Duck of Death, Part II

About a year ago, I guess, I posted a fragmented duck recipe, which I got from the relocated sous chef of a beloved mountain top restaurant that went defunct. Adirondack stories abound bordering on myth regarding the rakish owner, René’s whereabouts and reason for absconding.

The restaurant, with René’s duck, was one of the reasons I bought a camp in the Adirondacks. Nothing really, really special, but sometimes it’s the next-to-nothings that are most special. And the fact that I could drive a very short distance home on a very back road, added value to René’s liberal corkage policy. Pretty European waitresses didn’t hurt, either, accents and all; you’d think you were in La Pyrénées.

René’s duck in Manhattan wouldn’t get it. It belonged on the top of a mountain with a fire. I had to consider venlafaxine a few days following my drive there to find it shut tighter than Kelsey’s nuts. I mumbled my despair to an elderly neighbor, who, to my surprise, was almost as depressed about it as I was. His favorite dish in the world, he said – and now it’s gone.

My spirits lifted thinking how I might find the recipe and treat the old man and his lovely wife to René’s duck one more time, just two doors away for him. I found the chef (I don’t think anybody actually leaves the Adirondacks) cooking in North Creek, and scratched out the recipe on the back of an envelope.

When I looked at what I wrote, I couldn’t really understand it, so I posted what I had, and got back some good advice. But I always felt I didn’t have the real McCoy, so I didn’t attempt to cook it. For example, the cook said scallions, and a Forum member assured me he meant shallots. (He meant scallions.)

I called the cook again today and he was still at the Copperfield Inn. I asked him to relate the recipe again, and he did. (The last time, I have given him a nice bottle of Bordeaux in thanks, which he pretended to appreciate. Then, at another restaurant, The Owl at Twilight, a previous Rene’s waitress thanked me for it. Incest is best, in the metaphorical sense.)

Here it is:

Roast the duck breast down for 45 minutes in water with cut up apples and oranges.

Turn it over, dump the water, and roast it some more until just about done. Let it cool and de-bone it.

Now sweat scallions and garlic in butter and oil. Add the black current preserve and maybe a few berries, cassis, game demi-glace and a cup of heavy cream. Reduce. (I guess I will just have to make it a couple of times to get the ingredient quantities to taste, before inviting Bob and Joan over.)

Put the duck parts back in the hot oven in a pan with a little water and heat until the skin is the way you like it. Put it on the table, add the sauce, and there you are. René served it with spaetzle, but I don’t remember the vegetable. I thought maybe red cabbage, but Lynn says, no. Simple as hell, like all the stuff I cook; but maybe it will bring back René’s for Bob and moi.

[Jenise]

Interesting cooking method, and not one I've ever seen reccomended for duck--all that water. It would serve to keep the bird moist, I guess, in that essentially you're poaching the breast meat initially. I love a challenge--maybe I'll have a go at this this weekend. I have a duck in the freezer.

Interesting cooking method, and not one I've ever seen reccomended for duck--all that water. It would serve to keep the bird moist, I guess, in that essentially you're poaching the breast meat initially. I love a challenge--maybe I'll have a go at this this weekend. I have a duck in the freezer.

That would be super if you played with it! It would be great to get it as perfect as possible before inviting the folks who love it.

Do you have an idea as to where I might find Spätzle in the States? If I can't find it, maybe I can bring it back from Germany the week after next. This whole thing seems like a German dish, except for the sauce. Alsace maybe? Red cabbage seems like it might be perfect for the vegetable. What do you think?

[Jenise]

Well, my playing with it would only get a version of the dish that I liked and represent my understanding of his directions, which are fairly straightforward, but it wouldn't neccessarily duplicate the flavor balance that you remember. Still, I'm intrigued.

Re the spaeztle, you make it yourself. There are reconstitutable dry versions out there, which are like cooking dry pasta essentially, but there's a texture you get when you make it yourself that's incredibly wonderful and worth the effort. You can make the batter and cook it early in the day, then reheat for service. Was his plain so far as you recall? I'd be tempted to add herbs both for their own sake and to further marry the flavors to a good bottle of Bordeaux. Red cabbage could work, though I might be tempted to pull the cabbage off the main plate and serve it as a warm, wilted salad with blue cheese and walnuts, and put something green on the plate for color and to ensure that the black currant flavor had no competition. The sweetness of the red cabbage could have a cancellation effect on the preserves.

Lynn's resisting the spaetzle. Rene's was plain, and probably more appropriate in its Bavarian-esque setting than in our rustic-elegant camp. I think we will go with garlic and pecan rice, or something like that. I'm running green vegetables through my mind, but not finding a stop. Nothing seems perfect. How about a dollop of pureed squash with a couple of asparagus spears crossed over it?

[Jenise]

Nothing wrong wtih asparagus, ever, but I somehow don't see this as an asparagus dish. Would personally choose something that requires less of your attention. That is, asparagus takes a knife and fork to address and so does your duck, which to me is one too many knife-and-fork foods; I will serve asparagus with poached or grilled salmon, otherwise I serve it as a starter course be that a chilled salad or warm drenched in lemon butter prep). I'd go for something that has more modest plating issues too, like wilted spinach with fresh garlic.

Lynn nixed the asparagus. But she's opting for brussels sprouts, which are much more of a knife and fork dish than asparagus. (I'm not going to pull the old book from it's berth, but I think Miss Manners said it was okay to eat asparagus with one's hands.)

I wonder if you could puree brussels sprouts? Usually you puree the inner part of vegebables whose skin was removed, or soft vegetables. I usually ask these goofy questions when Lynn is in bed or otherwise removed. She'll probably hit me upside the head, and say, "What are you crazy?"

[Jenise]

Brussels sprouts would be great. As for knife and fork, depends on their size,and I tend to cut them if they're larger anyway. Trying hashing them--just slice cross-wise in a chiffonade. Consider finishing them in a Chinese saute: put a little oil in a pan, lightly cook a couple bruised (to release flavor) coins of ginger in the oil and cook for a few minutes, then add a few pinchews each salt and sugar at a 2:1 ratio to season the sprouts, the brussel sprouts quartered or chiffonaded, toss well, then douse with some chicken broth or water. The steam from the evaporating liquid flash-cooks the vegetables. You'll have really tasty brussels sprouts with most of the nutrients intact.

Brussels sprouts would be great. As for knife and fork, depends on their size,and I tend to cut them if they're larger anyway. Trying hashing them--just slice cross-wise in a chiffonade. Consider finishing them in a Chinese saute: put a little oil in a pan, lightly cook a couple bruised (to release flavor) coins of ginger in the oil and cook for a few minutes, then add a few pinchews each salt and sugar at a 2:1 ratio to season the sprouts, the brussel sprouts quartered or chiffonaded, toss well, then douse with some chicken broth or water. The steam from the evaporating liquid flash-cooks the vegetables. You'll have really tasty brussels sprouts with most of the nutrients intact.

This brussels sprouts recipe sounds very interesting. We will try it. Lynn didn't want to try it this time with the duck, because Asian influences might be too much fusion for the rib-sticking dish. Maybe she just got tired of the preparation.

Anyway, we had the duck last night at home, not at camp. We had packed everything up and arrived at camp at noon, just to find our pipes frozen. It had apparently dropped to 20 below zero f. earlier in the week without any snow cover for insulation. What a drag.

There were a lot of drippings from roasting the duck. Lynn put them in the refrigerator, and when jelled, removed the fat. We used this base to slightly reduce the demi-glace. The sauce was a bit too kick-butt for our home, but very flavorful. Lynn broiled the boned halfs, with wings removed, just before serving, instead of quickly re-roasting the parts with water, again, as the cook had recommended. Lynn had been shown the broiling method in a French cooking course she had taken. It crisped the skin a little better than the roasting would have. Probably preferable. [End of cooking discussion]

Jenise, you might get a kick out of this: After coming back home, we were kind of sitting around counting our teeth. When you get up for the wild and end up back in suburbia, it is hard to re-acclimate immediately. Lynn suggested we go to a CD shop and get some new jazz music.

The store is noted for its classical music specialization. There's an old guy there who is more pompous than the worst wine store clerk. He knows everything about classical music and immediately shows his impatience with anybody who doesn't share his tastes and knowledge.

I know little about classical music, much like most wine drinkers know almost nothing about wine. While Lynn was browsing, I asked the clerk to make a few relatively obscure classical selections for me, as I had listened to many of the standards over and over again, and would like to hear something new. When he recommended Schubert's songs, I said I didn't like voice. He placed his hands behind his back and turned it on me without further comment.

I said, changing the theme, if I could ever find André Watts' rendition of Chopin's Funeral March (3rd Movement of his Second Sonata), it would be a bit of a Holy Grail for me, but I had never even seen a Watts CD.

My father plays classical piano and sends me tapes of his playing. A few years ago, he sent me a tape of Chopin's Marche funèbre, which I tossed on my early '70s quad Klipsch speakers, including two Cornwalls. I had never heard the piece played with so much power and emotion. I got goose bumps realizing just how great a pianist my father was...er, until I found out that he had taped André Watts, without so stating on the tape. He wasn't trying to fool me; he just wanted to share the tape.

André is a black man, and while this will sound racist, I see him in my minds eye as a guy whose glove wouldn't fit. (Somehow I remember my father telling me it was the opposite situation, but be that as it may.) Anyway, I always wanted to get a production-grade recording of André playing the Funeral March. I've looked for it a dozen times.

The clerk said he didn't have it, and agreed that André Watts is not widely available in CD. Then he walked away. I glanced through Chopin's tray, anyway, and there it was!: André Watts's recording of the Funeral March. The old guy had somehow disappeared, so I missed my opportunity for schadenfreude. But the day ended on a nice (even if melancholy - albeit the piece ends with transformative wind over the grave) note, after listening to all that jazz.