Well, the duck feast was last night and it was amazing. Pretty impressive feat for a Monday night - but one can do that when one leaves work a little early to cook supper! (thanks HR for the concept of 'earned days off').
I have pictures to share but, alas, still without a working home computer, our avid readers will be forced to eye my sister's creations in the interim (luckily, the final products looked the same). I have to say that despite my bravado in the previous entries, I was a bit nervous about this recipe. Having only roasted a 'whole' bird a handful of times, I approached the stuffing and trussing of the bird with some trepidation. Thanks be to the recipe gods - it all went relatively uneventfully.
In fact, the most eventful part of the creation was the heated discussion that my hubby and I had the night before when I mentioned I was thinking of substituting the white rice for a brown/white and wild rice mix. "No screwing with mom's recipe", I was told. So, true to the pink 3x5 card, I proceeded to read up on how to cook Minute Rice. The resultant cooked duck and stuffing passed muster and Jason even introduced me to how applesauce could (I am very grudgingly admitting this) actually complement the duck. Mom and dad, convinced to stay for an impromtu dinner, also voiced their approval.
Now stuffing cooked in the bird, contrary to what Alton Brown (chef extraordinaire) says, is not evil. In fact, I think that those individuals who fear walking on the wild side and courting various foodbourne illnesses, are really missing out by throwing the stuffing in the old casserole dish. Had I done that, it would just be plain old rice with a few fixing in it and not have had the amazing 'essence of duck' that cooking it in the bird provided it with.
PS. The creamed corn was wicked too - I am finding it hard to cook white sauce with a recipe as I usually make it up as I go along. But for the sake of the cookbook I am measuring and counting - that was the hardest part of doing that dish - by far.
1 comment:
A-ha! I noticed this "stuffing in a casserole" phenomenon in a few magazine but had no idea why. Does that negate the term STUFFING in the first place...? Stuffing Rules! On the applesauce front: I think if we can "fusion" the applesauce (like add ginger or something), then we should work it in the final.
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