quack

I finally did it. I cooked a duck. I started thinking about it last summer, wanting to do something nice for the gentleman who seemed so fond of the duck served in restaurants. I was making inquiries in the middle of the winter, when the local supermarket was selling duck, presumably as a holiday special. But I didn't get around to it then, because every time we got together, either the store had no ducks, or I didn't think I could deal with the time and physical strain of cooking one. Fortunately, Wilson Farms sells ducks in the spring. (They also sell banana milk. Chocolate milk is familiar to just about everyone. But banana?)

I roasted the duck rather simply, with thyme and salt and pepper. Not having a proper roasting rack, I drained the fat out of the pan when I turned the bird every half hour or so. James Beard and whoever wrote the cooking instructions on the plastic duck wrapper, had different suggestions for roasting time and temperature, but they agreed about the turning. My hands are not good with manipulating partly-roasted entire ducks, so it was a good thing I had help. For future reference, I wonder if a rack would make it less necessary? I gauged doneness with my wonderful meat thermometer, not wanting to rely on color or texture, especially when I'm so unfamiliar with this kind of meat. (I also did not rely on the indignant quacking noises I heard when I poked the thermometer into the cooked bird.) We skinned the bird, and the meat was wonderful - moist and tender and rich tasting. We ate it with an orange-ginger sauce, and wild rice cooked with slivered almonds, and green beans.

I made the wild rice relatively plain (no mushrooms or onions, not even any pepper) because I was thinking of the Hell's Kitchen porridge people were raving about after Minicon. This morning was too eventful for breakfast, so the porridge didn't happen until this evening, after the gentleman was on his way home. This turned out to be just as well, because I got to have it all to myself. My porridge was rather different from the Hell's Kitchen version, but experiments will continue. I sauteed the leftover wild rice + nuts in a little butter. When the rice started to smell toasty, I poured in what was left of the banana milk, and enough vanilla soy milk to make up the same total volume as the rice. I added a handful of dried fruit, equal parts cherries and raisins. I stirred it as it cooked, and contemplated adding a few prunes, but didn't want to bother cutting them up. When the liquid was almost cooked off, I tasted the porridge. I planned to add yogurt if it was too sweet, or maple syrup if it wasn't sweet enough, but it was perfect as it was. Next time, when I don't have the banana milk, maybe I'll add dried coconut flakes.