It was so easy to make I'll now always need to fight over searing the breast or making prosciutto. Guess I'll just have to buy two ducks.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Duck Prosciutto (Finsihed) - Charcutepalooza
The duck prosciutto has finished! The melting fat, the flavorful meat, mmmmmm.
It was so easy to make I'll now always need to fight over searing the breast or making prosciutto. Guess I'll just have to buy two ducks.
I found the best way to eat the duck was with a little blue cheese. Although it is also great in sandwiches.
Slicing with my boning knife worked well. Any really sharp thin blade works well for making the very thin slices.
It was so easy to make I'll now always need to fight over searing the breast or making prosciutto. Guess I'll just have to buy two ducks.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Duck Prosciutto - Charcutepalooza
The middle of last week provided time for all the 'hard' work for the Duck Prosciutto. It still has a few days to age but the work photos were burning a hole in ...hmmm... well they wanted to be posted.
I always practice responsible kitchen practices. It is important to have something to drink while in the kitchen. Getting your drink ready ahead of time give you something to hold as you survey the recipe again. AppleTreow makes a sorghum spirit which I currently enjoying. Back to the duck...
While I was happy to joint the duck I should have thought about what I was really doing and deboned the duck. The best online instructions to debone a bird are here, by Jacques Pepin.
Here are the untrimmed breasts off the duck. Great color and very nice clean fat. I saved all the trimming so I can render the fat andcover myself fry potatoes. Duck stock is also wonderful pleasure when making South Asian soups.
I'm not really sure how this picture got to look so much like split pig hocks but it really is duck breasts on salt.
Once removed from the salt 24 hours (well 26.5, I couldn't really be home at the 24 hour mark) the color is a wonderful dark red. I was amazed at how firm it was already. Although it became more flexible after a quick wash and warming up.
Lastly the little roast tie for drying. I placed my duck in an un-used and barely heated bedroom. The last few days I can feel it become firm again. Nothing is hard or feels dry.
I should start making better plans for the final product other than slicing thin and eating. I do think that it is a great idea but maybe a cracker or two to counter act the shame of eating two duck breasts a wafer thin slice at a time.
 |
| Good Dog |
I always practice responsible kitchen practices. It is important to have something to drink while in the kitchen. Getting your drink ready ahead of time give you something to hold as you survey the recipe again. AppleTreow makes a sorghum spirit which I currently enjoying. Back to the duck...
While I was happy to joint the duck I should have thought about what I was really doing and deboned the duck. The best online instructions to debone a bird are here, by Jacques Pepin.
Here are the untrimmed breasts off the duck. Great color and very nice clean fat. I saved all the trimming so I can render the fat and
I'm not really sure how this picture got to look so much like split pig hocks but it really is duck breasts on salt.
Once removed from the salt 24 hours (well 26.5, I couldn't really be home at the 24 hour mark) the color is a wonderful dark red. I was amazed at how firm it was already. Although it became more flexible after a quick wash and warming up.
Lastly the little roast tie for drying. I placed my duck in an un-used and barely heated bedroom. The last few days I can feel it become firm again. Nothing is hard or feels dry.
I should start making better plans for the final product other than slicing thin and eating. I do think that it is a great idea but maybe a cracker or two to counter act the shame of eating two duck breasts a wafer thin slice at a time.
Graze Review
Saturday my SO and friends went out to Graze for dinner. While we were expecting to make an attempt to destroy the entire regular menu the Restaurant Week menu was still in place.
The appetizers that were listed all looked good and we finally settled on the truffle Oil Popcorn, Deviled Eggs, and Fried Cheese Curds. The three eggs were quickly devoured and hardly mentioned (not because they weren't good) before deep fried hot cheese curds and great popcorn began to disappear from the table. Even after being deep fried the cheese curds still had a bit of squeak and the sauce with them kept the flavor from being single denominational. The popcorn was great as always. Grabbing a handful and picking kernels to eat leaves your hand with a pleasant truffle smell without having oily popcorn.
As a good meat eating group the first course filled the table with Sauteed Calamari and Liverwurst Toast. A wonderful discussion of how we all learned to love liverwurst soon had stories of thick sandwiches with mayo and regrettable evening with a spoon and a tube of braunschweiger. At which point we all acknowledged the difference between the two. The Calamari was perfectly matched with the turnip flan. It wasn't as addictive as the fried calamari at Johnny Delmonico but that's a comparison between the addictive nature of finger nail biting and heroin.
For the second course there were two pork schnitzels, a plate of gnocchi, and a Graze Burger. The Graze Burger was done as requested and with a nice side of crispy fries. The more reviewed Pub Burger is the messier younger brother to this equally tasty dish.
The two Pork Schnitzels were very good with lots of lemon butter and smooth celeriac puree. The crisp fry on the pork wasn't greasy, in fact with the lemon it almost tasted light (for a Wisconsin/Austrian dish). Certainly the best schnitzel I have ever had at a restaurant.
The Gnocchi was also very good and quickly left an empty plate and a satisfied diner.
Desserts were favored to the Salted Caramel Brownie sundae three to one verse the Bread Pudding. The portions to the dessert were very nice. Too often a dessert needs to be split in order to not end up in a diabetic coma. This also left more room and time to enjoy drinks.
The drinks and Graze have consistently gotten better. Working with slightly different mix ratios and different glasses many of the drinks are worth sitting down for themselves. The Rhum Fire has a great ginger kick, the Manhattan had the correct punch, and I enjoyed the Marquez Collins with dessert as a great contrast.
Graze has certainly gotten lots of good press and it is well deserved. The food is wonderful, the location and build makes it that more enjoyable. Sitting to look out at the capitol makes Madison dinning unique. There are also the almost quiet booths keeps everyone from needing to shout over the room to be heard.
While I wasn't able to destroy the regular menu we made a good attempt at the limited restaurant week menu. I don't think it would be wise to attempt the regular menu with just two people but I'm sure I can convince our friends to come out again so the four of us can eat ourselves into a Graze coma.
The appetizers that were listed all looked good and we finally settled on the truffle Oil Popcorn, Deviled Eggs, and Fried Cheese Curds. The three eggs were quickly devoured and hardly mentioned (not because they weren't good) before deep fried hot cheese curds and great popcorn began to disappear from the table. Even after being deep fried the cheese curds still had a bit of squeak and the sauce with them kept the flavor from being single denominational. The popcorn was great as always. Grabbing a handful and picking kernels to eat leaves your hand with a pleasant truffle smell without having oily popcorn.
As a good meat eating group the first course filled the table with Sauteed Calamari and Liverwurst Toast. A wonderful discussion of how we all learned to love liverwurst soon had stories of thick sandwiches with mayo and regrettable evening with a spoon and a tube of braunschweiger. At which point we all acknowledged the difference between the two. The Calamari was perfectly matched with the turnip flan. It wasn't as addictive as the fried calamari at Johnny Delmonico but that's a comparison between the addictive nature of finger nail biting and heroin.
For the second course there were two pork schnitzels, a plate of gnocchi, and a Graze Burger. The Graze Burger was done as requested and with a nice side of crispy fries. The more reviewed Pub Burger is the messier younger brother to this equally tasty dish.
The two Pork Schnitzels were very good with lots of lemon butter and smooth celeriac puree. The crisp fry on the pork wasn't greasy, in fact with the lemon it almost tasted light (for a Wisconsin/Austrian dish). Certainly the best schnitzel I have ever had at a restaurant.
The Gnocchi was also very good and quickly left an empty plate and a satisfied diner.
Desserts were favored to the Salted Caramel Brownie sundae three to one verse the Bread Pudding. The portions to the dessert were very nice. Too often a dessert needs to be split in order to not end up in a diabetic coma. This also left more room and time to enjoy drinks.
The drinks and Graze have consistently gotten better. Working with slightly different mix ratios and different glasses many of the drinks are worth sitting down for themselves. The Rhum Fire has a great ginger kick, the Manhattan had the correct punch, and I enjoyed the Marquez Collins with dessert as a great contrast.
Graze has certainly gotten lots of good press and it is well deserved. The food is wonderful, the location and build makes it that more enjoyable. Sitting to look out at the capitol makes Madison dinning unique. There are also the almost quiet booths keeps everyone from needing to shout over the room to be heard.
While I wasn't able to destroy the regular menu we made a good attempt at the limited restaurant week menu. I don't think it would be wise to attempt the regular menu with just two people but I'm sure I can convince our friends to come out again so the four of us can eat ourselves into a Graze coma.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Lemon Ade / Lemon Beer / Lemon Mead HomeBrew
A little over a week and a half ago I was strong armed into making a Hard Lemon Ade-Beer-Mead due to some cheap good looking lemons. Of course this was something that my SO had wanted for a while so jumping up and down we picked up 36 lemons.
I had done some initial research for this request so I wasn’t completely in the dark when we got home. With 45 minutes to figure out what I wanted and get to the local home brew shop there wasn't much time if I wanted to brew that day. Since I don’t make very traditional items and like strong brews we headed off with a hazy idea of what the final product should taste like. I figured the majority of the sugars would come from honey but it would need something to make it not a lemon mead. I had a mix of hops from the farmers market so I was covered there. That just left the yeast and I debated between a sweet or dry mead yeast
I wish my normal honey person was at the winter farmers market so I could beg and plead for some of her champagne honey, so light and crisp it would be perfect. I also could have found some deep flavored honey like blueberry or orange but I think that would have messed up the lemon flavor. I ended up with some clover honey.
What I found to lighten the body was rice syrup solids. Usually used in a pilsner I knew it would add some fermentables and keep the drink from turning into lemon cough syrup.
So here is the final ‘Grain’ Bill:
I didn’t want to destroy the lemon flavor with a full boil and there wasn’t anything that needed mashing. I just did what I do with my apple ciders and almost sanitize it. Bring the whole batch to 150F for 8-12 minutes. I know the heat isn’t hot enough and/or long enough but I figure I am about to pitch in a lot more yeast than most bacteria or other nasties can contend with. Soon enough the alcohol content will be high enough to kill what is left over. Plus with the very high acidity of 36 lemons anything that survives deserves to win.
My specific gravity came to 1.067. With less honey this could be brought down if you wanted. I’m going for a more sparkling wine version (and have a conditioned liver) so I’ll have no problems with the content. I'm not sure if the high acid content is going to allow a full fermentation, the yeast seem to be happy, or if it completes if the s.g. will be less than 1. Only time will tell.
I put it into my plastic primary fermenter for 36 hours and then moved it to a glass carboy for the secondary. Much of the zest was lost at this point as well as the escaped hops. 11 days later it is still moving along.
So what did I make? Is it a beer? No, without grains I can’t call it beer. Mead? I’m sure you can add hops to mead but it wouldn’t be very traditional would it; plus honey to final product ratio is wrong. Lemon Ade? I guess that is all you can call it. I know my samples have been worth a quarter per glass.
A few other notes about having 36 lemons:
1. The checkout person will need to get manager override to purchase this many. I’m not sure who we are protecting with this rule, the store or me.
2. Hand juicing 36 lemons will teach you where every small cut on your hands are. It will also cause your hands to be very dry but also smell nice.
3. Your trash will not smell even after a week with raw meat trimmings under the lemons.
I had done some initial research for this request so I wasn’t completely in the dark when we got home. With 45 minutes to figure out what I wanted and get to the local home brew shop there wasn't much time if I wanted to brew that day. Since I don’t make very traditional items and like strong brews we headed off with a hazy idea of what the final product should taste like. I figured the majority of the sugars would come from honey but it would need something to make it not a lemon mead. I had a mix of hops from the farmers market so I was covered there. That just left the yeast and I debated between a sweet or dry mead yeast
I wish my normal honey person was at the winter farmers market so I could beg and plead for some of her champagne honey, so light and crisp it would be perfect. I also could have found some deep flavored honey like blueberry or orange but I think that would have messed up the lemon flavor. I ended up with some clover honey.
What I found to lighten the body was rice syrup solids. Usually used in a pilsner I knew it would add some fermentables and keep the drink from turning into lemon cough syrup.
So here is the final ‘Grain’ Bill:
- 4lbs of clover honey
- 1/2lbs Rice Syrup Solids
- Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast (4184)
- 36 Lemons (hand juiced got about ¾ gallons)
- 4 lemons worth of zest
- 50 grams of Farmers Market Hops (mix of cascades and fuggles)
- Enough water to make 3 gallons (I needed 2 gallons)
I didn’t want to destroy the lemon flavor with a full boil and there wasn’t anything that needed mashing. I just did what I do with my apple ciders and almost sanitize it. Bring the whole batch to 150F for 8-12 minutes. I know the heat isn’t hot enough and/or long enough but I figure I am about to pitch in a lot more yeast than most bacteria or other nasties can contend with. Soon enough the alcohol content will be high enough to kill what is left over. Plus with the very high acidity of 36 lemons anything that survives deserves to win.
My specific gravity came to 1.067. With less honey this could be brought down if you wanted. I’m going for a more sparkling wine version (and have a conditioned liver) so I’ll have no problems with the content. I'm not sure if the high acid content is going to allow a full fermentation, the yeast seem to be happy, or if it completes if the s.g. will be less than 1. Only time will tell.
I put it into my plastic primary fermenter for 36 hours and then moved it to a glass carboy for the secondary. Much of the zest was lost at this point as well as the escaped hops. 11 days later it is still moving along.
So what did I make? Is it a beer? No, without grains I can’t call it beer. Mead? I’m sure you can add hops to mead but it wouldn’t be very traditional would it; plus honey to final product ratio is wrong. Lemon Ade? I guess that is all you can call it. I know my samples have been worth a quarter per glass.
 |
| Lemon Ade in Secondary |
A few other notes about having 36 lemons:
1. The checkout person will need to get manager override to purchase this many. I’m not sure who we are protecting with this rule, the store or me.
2. Hand juicing 36 lemons will teach you where every small cut on your hands are. It will also cause your hands to be very dry but also smell nice.
3. Your trash will not smell even after a week with raw meat trimmings under the lemons.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Charcutepalooza
So this is the start of Charcutepalooza here at Madison Wisconsin Foodie.
Honestly I’m not sure if we were not starting with my second favorite animal; duck; I would be involved. Don’t get me wrong I love the pig. The magical animal of bacon, ham, chops, ears, hocks, ribs, and made of everything tasty. There is just something devilish with starting with a duck.
So last Saturday I picked up a duck from Blue Valley Gardens at the Dane County Farmers Market. By tomorrow I’ll have a defrosted duck to butcher. The legs will get the confit treatment and added to the four legs and two rabbits already in storage. The wings and back will be added to the duck stock bags.
I do hope that we do a few fresh and cured sausages; since that will get me finally purchase the attachments to either my hand grinder or Kitchen Aid mixer.
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