march au gras…or what to do with a fat duck: Foie Gras Crumble aux Pain d’Épices
Slipping down the icy Gascon roads to Gimont was an exercise in prudence and haste. The long drive to get to the weekly seasonal Marché au Gras this week was all the more exciting after our freak snowfall and subsequent minus freezing temps created ideal snowboarding conditions. My old Van Rouge was up for the parcours so Hilary and I hopped in and drove into a white landscape of rolling hills and farms. Beautiful.
I know it would be a small market, the after season is always small, but coupled with the stay home weather we arrived to find the normally bustling large hall skint- just a dozen fatted ducks total, 3 or 4 geese. But what ducks!
Duck Confit- how to, 101, and my yearly encouraging words.
This is one of my all time favorite photographs taken over the years in my kitchen at Camont by bon vivant photographe extraordinaire- Tim Clinch. It a celebration of the marche au gras (the fat markets) in the Southwest of France, an homage to the honest cooking of Gascony, and an encouraging reminder of the season ahead. November is Confit Season.
If you have been following along or creating the wonderful Charcutepalooza challenges posted by Mrs. Wheelbarrow here for the Grand Prix finale, then you know I hold these traditional cooking and preserving methods dear to my heart. I am listing some of the archives on making duck confit, the traditional Gascon way- here:
- http://kitchen-at-camont.com/2009/01/30/confit-de-canard-duck-confit-part-1-how-to-buy-a-4-headed-duck/
- http://kitchen-at-camont.com/2009/02/04/confit-de-canard-duck-confit-part-2-like-meat-loves-salt/
- http://kitchen-at-camont.com/2009/02/10/confit-de-canard-duck-confit-part-3-7-french-tips/
- http://kitchen-at-camont.com/2009/01/26/fat-ducks-everything-you-need-to-know-from-confit-to-foie-gras
Grrlchef Sarah Wong dreaming up a little duck confit at Chez Bernard Daubin. Montreal-du-Gers.
Hurricane Soup- don’t forget your duck confit!
I was just going to call this Workday Soup- a 20-minute solution to feeding a small crew at Camont. I’ve been working on my homework for SAF (actually, my homework will be your homework, you lucky Butchery & Charcuterie students who begin next month!). I hate to get interrupted when working on tables and calendars. When the Noon siren blew from the nearby village spire, I just started shouting cooking advice into the kitchen. Cut up some potatoes! Chop up that Ventreche into lardons! Throw it in a pan with the duck fat!
Twenty minutes or so later, the potatoes were creamy and tender, the duck fat broth was golden rich, and a jar containing an solitary confited duck breast was popped in a pan to warm through, crisp up and garnish the steamy thyme and bay infused broth. Eh Voila!
This is the sort of nourishing and soothing meal that might help in a hurricane ravaged moment- grab a sack of potatoes, a jar of duck confit and your sterno stove. To all my dear friends and family in Irene’s path, I dub this soup for you!
ps- don’t have any duck confit in the larder? I still have one place open on the October 3 Confit Course -http://kitchen-at-camont.com/programs/cookery/dig-in/cassoulet-confit-coq-au-vin/.
A week of cooking duck in Gascony
From fat markets (no, not us the ducks, silly!) to charcuterie meccas, foie gras to smoked magret to cassoulet, this week has been a celebration of good Southwestern cooking, Camont style. This is what we made in one week of http://kitchen-at-camont.com/programs/cookery/dig-in/marche-au-gras/. Enjoy this taste of Gascony!
- Foie Gras & Lotte cassolettes- oven baked Foie gras & monkfish on a bed of julienned aillets & carrots
- Foie Gras en Chemise Verte- spinach wrapped poached foie gras
- Confit de Canard
- Rillettes de Canard
- Paté de Foie Gras
- Terrine de foie gras
- Confit de Oie- goose
- Cassoulet Camontw/ saucisse de Toulouse,
- Grattons or cracklins- Gascon popcorn Piment d’Espelette
- Magrets seché fumé
- Magret Chemineé
- Huitres Roti (for a little duck relief)
Charcutepalooza Love or Like Meat Loves Salt- a primer.
Whispers of salty advice are twittering down the internet lines. Hints of red gold are wrapped in cheesecloth and hanging from basement stairs, under eaves and nestled among the Chablis. Nervous declarations of love, success, or failure ring through the comment boxes.
Here in Gascony, friends and neighbors make charcuterie like they plan their daily meals- seriously and with great centuries of experience. So I decided to answer @Mrs.Wheelbarrow and @theyummymummy ‘s challenge to play together and help make “A Year of Meat’ with a dozen charcuterie challenges named Charcutepalooza. Their Ruhls are here.
Since the first challenge was already underway and I had a pair of Magrets (duck breasts from a Mullard foie gras duck) hanging in my stone larder from our last AB&C Meat School program, I thought I’d take up the old world perspective and pass on some tips from the pros, my neighbors who raise foie gras ducks and how they salt and cure their own product.
These are the Gascon ABC’s for making Magret Séché straight from the duck’s beak!
A. MEAT. Duck. Use a duck breast that comes from a mature foie gras duck- that is a large breed duck (Muscovy or Mullard hybrid) of 16 weeks age average that has been raised for it’s fatted liver. The breast meat is dark red with a thick layer of fat. The meat is rich and fully developed as any meat use for curing would be. Think beef not veal. There needs to be structure to the meat cells for it to cure properly.
B. SALT. Appropriately. One tablespoon of good sea salt well-rubbed into the meat side of the duck breast is enough. Placed skin side down, the fat acts a cradle to retain any meat juices that then get reabsorbed. After 12 hours- yup, just over night, wipe off any excess salt. There should be almost nothing left.
C. DRY. Age. In other words, let time make magic. At Camont, I have a stone larder sandwiched between the kitchen and the barn. It once served as the piggery for the farm and is now the laundry room/pantry. We still call it the Piggery. It’s airy, cool and humid and fluctuates temperature just like the étuve on the Chapolard’s farm- warm days, cool nights. Just like the rest of Camont. It’s perfect to let meat hang free in the air, no cheesecloth needed, and out of the cat’s reach. I have never seen anyone here wrap their saucisse or hams in anything but black pepper. 10 days to 2 weeks is enough.
These are the basics of dried duck breasts… as we do them in Gascony, the kingdom of foie gras ducks. Stayed tuned for my own Duck Breast Bacon sandwich- a DLT, coming soon for the Charcutepalooza challenge. and don’t forget to follow along on Twitter with the #charcutepalooza hashtag.
