duck soup

Duck class was delicious. I came home enveloped in a warm happy shmaltzy cloud…. ahhhh. It certainly made the cat curious as to where I’d been!

Chef Lawrence taught us, step-by-step, how to get the most from one duck, and I learned (not that I didn’t know this already) that ducks are not chickens. They are just different enough in physiology and texture that I felt like I was starting over.  It wasn’t hard to follow his instructions, and I feel pretty confidant that after applying myself and breaking down, say, five or six hundred ducks I could do it almost as well as he does now.

Chef Lawrence is a great proponent of the “and then make soup” lifestyle. We carefully remove the duck legs for confit, and the neck skin for wrapping one of his special house sausages. The breast meat we debone to the best of our abilities (mine looked a bit ragged and that’s all I’m saying about *that*!). The livers are held out for paté. The carcasses are roasted before starting the stock process, which includes onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste, and red wine. Oh, and the duck fat (liquid gold) is rendered in a large pot as well, hence the “shmaltz cloud” effect.

Next month he’s promising classes on rabbit and lamb. MMmmmmm… stick around!

lift and separate

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