Go to the Recipe: Duck Breast 135 °F and Duck Skin Crumble
Instead of crumbling them, try cutting the skin into cubes. Then fry them as you would anything else. You can achieve a very crispy exterior with a soft and juicy interior. Play with the dimensions a bit. About 1cm cubes should do the trick.
- originally posted by Grant Lee Crilly
The Intro mentioned pickled beets, roasted beets, tropical spinach, and chocolate, but nowhere that I could find was the preparation fo those other ingredients explained.One star, for incompleteness.
Can you cool the skin in the freezer or is nitrogen a necessity?
- originally posted by Peter Demarest
You're freezer will need to be very cold, and it may start to thaw on you a bit quickly. But it's possible.
I had to make do without nitrogen too. Should have read the comments here first, but I think it worked out ok. I cut the skin up into small (~1/8") pieces, then cooked. Once the fat had rendered and they were nicely browned, I drained and pulsed in the food processor briefly to get finer texture. I don't know how the texture would compare to the nitrogen processed crumble, but I was mostly happy with the result. I expect that I lost some of the crispiness, but without pulsing, the crumble would have been larger than I was hoping for. Maybe you could reserve the fat, pulse quickly, and then put it back in the pan to crisp up again.
Could it be an idea to somehow use dry ice to freeze the skin instead of using LN2?
http://www.chefsteps.com/activ...
- originally posted by John Jensen
Without the nitrogen this crisped skin texture can easily be achieved. It'll take longer, but we know how to cook, and we can make adjustments. We're all very talented and curious enough to think for ourselves. For me, the sous vide cook (time and temp), and final presentation were where I was challenged. Essentially, I wanted the breast right, and serve crisped bits as an accompaniment. We can get to the crisp skin part several ways even without the nitrogen tricks. Mince from frozen and cook, or grind ice cold-freeze-cook, grind-cook-freeze-pulse in the robot again....I can appreciate sometimes with these "chefsteps", we get caught up in wanting to mimic the exact technique described, but the final result is achievable often in alternatives. Remember how to cook even before being gifted with these new tricks, and make it happen. It'll still be sexy if you put your mind and experience to it, right? After all, we're here because we already have a great understanding of cooking in the first place. We just need to see next level to be satisfied.That's how it works for me anyway.I really love it here and every new technique I see, is a new opportunity to interpret the work of ChefSteps team. Same thing I've done in kitchens throughout my career. I so often want to repeat the steps exactly, but if I remember that I already have a solid foundation, it comes together nicely in the end.
Well said sir.
Agreed!
- originally posted by Pepijn
Well said sir. I agree with you, it is difficult to share work with information and still e courage others to make it if they want a win now or simply use it as inspiration for their own recipe.
I think you have a perfect method here to similarly appropriate result. Just revisited this recipe page again to share with a buddy and got to thinking again (I have more pastured pekin duck at work than I deserve). The long (lengthwise) cut on the breast gives me 3 portions and I plan to square it all off before cook so I can save the raw scraps to grind for sausage or pate'. Even a tartare amuse if I do it the same night I cook the duck.I'm also considering dried, candied, and minced orange "dust", and / or candied and minced fennel, and /or toasted juniper / fennel seed / in with the skin crispies.
Hey Guys, When I cook the Breast two hours instead of one and keep it in the bag in the fridge. (Best Case cooling it down in cold water) How long can I keep it in the fridge?? As this is poultry I don't want to risk anything, but de-freezing takes to long for service and duck is way to expensive to trash it.. Thats a dilemma. Any suggestions? I am thankful for every tip! cheers L PS: For that Skin question. I will try a different approach. Sous Vide the skin put in 84° for 4 hours. Dry a little bit and then roast it in the oven. The theory: Breaking up the collagen, should prevent it from curling and hopefully I will end up with a "Duck roast like skin". I will keep you updated if this works or not ;-)
What a hit! Duck tasting menu 3 courses of duck glory! Duck liver mousse, confit leg, and this, with seabuckthorn gastrique, sunchoke and summer squash purees. Gotta get me some sweet ass sieves...
I just did is recipe and have a question; the duck was perfect, but the flavor was far more mild than traditional methods. This was a huge plus for some while a couple of us think we missed the duck fat. Would you just sous vide the duck with the fat on the breast or remove, render and then add the fat to the oil before cooking?
Tropical spinach.. I really do hope my main veggie/ fruit supplier is abler to get that from me at the auction here in the Nederlands.
Also I not have access to liquid nitrogen (unfortunately). But if I bake the fat crispy and chop it up I should be good to go, right? Or perhaps obliterate in in my freezer en smash it with a pan to scatter it, and then fry it. Any ideas?
Could you use dry ice instead of LN2? Maybe toss some additional dry ice in the processor to prevent the skin from thawing?
Hi Nicoot,
I made this earlier with the same conundrum.
I settled for shock freezing the skin and then bash it up in a blender before baking it. Worked like a charm. A regular freezer should also work, but then you need to have the skin (and duck) a day in advance.
You might use what the Dutch call Vene Cress as a substitute for the spinach. There is a number of different types and tastes of cress out there, so you might want to go out and nibble.
OOOOOOOOOH squeal....isn't this precious, as well as your "chefs," not every person has access to liquid nitrogen, and if they did, it would not matter, because we are busy earning a living........get real....and not everyone in the food industry business is as gay as a Cotton Ball Debutant.......
you've clearly chosen the right culinary website to sign up to. i'm not sure if you've noticed but this is kinda what ChefSteps do. if you don't like it, i suggest you find yourself a delightful fire-pit roast and enjoy it with a nice Coke and a smile.
Could you please list the Gourmet thongs tweezers and scissors that Grants uses for plating and small leaves preparations?
thanks
ups i forgot to buy the liquid nitro. my bad
Still waiting for the update!
Look at the intelligence on this guy.......the jealousy is real.
Tried this yesterday and it was quite a success (served with a mushroom risotto), I made cubettes of the frozen duck-skin which made larger chunks of crispy skin, that worked nicely with the smooth risotto!
However, 57C sounded high to me and I went to 55 - but still my wife complained that she would have liked the duck more on the red side! I'm thinking to either sear the duck before SV and not risk searing raising the temperature of the breast, alternatively going down to 54C - or even both:) Anybody tried more rare versions of the duck?
can i just frozen the duck breast without liquid nitro?
If a normal freezer will not work would dry ice?
I did the duck breast at 60F for 25 min and it was perfect
I love the "Gay as a Cotton Ball Debutante" and own it with pride. However, this is for people in the food industry?
