day five, part two and day six: the wonders of duck fat

on day five as we watched the demonstration for boning whole ducks, Chef Pierre told us he planned to sauté duck breasts with a blueberry sauce on day six (January 26).

he also said he would confit some duck parts and organs with garlic and thyme. “i will need to collect all of the fat from your ducks, so do not throw it away after you trim them,” he said, punctuating his comment with a long look around the room. we practiced boning ducks at station while Chef walked around the kitchen with a large silver bowl, scooping up piles of yellowish strips of duck fat like they were daisies. he heaved it into a large stockpot over very low heat. i peeked into the huge pot filled nearly 3/4 of the way with fat.

“it is important that you cook the fat very slowly,” he said. “you don’t want it to burn.” indeed, on day six he rejected a container of duck fat from the Kendall fridge for his duck confit, noting the slightly brown discoloration and almost smoky smell. “this must have been burned a little,” he said to Chef Bryan in a voice that matched a displeased look.

during the demo, Chef described what confit means: to cook something in its own fat, which is a preservation method. later on, he placed a confited duck organ on a wooden spoon at my station. “mar-gar-et, that’s the gizzard,” he said. it tasted salty and almost disquietingly tender–much softer than animal flesh. i enjoyed it, though not without feeling a little strange afterward. “that may be my last gizzard for awhile,” i later confessed to my classmate joel.

duck has a high percentage of fat and bone to meat, meaning the edible portion is much lower for a 4-pound duck than for a 4-pound roasting chicken, for example. it is important to render as much fat as possible to make the fatty skin fit to eat.

after showing us how to bone the ducks, Chef Pierre showed us how to score, or make shallow diagonal gashes in, the skin on the breasts before placing them skin-side down in a hot, oiled sauté pan. he turned them after about 7 minutes, then transferred them to the oven to finish cooking for another 4 or 5 minutes. since ducks contain only dark meat, they can be served rare. he removed the meat from the pan to let it rest–”you must let meat rest!” he deglazed the pan with cider vinegar and brown sugar, and reduced it for a few minutes to make a gastric. he then added blueberries, red wine, demi glace and cassis, a dark purple liqueur made from black currants. “cassis was my favorite flavor of ice cream when i was a kid,” he recalled.

the warming aroma of rich meat, wine, stock and concentrated fruit drifted through the kitchen as Chef carefully sliced the duck and arranged each piece on a plate alongside a few tourned, cooked potatoes. he carefully spooned the sauce around the duck–”only pour sauce on top of the meat if there is something wrong with it”–and presented his fine work on the cutting board. the medium-rare meat melted in my mouth, its savory richness countered by the sweet jam-like taste of bursted blueberries and tannic currant syrup.

i am always grateful to savor small tastes from Chef and the other culinary classes amid the rush of kitchen practicum. it is a reminder of why we work so hard learning to prep and cook different ingredients–so we too can achieve that perfect bite.