Setting yourself up for a fall
I can tell you are waiting with baited breath to see if the duck came out as crisp as newly fallen snow. In short, did it hell! I followed Tamasin Day-Lewis’ fool-proof, you must be a cretin if you can’t get it crisp (of course I’m misquoting the lovely Tamasin somewhat) method. It involved rubbing with salt and pepper, browning it all over in the pan and then putting it in at 220 degrees centigrade for half an hour and then the rest of the time at 200, taking it out a couple of times to prick it all over with a skewer. Despite it being disappointingly limp-skinned, the actual duck was lovely (besides a little less duck skin would keep my control knickers in service for a while longer), and served with beautifully crisp roast potatoes cooked in duck fat, so I can’t complain really (I can hear faint ranting in my ear about children in Africa and they would appreciate it crispy skinned or no!)
Aside from the duck there were some triumphs this weekend (and no it wasn’t sliding neatly into my slim jeans. Haven’t a hope in hell with the stuff I’ve been eating these past two weeks). Despite the less than glowing reference I gave her duck skin taming method, her book, Tamasin’s kitchen bible, is actually very good and full of nice, easy to follow recipes and lots of pictures (pictures are very important to me). We made her banana bread, which was so good it didn’t even last twenty-four hours (the Kitchenaid is getting some good use). I think the incredibly ripe bananas helped but it also had sultanas, walnuts and honey in it (Pooh bear utopia!)
Wine featured heavily in last night’s duck skin drama, leaving me a little tired and emotional so I will go to bed early and dream of a large chocolate cake.
Technorati Tags: duck, banana bread, wine, Tamasin Day-Lewis
November 27th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
I’ve used another of her duck recipes - think it might be from Tamasin’s Weekend Food - which involves boiling up the duck the night before (you may need a very large saucepan!), letting it dry out overnight, then roasting it at a very high temperature. As far as I remember, it came out mega crispy and nearly fatless, due to most of the fat being left behind in the boiling water. My mother told me that she has a couple of ducks in the freezer at the moment - must snaffle one for further experimentation!
November 27th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Ooh that sounds like a fabulous idea! I don’t think I have a pan quite big enough, but lets see what Santa brings, if all else fails I’ll just have to buy one and of course another duck. Oh the sacrifices you have to make as an aspiring chef