Now that I’ve returned from a month in France, I’m all about preparing some of the wonderful meals I enjoyed there. My A-list includes: braised pork cheeks, mussels, duck confit, and goat cheese salad. My son Ryan and his wife Tiffany planned on visiting last Sunday for “Sunday dinner” so I asked if they’d mind being my guinea pigs for a test run of duck confit. He said they were game. Before I begin with the story, take a look at these three pictures (scroll over each).
For those of you who, A) follow my blog and recognize my countertop or B) have eaten at my house and recognize my countertop, you will immediately know which duck confit I prepared. Even so, if you have eaten at my house you just might opt for door number 3 knowing that most of the time, I do a pretty good job with interpreting recipes. You might say, “Gee door number 3 looks a little anemic, but Trish is such a good cook, I bet it’s deceiving. And you know, sometimes, the worst looking food has the best flavor.” You might say that. But you’d regret it. Let me go back to the beginning of the story.
While in France I had the gastronomic pleasure of dining at Mistral Bistro Modern located in the wonderful village of L’Isle Sur La Sorgue, Provence. Over a three-week period, we dined there on three occasions. The first time I had the wonderful pork cheeks; the second and third times I ordered the duck thigh confit. These preparations had a few things in common. First, they were absolutely delicious. Second, both meats were mouthwateringly tender and flavorful. Third, both were accompanied by cocos de Provence.
In an email dialogue with Mistral owner, Minna Benoit, I asked if cannellini beans would be the closest substitute to the cocos and she agreed. I also asked if she would possibly share the pork cheek recipe with me. She agreed to ask her husband if he would be willing to share. (Maybe if Minna reads this post she will take pity on me :-))
Since I haven’t yet received the recipe from Minna – and I would understand if they didn’t want to share their secrets – I decided to have a look around the web for something similar. What I found was behind door number 1. So there you have it. Door number 1, http://www.mykitchentable.co.uk/index.php/2011/12/raymond-blanc-duck-leg-confit-with-flageolet-beans/ is what I was attempting. Door number 2 is what I had the pleasure of eating at Mistral. Door number 3 is my 3-day disaster.
Friday, Day 1: The Duck Hunt. I woke up on Friday, having found Raymond Blanc’s recipe on Thursday night, ready to tackle duck confit. Since he calls for a day or two marinade, I had to start hunting for the duck right away. I called several local butchers who don’t sell duck (but luckily can get me some pork cheeks when I need them). I then lowered my standards and called the local Giant food store meat department. The butcher informed me she had 4 individually wrapped duck legs. I asked her to hold please. By the way, Mistal prepared duck thighs, but I was settling for duck legs out of desperation. I picked up the duck legs at the grocery store and almost fell over when I looked at the price. $7.99 per. Wow. Then I noticed they were already cooked. That wouldn’t do.
One of the butchers earlier that morning said I should try Eastern Market. (one of three farmer’s markets in town) I drove half way across town, zipped from butcher to butcher, but no one had duck.
I was out of time that day since we had other commitments so I went home with all of the other ingredients for the meal, hoping I’d find duck the following day.
Saturday, Day 2: The decoy. The following morning my husband picked up a whole duck from Giant and was charged with the task of cutting it into parts…needless to say we didn’t watch a video or read any instructions ahead of time about dissecting a duck. At least it had one day to “marinate in the spices”…sorta.
Sunday, Day 3: Culinary Quackery. First thing in the morning I began roasting the duck. It was really looking promising, don’t you think?
Later that day, I worked on the beans. I have to say, I don’t “cheat” much when it comes to cooking. Almost everything I make is from scratch and I snarl at someone if they ask “Is that a homemade pie crust?” Two major exceptions: I rarely make my own stock for soup, as there are plenty of nice options available and I don’t work with dried beans – I’ve only ever used with canned beans – almost exclusively for chili. In the interest of authenticity, I decided to try dried beans. I couldn’t find any dried cannellini beans so I opted for Great Northern beans. I soaked them overnight as directed.
I ventured away from the Blanc recipe in a few ways:
I sautéed the onion and instead of using bacon I used chorizo (which was a part of the Mistral recipe). I sautéed the chorizo with the onion and I added the pressed garlic at the end. Then I added the beans and water and cooked them as directed. It took a lot longer than 50 minutes to soften the beans, but at some point they went beyond soft to mushy. (Issue #1)
When marinating the duck, the recipe called for rock salt. I didn’t have any so I opted for regular salt. (Issue #2) I roasted the duck at 300° instead of 275° (Issue #3).
By the time all was said and done, I ended up with door number 3. Ugh. Bland, dry duck, and mushy, flavorless beans.
My son and his wife tried to be good sports about it. My husband’s first comment was, “You might not want to serve to our friends until you work on it a bit more.” My daughter-in-law (who was suffering from a pretty bad cold – dulled tastes buds) said “I think it’s good.” My son dutifully ate as much as he could, then he sat for a few minutes. Finally he walked over to the refrigerator and got out the leftover macaroni and cheese and chicken and created a nice plate for himself.
So much for my first try at Duck Confit. There was definitely something fowl in the garbage that night.
I’d love to hear comments about this fiasco. Your thoughts readers? Suggestions? Any ideas for a good spicy chorizo?
As the kids were leaving Sunday evening, Ryan said, “See you soon Mom, next time let’s have roast beef and mashed potatoes.”
