Archive for November 2004

Duck confit II

November 19, 2004 Blog postings No comments

Second day of the confit clinic. I decided to time myself on the duck fabrication. My best time was eight legs in twenty minutes, from start to finish, including trimming the waste bones. That equals one leg every 2.5 minutes. That’s pretty slow. I did three time trials today and my worst time was over 3.5 minutes per leg. So while my best time was slow, I did improve quickly!

Today’s duck was slightly less salty than yesterday’s, and it had been cured with some lavender added to the cure. This time, we shredded the duck confit and added it to a risotto. Tasty, but certainly not a light lunch!

Kitchen notes – 11/19/04

November 19, 2004 Kitchen notes No comments

Hidden Kitchens
A multi-story series by NPR, available online at http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/hiddenkitchens/

Saute technique
Totally pat dry the meat, otherwise the meat will cook too quickly and burn.

Juniper berries
Temper the gaminess of meats, particularly duck or veal. Add directly to the cure mixture.

Duck confit
Duck legs nearly always don’t have enough fat on them to self-confit. Spike rendering fat with lard or Crisco. As more duck is simmered in the fat, the volume will increase since simmering the duck meat will also render out some fat.

Simmer the meat in the rendered fat, at a lower temp, not boiling.

When reheating the confit, try broiling for about 10 minutes to reheat the meat and crisp the skin. Place on a rack on a sheet pan to catch drippings.

Rendering fat
Place fat in enough cold water to cover everything, and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Eventually water will boil off leaving only the rendered fat.

Terminology
White stock: (noun) Unroasted bones, raw mirepoix.

Brown stock: (noun) Roasted bones and sautéed mirepoix with pincage.

Further research
Nitrates and nitrites, used to prevent botulism.

CIA textbook on techniques and methods.

Duck confit I

November 18, 2004 Blog postings No comments

I got to work with meat today! I never thought I would be excited to say that. :-)

Today was the first of two duck confit working sessions. Confit is anything that is cooked in its own fat for preservation. For this session, we used duck legs which we trimmed up and boned, cured, rendered the fat trimmings, simmered the legs in the fat, then pan-fried them. We bought something like 10 cases of duck legs which translates into about 180 legs to be fabricated.

The legs were structurally three bones, two of which we had to remove: The leg bone, the thigh bone, and part of the back bone. We started by trimming some of the fat off the leg down towards the back bone which we followed along until we got to the back-thigh joint. We popped that joint and cut the back bone free. Then we stuck the knife tip through the meat to the leg-thigh joint to cut the tendons, followed by carefully cutting along the thigh bone to fully expose it. Once the thigh bone was fully free of the meat, we cut the leg-thigh joint and removed the thigh bone. The final step was to nip the extreme end of the leg bone halfway down the knob to sever the tendon which will release the meat during cooking and make it all easy to eat.

The meal we made today from our confit was pretty good. I felt the duck was too salty, however. This could be solved by rinsing better before simmering in the fat.

After class, which was a morning class, Chef gave me and Nadia our first written test. I did horribly. Most of the test was about stocks which I hadn’t formally been introduced to yet, but we had talked about them occasionally. Of ten questions I only got four completely right. There were a few other questions I remember talking about, but I guess I didn’t pay enough attention! After Chef graded the tests we talked about each topic and now I understand each issue and could score 100% on these questions.

Kitchen notes – 11/18/04

November 18, 2004 Kitchen notes No comments

Pork bellies
Pigs apparently have as many nipples as they have babies. The belly is from the underside section of a pig, including a bit of the ribs.

Duck Confit
Confit generally implies something cooked in its own fat for extended preservation. Originated when there were no refrigerators. Duck confit will keep at room temp for several month as long as it’s totally covered in fat.

Fabricating duck leg
Fat generally follows bones, to it’s fairly easy to figure out where bones are underneath meat.

Trim the fat from the underside of the leg, then towards the back bone, cutting up towards the bone (to not cut off any extra meat), until you get to the joint where the thigh meets the back. Pop the joint loose and fully separate the back bone from the thigh bone. Lay the bone skin side down and stick the tip of your knife into the joint between the thigh and leg, separating the tendons. Cut down on top of the thigh bone towards the exposed end (formerly attached to the back bone) and carefully separate the meat on either side from the thigh bone. Be careful to not cut through to the other side. Pinch the thigh bone about 2/3 from the exposed end and cut underneath towards the exposed end to fully separate from the meat. Bend the joint and fully separate. Turn the leg over and trim ragged edge of fat, if necessary.

Heating fat
Water added to the fat will keep it from getting too hot; it will stay at about 212F. When the water is gone, the fat will quickly rise in temp.

Recipe instructions
Bacon curing

  • 1.25# salt
  • 14oz sugar
  • 4 oz TCM

Use for 50# of pork bellies. Rub both sides, store skin-side down. Further information in the CIA’s Garde Manger

Terminology
Confit: (verb) From confiture, meaning “preserve”, usually in the item’s own fat.

Chilli: (noun) Aztec word for the fruit of a chile plant.

Chile: (noun) Spanish version of “chilli”.

Pepper: (noun) Christopher Columbus’ name for chiles.

Capsicums: (noun) Any fruit that has capsaicin, ie chiles.

Chili: (noun) Short for Chili con Carne, a North American invention featuring chili powder.

Chili powder: (noun) A mixture of dried, ground chiles, and spices like black pepper, cumin, and cinnamon.

Chile powder: (noun) Dried and ground chiles.

Further research
Book: The New Restaurant Entrepreneur

First aid for fat burns?
Wash with cold water until pain goes away. Do not cover will oils or lotions which may cause infections. Dress loosely with a clean bandage.

Not missing the office

November 16, 2004 Blog postings No comments

Today was a private class for a company morale event. We started with a tour of the Pike Place Market. Chef asked me to get there a bit early and to wear my chef’s whites. He said I was in for a surprise, and he was right. Where ever I went in the market, the service was amazing. I was treated like I was part of the in-crowd. I’ve never had such friendly, warm service, even if I had been wearing a suit. It happened anywhere I went; maybe I should wear my coat whenever I have to run errands!

When the group for the class showed up, I got a bit of surprise. A former colleague of mine from Design school, Daniel, was one of the people in the class! It had been at least eight years since I had seen him. It was kind of strange seeing him in this circumstance. He’s a Creative Director for a local dot-com company now.

Chef took the class on a tour of the market starting at Beecher’s, a cheese shop that makes its own cheese. Then to a fishmonger, a greengrocer, a spice shop, an import market, and finally a truffle shop. For me, it was a great experience to see Pike Place from the inside. I’ve been going to the market for several years, but never as part of the food service industry and I saw the market with new eyes today.

Back at Culinary Communion, we made various dishes including steamed clams, onion soup, and cedar-plank roasted salmon. When lunch was over, Heidi asked the group what was next for them, maybe back to the office for work? Just thinking of that made me glad to be out of the office world. But the woman’s response was even more unappealing to me. She said her team was going to go do a brainstorm breakout session. God I hate those things. I don’t miss them a bit. I so much more enjoy the vibrancy of the kitchen.

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