Slow-roasted Duck Legs

Prodded on by the relatively good success I've enjoyed so far with ducks, today, I ventured into duck legs, and again was similarly rewarded with a stunning outcome.

I used a dry mixture of minced garlic, shallots and thyme and left it in the fridge overnight.

Next day, preheat oven to 200 degrees C/400 degrees F. Remove dry mixture and place duck legs in a roasting pan. Add preferred vegetables like carrots or onions. I had some baby potatoes to get rid of so I plonked them in hoping I could call them potato confit, which by the way seems to be a favourite in gourmet magazines.

Cover loosely with aluminium foil and pop it in the oven for 45 minutes. You don't need to oil this baby. It's full of good animal fats in it and you can render more duck fat!

After 45 min, remove foil, drop temperature to 170 degrees C and roast skin side up in the oven for another 45 minutes.

And wahla, this is how it looks at the end - nicely browned crispy skin duck legs with meat shreddable by a fork.

Check my other duck posts:

1. Roasting a whole duck in 4 hours
2. Roasting ducks in Munich
3. Pink-blush duck breast with crispy, crackling top, done home sous-vide style. This is a clear winner and was featured in the Asian Food Channel Official FB Page on 06 February 2012. It is now the most popular post on my blog.

My duck breast featured on Asian Food Channel

I was thrilled to find my blog post on the sous vide duck breast featured on Asian Food Channel's Official Facebook Page yesterday! It garnered almost 400 Likes in half a day before it got lost amongst the other food posts. And I experienced a sudden spike in my viewership yesterday. Not bad for an Extra Virgin Blogger. Well, my duck breast post is now my most popular post, thanks to AFC! 

Click here to read the entire post. Now ducks and I are one!

The best duck breast in the world!

How wicked does this look??!!

THIS POST HAS ALSO BEEN FEATURED ON THE ASIAN FOOD CHANNEL OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE.

I knew it was a matter of time before I would succumb to sous vide. I've been thinking about it for as long as about 6 months. Today, I yielded to the temptation and attempted my first home sous vide duck breast. The effort was worth every minute of my time and attention! 

In the absence of a commercial sous vide machine, I did a home version consisting of a cast iron pot, ziploc, water and a meat thermometer and maintained the temperature at 55 degrees Celsius for an hour.

Then, I pan-seared the meat for 5 minutes on the skin and 1 minute on the other side. This golden glow got me wildly ecstatic!

Pan-searing the duck breast ensures the fat is rendered, leaving a nice crisp skin that encases the moist flesh beneath.

A big thumbs-up from my man. "Fine dining domesticated," he says.

This costs a fraction of what you will have to pay in a restaurant. Ducks, duck fats and I have a lot of chemistry going. I've roasted a whole duck in 4 hours - click here to see the photos. But this little duck breast project has got to be my most exciting and rewarding culinary experiment. Rated a close second is my home-cured smoked salmon. I will definitely be making this again, and very soon too!

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My recipe collection book

My daughter got this for me for Christmas from Munich and gave it to me during our Europe pig-out which means this book travelled with us to Austria and Italy. I've found it so practical in helping me to organise my thoughts and notes and loose clippings.

There are coloured pockets for me to insert the occasional news clips of recipes that I would want to try my hands on when I feel like it.

There are also clear folder pages so I can see the pictures and be allured by them to want to try them out.

Yes, beef carpaccio is also very high in my To-Try List. 

Coloured tabs for me to categorise and label - should I label them Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner or Must-try, I-dare-you, and Dream-on?

Cooking for the Crew

I served "Chinese salsa" to my Mexican cook!

I have now volunteered about 2 months of my time at the social enterprise and am learning heaps. Just spending hours each day with cooks from all woks of life is in itself a learning journey. Today, the Executive Chef decides that I should do the staff meal. That means cooking for 20 chefs and service crew by noon time with a limited budget and based on ingredients I can get my hands on in the chiller. All by myself. *Gulp* Help me, God!

I was a little flustered just thinking about it. So many recipes flooded my mind but I had to quickly eliminate each one for a variety of reasons. I had to work within the constraints of time, budget as well as what I think the crew normally like. Heavy on carbo to fill their big stomachs and simple Chinese stir-fries to meet the budget. Definitely not my thing! Neither for consumption nor for practice. But I had 20 mouths to feed by noon and I needed to stay focused on the task at hand. 

I decided to make a "short-cut" Hainanese chicken rice. I learned later, what I call "short-cut", the Executive Chef called "Western technique". Let me walk you through what I did. 

1. On a big pot with some hot oil, I fry some minced shallots. Everything becomes more difficult when you cook for mass. I almost burnt the shallots at the side of the pot!

2. Next, I added 2 big heaps of rice and chicken stock. The amount of stock I used is as if I was cooking the rice on a rice cooker.

3. I crushed some garlic and scatter them around the rice. 

4. At the same time, I lay out 10 boneless chicken legs marinated earlier in Chinese sesame oil, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Place them all on top of the rice in one layer, skin on. 

5. Cover the pot and let the rice cook. The animal fat from the bird will melt onto the rice giving it flavour and fragrance. According to Chef, this is a Western cooking technique. He challenged me to think of what other spices or herbs I could add to the pot at this stage. Hmm...didn't think of that. I decided on a few bay leaves and 2 cinnamon sticks. Great suggestion from him!

6. About half an hour later, the chicken is cooked through. I removed them, fluffed up the rice and at the suggestion of the pastry chef (yes, by now, everyone is involved!), I bruised and threw in some pandan leaves (screwpine leaves) for added aroma. 

Chef shot me a few questions: Are you happy with the smell? Is the texture what I'm seeking? Think also of the colours on the table later. What effect do you want to draw from the diner? Huh? It's just a staff meal? No? He forced me to think about the quality of my work and to learn to adjust and improvise as I go along.

I learned to cut up the legs in even pieces and he made me think about the garnishing. We also did an ala-minute julienned ginger with hot smoking oil poured over it and used it as a glaze over the nicely poached chicken. Great on-the-spot thinking and creative improvisation. Intellectually stimulating for me!

I had to do a veggie dish as well and was not enthusiastic about stir-fries - they are such a yawn to me. But Chef made the experience very different. He made me think hard about what effect I want the eater to experience in the mouth. C'mon, Chef, it's just a plain, old stir-fry! Or is it?! This is sliced cabbage with sauteed capsicum. He instructed me to continue stirring while he drizzled a long thin line of beaten eggs. Immediately, the pan came alive for me as the colour changed from a pale yellow to a tinge of golden orange. It was the way he drizzled the egg in that caught my undivided attention. Small act, big impact. 

I finished it off with diced tomatoes (seeds and pulp removed), diced cucumber (seeds removed), marinated in Chinese dressing of sesame oil, soy sauce and a dash of salt, topped with sweet pineapples. Chinese salsa, as I say. I served this to a cook in the kitchen who is from Mexico. He said he loved it, LOL!

What an experience cooking this staff meal. I got a couple of positive and encouraging feedback. Phew. I will get another chance again next week. Stressful! But good stress and a great learning experience. Better than any cooking lessons out there.

*all iphotos so please excuse the quality!

Europe pig-out 1: lunch & dinner at Tegernsee

Creamy mushroom soup with finely-julienned saffron

After a 13-hour flight into Munich and another 90-minute drive into the countryside, we walked into a chic restaurant near our farm house. Although there was a fireplace to warm us, I needed something to warm me from the inside. I have in fact ordered soup in every restaurant we walked into! But this one was a tad unusual. I love the julienned saffron strips that make the soup stand out from the others. 

Just another pasta but why is it the restaurants always make them look better than what I can do at home?

Wood-oven pizza with local cured ham 

The cranberry pie looked rustic and inviting and we helped ourselves to it. It took a mere 25 seconds to wipe this out!

This is the farmhouse we stayed in Tegernsee, 90-minute drive from Munich city. Tegernsee is better known to local tourists than foreigners but thanks to our dear friends in Munich, we got connected to Jutta who owns this villa. At Euros 330 for 7 nights for our family of 5, this was a definite steal. It comes with a homely kitchen which we used extensively to make dinner every night. Eating out was always nice but we also preferred our own home-made dinners that cost a fraction and suited our own taste.

We stopped to get some pasta and chicken at the local supermarket. Jutta already had the basic cooking ingredients ready for us to use.

It was easy for me - I can bake this chicken confidently now, thanks to Jamie Oliver's recipe for extra virgin chefs! I could not do this 12 months ago! I added some quick stir-fries with minced garlic and we got our first dinner at home in sub-zero Tegernsee.

The kids got into a roster of dishwashing thereafter for the next 18 days. I am beginning to like this holiday!

Please click here to see Europe pig-out 2

A roasted lamb and a sheepish grin

Mighty pleased with my roast leg of lamb yesterday and still grinning from ear to ear this morning. As I lay on my bed, I went through the entire process in my head to see if there were areas to improve. Overall, I was really pleased with mostly everything, especially when I had to do it within a limited time. Here's what I did.

Bought a 1.6kg leg of lamb from Ben's Food for only $25 - a good bargain. Marinated it with rosemary, sage, garlic, onion, yellow capsicum, celery all chopped up and stuffed into the lamb. Plus salt and pepper of course.  No recipe, just estimated amount and more of ingredients I like. 

I poked holes all over and stuffed the marinade in as far down as I can.

Placed in an airtight container and left it in the chiller overnight for taste to penetrate through meat.

The following morning, I removed it from the chiller and gave it about an hour to bring to room temperature. It's not advisable to place meat cold from the chiller straight into the overn - the cold-hot shock will result in tough meat at the table.

I placed it on a rotisserie, my first try at a lamb on a rotisserie. Thank goodness it fit, and I make a mental note that my oven would not be able to take a lamb leg bigger than this. As usual, I placed a tray of vegetables to catch the melting fat and make yummy roasties. 2 dishes for the effort and time of one.

I took a video of the rotisserie rotating in the oven with my iPhone and posted it successfully on my facebook page. Even that posting process was my first attempt. As with all things on this blog, the basic spirit here is - life is one big learning journey. Stay curious and pursue knowledge as the world pursues wealth.

200C in the oven for 75 mins to get pink medium-rare meat. Add 15 minutes if you prefer your lamb more done. I brought it to a friend's place but forgot to bring my carving knife, so the cut is a bit rough but I was delighted to see the pink blush when the knife sliced through the leg.

Feedback from friends and children were positive and encouraging. The 2 comments that meant the most was one from my son who isn't a meat-lover and another from a friend who does not normally enjoy eating lamb. I'm confident of repeating this dish and so was mighty pleased with myself on this effort. I still have the sheepish grin on my face, pun totally intended.

Roasting a duck in 4 hours - Quack on a Rack

"Man who waits for roast duck to fly into mouth must wait very, very long time." Jules Renard

I've been thinking about experimenting with a home-made duck confit but I don't know where to buy duck thighs. The aunties and uncles at a few wet markets I went to said it's not worthwhile for them to sell only duck thighs. So this morning, I decided to buy the whole duck and to try to roast the entire bird. I've roasted chickens so many times now but am curious how it would be like with a duck.

In this roasting process, I will aim to collect as much duck fat as possible. They keep for months and are good for using on mashed potatoes instead of butter. I could also keep them for my duck confit if I can get my hands on some duck thighs.

After a few searches on the web, I aggregated the knowledge and did it my own way as follows:

After cleaning duck by rubbing salt all over, with a sharp knife, I make a slit on the skin and fat,
but NOT ON THE MEAT.

Criss-cross the slits

It's easier than it looks. Just be sure to use a sharp knife and run it along smoothly. I also prick holes to allow for more fats to flow out. The more fat you can collect, the better.

I give it another round of salt as a marinade. I've also trussed the leg the same way I trussed the chicken. I set it up on a wire gauze with a tray below lined with foil to catch the melting duck fat. Popped it in the oven at 150C.

After an hour, I turn it over and retain temp at 150C.

After 2 hours, I find a dead alien shoving his fist at me. Am wondering how the meat can be tender since it's starting to dry out and I still have 2 hours to go. I decided to drop temp to 140C.

After three hours, I yank it out to find it's looking like serious business - and it smells marvellous! As I turn it over again and pop it back in for the 4th hour, I prepare the glaze. 

No recipe, just my own concoction - honey, fresh orange juice, Japanese rice wine, light soy sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. I left the orange pulp in there. Place these on a saucepan and simmer (low heat, small bubbles) until the mixture is syrupy. Set aside and wait for the lame duck.

At the 4th hour, I remove the bird and brush my syrup all over and put it back in the oven. So far, so good, and then... I made one costly mistake... 

In the last 5 minutes, I put it on high grill to achieve a crispy effect on the skin. Unfortunately, I also put the bird on the highest level and it burns right before my eyes after only 2 minutes!

I yank the poor bird out quickly and rescue it from further carcenogia. What a pity 'cos I can see the skin is nicely crisped! 4 hours of effort gone to waste from 2 minutes of negligence! Looks like I have to try this again!

Feedback from family: My mom loves it - she said a few times it's really good! My son said it tastes like BBQ pork. I need to do it one more time and make time to plate and present it. 

The duck fat I collected. Now, I'm in a serious relationship with duck fat. It's complicated.

I decided to use the duck fat to make carrot confit for my caregroup tonight - sprinkle with salt and pepper, roast till soft, blend and make into a dip. Add za'atar and ground peanut.

Many people said they couldn't believe I didn't add sugar.

So, it looks like I will definitely have to give this another go but overall, I was happy with this adventure.