Duck Breasts Were on Sale

I love duck and the time I cooked them previously was an unmitigated disaster. They came out like mush. Like an idiot, I did not write down what the mistake was, but mush in a sous vide incident tends to mean it was cooked too long. 

This time, I did more research. I didn't follow everything in this Serious Eats guide, but it was enough to give me a very juicy  meaty duck breast. 

For a sauce, I took a mental inventory of what I had in the pantry/fridge. Duck often goes well with fruit, especially orange, but I don't keep marmalade around as a rule. One of my favorite sweet condiments, on the other hand, is black currant jam. I also usually have red wine on the rack and thought this would work pretty well . I did a quick search and found several recipes, so obviously I wasn't the only one with this idea.

This was one of those cases where I looked at a bunch of recipes and winged it from there. Let me tell you about the duck first.

The duck was simply seasoned with salt  & pepper and cooked at 132F  for about 55 minutes. I timed myself using an episode of Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me. Like noted the article, at least 45 minutes. I was a bit paranoid about overcooking after my last venture (don't ask)  Afterwards, I put it in a cold pan, and then put the pan on high to crisp the fatty side. Serious Eats said 5 minutes, it really took 10 to get the fat golden brown and I'm not sure I don't want more next time. I need to experiment with this a bit. I also need to let the duck rest a bit longer. Duck jus went all over my kitchen when I was slicing.

For the sauce, I went with this combination:

• 2 T minced shallot
• 1 T butter, divided in half
• 1 Cup red wine
• 1 Cup mushroom broth (some of the recipes I saw said chicken, some said beef. The chicken broth I had in the fridge had expired, and I didn't have beef, but I always have mushroom bouillon in the house)
• 2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 heaping Tablespoons of black currant jam

Melt the 1/2 the butter in a small pan on medium heat, then add the shallot, cooking until translucent, about 4 minutes. Slowly pour in the wine, and let reduce for about 15 minutes, then add the broth. Continue to reduce, until the volume is down by about half. Stir in the jam, and cook on low for another ten minutes. Keep warm until the duck is ready. Stir in the rest of the butter right before serving.

I served the duck with baby potatoes, that I cut in half. When I had cooked the duck's fatty side for a few minutes , I threw the potatoes in the same pan and kept them there for another 5 minutes while the fat cooked and then another five when the duck rested. 

I also cooked some snow peas--real easy. Boil water, thrown in peas for about 5 minutes until they are bright green  and they will be tender and crispy.

The final result:

I should have done this ages ago: easy cheddar-chive biscuits

I lived in Tennessee for eleven years, so I got used to good biscuits. I also became very fond of biscuits and gravy, which I originally thought looked gross, but once I tried it, damn! I was hooked. My uncle up in Massachusetts just discovered them so we were able to share that in a recent conversation.

I made chili recently, and I'd had it on some rice, and I had it over spaghetti, and it occurred to me that cheddar biscuits might go well. Everyone's stress baking, but these wouldn't need yeast, just baking powder and baking soda, which were available. 

So I found a recipe with two delightful shortcuts. First, instead of buying buttermilk, you can make your own--the info is on the recipe link, but I thought I'd copy it here.

Place 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice or vinegar in a measuring cup. Fill with milk to measure 1 cup and stir well. Allow mixture to sit for 5-10 minutes or until slightly thickened. The mixture may curdle a bit, that’s okay!

The other shortcut is to stick the buttermilk in the freezer for a bit, and melt the butter in the microwave. When you add melted butter to the very cold buttermilk, you instantly get little globs of butter that will be evenly distributed.

The rest is easy:

• 1 cup cold buttermilk
• 8 tablespoons butter plus one more for brushing
• 2 cups all-purpose flour more for counter
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 ¼ cups finely shredded cheddar cheese
• ¼ cup finely sliced fresh chives extra for garnish, if desired

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425°F. Line a  sheet pan with parchment paper or spray a sheet pan with cooking spray.

2. Measure 1 cup of buttermilk and place the cup in the freezer while prepping other ingredients (you want it to be in the freezer about 10 minutes).

3. Place butter in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with a paper towel over the top and heat on high for 30 seconds. If not completely melted, return to microwave for 10-second intervals till melted. Set aside to cool a bit while prepping other ingredients.

4. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in large bowl. Add cheese and chives. Stir to combine.
5. After buttermilk has been chilled in the freezer for 10 minutes, combine it with the melted butter. Stir with a fork until butter forms small clumps or globules.

6. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with a sturdy spatula just until all flour is incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of the bowl. The dough should be stiff and not super wet. If the dough is wet, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring to combine, until dough is fairly stiff.

7. Generously spread flour over your work surface. Dump biscuit dough from bowl onto prepared work surface and turn to coat all surfaces with flour. Knead on counter 5-6 times (about 20-30 seconds). Flip over on work surface to coat with flour then pat into a 6-inch square. It should be 1 1/2-2-inches in height.

8. Cut as many biscuits as you can with a biscuit cutter (this will depend on what size cutter you use). Place biscuits on the prepared sheet pan. Knead scraps a few times till they hold together, then pat into a small circle and cut more biscuits. Transfer last biscuits to the sheet pan, spacing about 1 1/2 inches apart. (See Café Tips in post for an even easier cutting technique). I used a jar that I happened to have in the cupboard. The dough made a nice satisfying pop as it rose.

9. Place in oven and bake until tops are a medium golden brown and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes. Start checking after about 8 minutes, as every oven is different.

10. Melt remaining tablespoon of butter and brush tops of hot biscuits with melted butter. Sprinkle with more finely sliced fresh chives. Serve and enjoy!

These went great with the chili, and beside some scrambled eggs for a different meal. They froze well, and also made good snacks. I'm thinking of seeing if I can add chorizo and green onions for the next experiment. 

 

Sweet indulgence: Swedish Cardamom Cinnamon Rolls

Back in January, I started a new day job and a few doors down is a Swedish espresso shop. When there was commuting to the office every day, the line to get something first thing in the morning was always a bit long so I didn't always get there.

On the other hand, when the morning rush is over, I would sneak over for a break and there I discovered Swedish Cardamom Bread. It was love at first bite and I started hunting for recipes almost immediately. Then the pandemic became official and supply chains got borked, so it took a while to get all the ingredients together. Today was the day.

I found the recipe here, though it's by Leila Lindholm who is a popular chef in Sweden. Ingredients go as follows:

• For the dough:

1. 1 tablespoon cardamom pods
2. 300 milliliters (1/2 pint) milk
3. 135 grams superfine sugar
4. 7 grams (1 packet) fast-action dried yeast
5. 150 grams unsalted butter, softened
6. 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
7. 1 egg
8. 660 to 720 grams bread flour

For the cinnamon filling:

1. 200 grams unsalted butter, softed
2. 90 grams superfine sugar
3. 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
4. Beaten egg, for brushing
5. Golden syrup and water, for brushing
6. Ground cardadmom, for sprinkling
7. Superfine sugar, for sprinkling

Yes, this is a LOT of butter

If you have'nt made golden syrup before, it's pretty easy. I used this recipe and while it was simmering, I got started:

Open the cardamom pods and crush the seeds in a mortar and pestle or electric spice grinder until fine. I wasn't sure how to open the pods, so I put them all in a small plastic bag and hit them a few times with a kitchen mallet. It took a while, but damn, my kitchen smells great.

1. Pour the milk into a pan. Add the cardamom and gently heat until around 115° F (45° C).
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl, briefly mix sugar, yeast, salt, butter, and egg. Don't worry if the butter is still a bit lumpy. I did this by hand in a mixing bowl. I don't own a stand mixer and generally get by without it.
3. Add the milk and cardamom, mix briefly, and add most of the flour. Mix briefly. 
4. In a stand mixer, use the dough hook and knead for a few minutes, until the dough is glossy, smooth, and soft. (Alternatively, knead by hand for 5 minutes.) The dough should be a little sticky: Don’t add too much flour at once, as you don’t want to end up with a dry or hard dough.  Italics mine. This is great advice
5. Cover the bowl with the tea-towel and leave the dough to proof until doubled in size.
6. In the meantime, make the filling: Mix all three ingredients until well combined and smooth. Your kitchen is going to smell even more fabulous.
7. Once the dough is well risen, tip it onto a floured work surface and divide it in two.
8. Roll half the dough into a large rectangle and spread half the filling on top, covering the whole rectangle. I would have appreciated a thickness measurement here. I tried for .25 inches.
9. Fold the dough into three like a business letter (fold the top long side down to the middle, then fold the bottom long side over the top). The filling will ooze.
10. Cut the dough into 3/4-inch (2-centimeter) strips, then cut every strip down the middle, leaving one end intact (so they look like a pair of trousers). Twist the two “legs” into a knot (this does not have to be very precise, you can go a bit freeform). Oh boy was this freeform. My counter got quite messy. 
11. Place the buns on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover with a tea towel (I needed two pans and apparently need another tea towel) and leave to rise until almost doubled in size, about 40 minutes. Repeat with the other half of the dough and filling.
12. Preheat the oven to 400° F (200° C). Brush the buns with lightly beaten egg and bake for about 10 minutes or until golden.

Brush the still-warm buns with golden syrup mixed with water and sprinkle with ground cardamom mixed with superfine sugar. There wasn't a ratio here, so I did 1:1 for the syrup and about 3:1 for the sugar to cardamom.



Delicious. I probably should have given them another few minutes in the oven because they were a touch underdone on the inside, but the cardamom flavor was deliciously everywhere. I need a bit of practice with the cutting and shaping, but overall, I'm happy. Here's one of the prettier ones.