down the street to Mission Bay. The recent rain had scrubbed the sky of all the usual haze.

We ran into this flock of fowl during our walk....which drove Da Boyz crazy......

I thought it was kind of....well ironic in a way. As with most years, the Missus had to work over Thanksgiving, so there was making stuff for that. But for us, this year's project was a wonderful duck from Mary's, not cheap, but a nice little project for me.

So the night before T-Day, there I was, breaking down a duck.......it's been a while since I've done this, but I didn't do too badly. I decided to go with a Chinese influence with most things, curing the legs for confit.......

The carcass went into the stovetop smoker.......

The breasts I cured overnight with five-spice, salt, white pepper, ginger juice, scallions......

It ended up being a nice Thanksgiving meal for us......

With the smoked bones I made a soup.

I used only the greens from the napa cabbage in this. The Missus wanted something simple and comforting, a reminder of Her youth. So with the white portion of the napa cabbage, I did a traditional Northern Chinese stir fry with Black Vinegar.

The breasts turned out beautifully....the Missus said it was among the best She's ever had.

Since we were trying to use the whole duck, Da' Boyz had the liver, kidney, and heart for dinner.....

Of course there was still something left over.....can you guess what that was?

This duck was really fatty and there was a ton of skin left over. So yesterday I went ahead and rendered the fat. One of the great byproducts of rendering the fat was the fried duck skin.....man, these are good. The put the "crack" in cracklins'. 

The duck fat is smooth and almost buttery........I'm almost tempted to spread these out on crackers.

So the Missus had duck confit and an egg cooked in duck fat for brunch this morning.

In keeping with the Chinese theme, She dipped the duck into Sichuan Pepper-Salt, but quit after a while telling me that the duck really didn't need anything else.

I guess She really enjoyed the duck since She asked me if we could do this for Christmas. What I'm really happy with is that we didn't waste a thing. The duck was very good quality, though not cheap at nearly $30. Still, if you consider all the meals 1 duck contributed to, it's a good investment for two.

So how did your Thanksgiving go? Was it a traditional one, or did you try something different this year?

 

Comments

[Lynnea]

that duck confit and fried egg look crazily good =) our friends made brisket and latkes. amazing thanksgiving dinner, as always =) glad yours was so nice!

[nhbilly]

I would have been happy to have the kidney, liver, and heart. Just love that nothing was waste and the duck fat FTW!!!

[Kirk]

Sounds like a wonderful T-Day for you Lynnea!

Hi Billy - This duck cost qutie a bit, so I didn't want to waste.

[Faye]

Oh man that duck breast looks amazing - did you cook it in the oven or on stovetop? Can you share the recipe for the duck bone soup (a nice bowl of hot duck broth sounds so good right now).

[Kirk]

Hi Faye - That was just cured overnight and pan fried on the stove top.

The bone soup is just that...smoked duck bones, water, star anise, shaoxing, white pepper, five spice, salt......simple.

[kat]

wow, loving what you did (and ate) for t-day...

[Kirk]

I had a fun time with this Kat!