What’s Up Duck – Sidney Provisioning

These ducks better watch out – swim to near our boat and they may find themselves dinner.

You can get anything you want at Sidney.  Close to the Port of Sidney Marina – within walking distance –  are three grocery stores, three bakeries, and two liquor stores.  We have found the food to be cheap in Sidney – not cheap enough to offset the incredibly high price of liquor and wine, but cheap enough.

One of the things I love to eat is duck.  In Seattle, the duck police mandated that the price of duck should never be less than $1.99 per pound – so a bird was always about $14-15..  Yes, I found some disabled ducks with one wing or leg missing at 99 Ranch Market – but they were not that fun to buy – I always wondered what happened to that missing leg….  In Sidney, a whole young duck costs about $10 – quite a bargain.  So I have cooked a bit of duck.  Here are a couple of things I have made since coming here….

Duck and Potato Dumplings

The key to all good duck recipes is a good stock – this takes about 10 hours to make in a crock pot.  Take your duck and fillet off the breasts and leg quarters, then chop up and roast the rest in the oven at 450 for about 45 minutes – drain and save the fat.  Be sure to save the liver – since some great pate’ is coming soon….Saute the following in a bit of olive oil:

one onion, two stalks celery, two carrots, one clove garlic –   deglaze with one cup of red wine and throw the whole mess into the crock pot with about two quarts of water, two bay leaves, thyme and rosemary – add one tbs of tomato paste if you feel like opening some.  Then cook on low all day.  Drain the stock, and return to the crock pot – you will still need to cook it down tomorrow.  Since it is still pretty cold outside – the duck fat will come to the surface overnight for skimming.  Finish the "reducktion" the next day – yielding about two cups of stock.

Take the breasts and  brine them in a quart bag with 1/4 cup of sugar and salt 1/4 salt, bay, and black peppercorns – for about two hours.  Brining plumps the tissues of the bird with extra flavor fluids and reduces shrinkage when sauteing and roasting the breasts.

Saute the breasts, after slashing the breast skin, in a hot pan until well brown and much of the fat is rendered – finish in a hot oven for about 10 minutes – meanwhile make the gravy from the duck stock.  This is pretty simple – drain the duck fat from the pan and saute shallots until tender in butter, add 1tbs butter and flour to make a roux, deglaze with a bit of white wine and add the duck stock- reduce until a gravy like consistency.

The dumpling are made by boiling a russet, running it through a grater (I use this instead of a potato ricer – works fine and stores flat) and mixing with one egg and 1/4 cup potato starch – I usually add a bit of what ever green herb is around – usually parsley.  Roll the dumplings about the size of a golf ball and boil for about 10 minutes.

This may sound a bit complicated in a galley that is this size, but it is all about timing and organization, and having the ingredients prepared.  I cut lots of things up and put them in small bowls, poach the asparagus in advance for a quick finish.  Unfortunately the galley usually looks like a small hurricane hit it by the time I am done….

By this time the boat is filled with smoke from the duck frying, and steam from the dumplings boiling.  MS is opening the hatches and trying not to yell at me, but she has gotten used to it by this time, and knows she will get some good duck – I am better about turning the fans on.  Plate the duck breast with 2-3 dumplings and add some green something – since it is spring that would be poached asparagus.  Enjoy!

Duck confit in crockpot in cockpit – say that five time fast…. another post coming soon about using the leg quarters, liver, and duck fat left over from the above dish….