Oh.. Ducky my Duckly, why are you so small?
One thing about living in Lansing, Michigan is that it is very very , repeat very, hard for one to find meat other than chicken, pork, and beef. Luckily, we found a whole frozen duck on sale at the asian grocery store, head attached and all, and we've decided that it's a must have for a weekend cooking extravaganza. After some experimentation with deboning and slicing through the duck I managed to carve out a perfect looking breast, somewhat perfectly shaped drumstick and wings and the rest, well the rest looks like something you would find in the Masai Mara plains after several lionesses had their way with a zebra.
But anyhow, besides the gore and guilt of chopping the head of the duck, it was a pleasant experience to get in touch with where food came from.
So on to cooking method.
I've decided to do a stove top sous vide cooking method for this two breasts. Sous vide, French for "under vacuum",[1] is a method of cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath for a long time—72 hours is not unusual—at an accurately determined temperature much lower than normally used for cooking, typically around 60 °C or 140 °F. The intention is to maintain the integrity of ingredients. - Wikepedia -
The Goal here is to preserve the texture and flavor of the meat as much as possible. However, I do not own a sous vide machine, therefore, we are going to do it "Stove Top Style"
Here's How I did it.
Step 1: Put the Meat in a sealed vacuum bag.
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| To do it properly, you must put the meat in a sealed vacuum bag like this. |
Step 3: Put the meat in the pot for an hour.
Step 6: Once the fat starts to render out take a spoon and spoon over the duck fat on the non-skin side. Sear for about 5 minutes and done.
Done!
My Result:
Duck breast was too thin = overcooked duck breast... BUT it was very tasty. Unfortunately, i forgot to take the finish duck breast picture, so i guess we'll have to imagine what it looks like.
More on the side dishes later.....
CAUTION: Food safety is a function of both time and temperature; a temperature usually considered insufficient to render food safe may be perfectly safe if maintained for long enough. Clostridium botulinum bacteria can grow in food in the absence of oxygen and produce the deadly botulinum toxin, so sous-vide cooking must be performed under carefully controlled conditions to avoid botulismpoisoning. Generally speaking, food that is heated and served within four hours is considered safe, but meat that is cooked for longer to tenderize must reach a temperature of at least 131 °F (55 °C) within four hours and then be kept there, in order to pasteurize the meat. Pasteurization kills the botulism bacteria, but the possibility of hardy botulism spores surviving and reactivating once cool remains a concern as with many preserved foods, however processed. For that reason, Baldwin's treatise specifies precise chilling requirements for "cook-chill", so that the botulism spores do not have the opportunity to grow or propagate. Extra precautions need to be taken for food to be eaten by people with compromised immunity. Women eating food cooked sous vide while pregnant may expose themselves to risk to themselves and/or their fetus and thus may choose to be more careful than usual. - Wikepedia -
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| Put the sealed bag in a pot of water heated at around 135F for an hour. |
Step 4: Prepare other stuff while you are waiting. Make sure you keep the heat at a constant temperature.
Step 5: Take the meat out of the water, cut the bag open, remove the meant, dry the skin, season the skin with salt and peppter, and put it skin side down a cold pan. Put it on medium heat and sear the skin (LEAVE IT ALONE -don't move it and watch the magic unfold before your eyes.)
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| For the side dishes, i made saute asparagus and buttered carrots. |
Step 6: Once the fat starts to render out take a spoon and spoon over the duck fat on the non-skin side. Sear for about 5 minutes and done.
Done!
My Result:
Duck breast was too thin = overcooked duck breast... BUT it was very tasty. Unfortunately, i forgot to take the finish duck breast picture, so i guess we'll have to imagine what it looks like.
More on the side dishes later.....
CAUTION: Food safety is a function of both time and temperature; a temperature usually considered insufficient to render food safe may be perfectly safe if maintained for long enough. Clostridium botulinum bacteria can grow in food in the absence of oxygen and produce the deadly botulinum toxin, so sous-vide cooking must be performed under carefully controlled conditions to avoid botulismpoisoning. Generally speaking, food that is heated and served within four hours is considered safe, but meat that is cooked for longer to tenderize must reach a temperature of at least 131 °F (55 °C) within four hours and then be kept there, in order to pasteurize the meat. Pasteurization kills the botulism bacteria, but the possibility of hardy botulism spores surviving and reactivating once cool remains a concern as with many preserved foods, however processed. For that reason, Baldwin's treatise specifies precise chilling requirements for "cook-chill", so that the botulism spores do not have the opportunity to grow or propagate. Extra precautions need to be taken for food to be eaten by people with compromised immunity. Women eating food cooked sous vide while pregnant may expose themselves to risk to themselves and/or their fetus and thus may choose to be more careful than usual. - Wikepedia -
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