Fun Playing With Goose and a Spicy Curry

I had a terrible cold last week, and Bob found the perfect antidote. Actually, I had pulled the recipe for an Indian Goose Curry off of the internet somewhere a while ago, knowing that we had an amazing, but skinless, Breychak's Egg Farm goose in our freezer. When I saw the recipe - I knew it would be a great way to cook a goose with no skin.

But it was Bob who turned our naked bird and some fabulous herbs and spices (and, amazingly, no coconut milk or yogurt) into a fragrant, strengthening elixer.


Our Bird

No skin, because of Kathy's de-feathering snafu. No worries!


The Curry Simmers

The cauliflower was my idea, and it was a perfect addition. Unexpectedly, the goose took many more hours to become truly tender than the recipe suggested. But once it became tender- the taste was simply amazing - and not a bit gamy.





This is how it looked the second night, after the curry had cooled and thickened, and then was re-heated and served over Jasmine Rice.



We have just signed up for Kathy Breychak's 2009 CSA, and are looking forward to enjoying more of her delicious meat this summer. For now, we are down to one eating chicken and one soup chicken. And Passover is coming up, so I think I'll find a use for that soup chicken!

Fun Playing With Fresh Duck

No, our house was not the set of a Marx Brothers movie. But the smells and tastes were unmistakable - as another fabulous Kathy Breychak product moved from farm to table with grace and taste. I speak of Duck Soup, prepared as suggested by the late, great Barbara Tropp in her fabulous China Moon Cookbook.

This all started back in September or October, when Kathy Breychak told her CSA members that she would have fresh ducks available at the same time as her geese (the geese had already been reserved through the CSA in early 2008) - December 2008. We reserved a duck. After enjoying Kathy's fresh turkey so much in November, we could hardly wait to roast one of her fresh ducks in December!

But it was not to be. Kathy thinks that she waited a few too many weeks to process the ducks and geese - and so she was unable to get their feathers off without taking the skin with it. Bummer.

Kathy advised her CSA members that she would return their deposits if they didn't want eviscerated poultry - but I told her to bring it on! Our friend Edsel felt likewise, and last Saturday, picked up our packages from Kathy and brought them to us at the Slow Food Baricelli Cheese Tasting. I say "packages" because Edsel had two bags for us: one entitled "Duck, Duck, Goose" and the other containing duck heads and feet, which Kathy knew we would happily use.

Even though we hadn't ordered goose, we were delighted to discover a whole (if skinless) goose, and the breasts and legs of 2 ducks. And, as luck would have it, on Friday 12/12, Cleveland author Michael Ruhlman blogged about making Duck Breast Prosciutto. So - we knew where two of the four breast pieces were going!

But what to do with the remainder? Bob wanted to confit the legs, but we had precious little duck fat in the house. Well, we, you should pardon the expression, killed two birds with one stone - starting with duck stock to be coaxed from the heads and feet.



Bob had never flicked [de-feathered] poultry before, but the heads still had their feathers, so he got a crash course before roasting the parts, then immersing them in the stockpot.


Do I Detect A Smile On That Beak?

An enticing smell filled the house as the stock simmered - it took many hours for the feet to give up all of their gelatinous goodness.

After the stock was strained and chilled, Bob scraped off the fat layer and set it aside to make his confit. His lengthly cooking process was rewarded with the most savory quivering mass:



The breast marinated for a day in soy sauce, rice wine, hot chili oil, fresh ginger, and cilantro. To turn the stock into soup, Bob started by searing the duck breast in the soon-to-be soup pot.


Marinated Duck Breast Searing

Per the Tropp recipe, the meat was seared but still very rare. Bob removed the breast to rest, and added the stock. The only other ingredients to go into the soup pot were the breast drippings (after the meat was sliced and added to the soupbowls) and Sichuan Pepper-Salt, a condiment made by whirling Kosher Salt and Sichuan Peppercorn in the spice grinder together.


And Then, It Rested



As the meat rested, Bob prepared two Asian soup bowls, again guided by the recipe.



Raw vegetables came first - peas, carrots, nappa cabbage, basil and scallions (this photo was only the peas and carrots).



Having rested, the seared breast meat was thinly sliced, and placed atop the vegetables.



Next - hot noodles are added. Normally, I would have stopped at an Asian grocery and bought proper soup noodles - but since we are still swimming in cooked noodle leftovers from our catering efforts in Cincinnati last week, we decided to use those. The steaming broth is then ladled over the entire bowl:







As the recipe predicted, the addition of boiling stock to the bowl finished cooking the duck pieces as well as the vegetables. The duck breast meat was exquisitely tender, tasting just a little gamey - but caressed in the amazing stock and vegetables, and seasoned liberally with finishing salt and fresh-ground pepper - it was one of the best meals I've ever eaten in my life. No kidding.

I can't wait to see how the confit comes out, and the prosciutto. And then, there is that goose! Bob wants to roast it, even though it has no skin. We're toying with several ideas - covering it with bacon or caul fat if we can get it. It is resting comfortably in the freezer for now.

Breychak's Blue Egg Farm has given us fabulous playthings yet again! Now, if only the laying hens would get back to work. Oh well - everyone needs some time to just play with their food, I suppose.

Fun Playing With Turkey

When last we left Kathy Breychak's farm, the turkeys were restless and demanding to be fed!





Well, Kathy definitely did something right in the feeding process, because our bird weighed in at 32 pounds, dressed (or undressed, depending on how you look at it).



Turkey pick up day was Saturday, 11/22. Usually, because we go to family or friends for Thanksgiving, we make our own turkey the Friday after. Since we had to get our bird this far in advance, however, it made sense to just cook it right up on Sunday, and that was what we planned to do.

Kathy gave Bob some extra turkey innards and chicken feet, and he used them to make stock. He planned to use the fat that rose out of it for basting the bird, and the stock itself for gravy.

Figuring it might take as long as 7 hours to cook this monster, we set to it early Sunday afternoon. It did not take us long to ascertain that the bird would not fit whole into either of our ovens with any kind of pan under it.







So - we split it in half. Bob used a technique we learned from Alton Brown. This is how he splits winter squash - we used it to split a turkey!



Bob snipped as far as he could with kitchen shears, then brought out the Henkels Cleaver and a rubber mallet.



Tap the mallet onto the back of the cleaver and - presto!





In no time at all, we had two 16 pound turkey halves instead of one behemoth.



After being rinsed and dried, each turkey half was rubbed with the same seasonings my mother always used - sweet paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper and kosher salt. Bob's plan was to use the rendered fat from the top of the stock pot to lube the bird - but he'd stirred it at a bad time the day before such that it didn't render purely. So, he reheated the stock and skimmed the fat off hot, to lube our bird.


Bob Thought This Was Fat When He Pulled it From the Fridge


Seasoned Birdie Half Ready for the Pan - But What Pan?

Each turkey half was still too big to fit into any of our roasting pans. What to do? Well - we have a pan for at least half of the job:



Mom's Magnalite Turkey Roaster to the rescue! I used to love the birds she cooked in this thing! However, tall roasters have gone out of favor, especially among those who prize crispy skin. Well, we didn't have much choice - so into the pan went half of our turkey.



With the cover, this pot would completely fill our top oven. So - how to roast the other half of the bird at the same time?



Stroke of genius - the broiler pan that "comes" with the oven - the one we never use for anything - it became "turkey roaster #2".

We cooked each half covered (the second half with aluminum foil) for about 2 hours at 325 degrees. When we checked the half #1 in the top oven (the Magnalite) the thigh meat was over 150 degrees, so Bob basted it and removed the lid, so the skin could crisp. As might be expected, the second half did not cook nearly as quickly, so we waited longer to remove the foil top. Once we did, Bob basted it periodically, even as Roaster #1 finished with the thigh meat at 175 degrees. #2 came out when it also reached 175 degrees in the thigh. Perfect!







We let #1 cool down in anticipation of evisceration and freezing. #2 would provide our dinner, as soon as the gravy was ready!



Dinner!


Bob Prefers the Dark Meat


I'm a White Meat Kinda Girl

The skin and flesh were exquisite - best turkey I've ever tasted in my life. We did take a bite out of #1, to compare - it was a little juicier and more tender - but ever so little more, since #2 was also moist, tender and delicious.

So - we spent the Sunday before Thanksgiving playing with turkey (and watching a turkey of a Cleveland Browns football game). After eating meat that is this fresh, I just can't imagine eating mass produced frozen poultry - but I also realized that if everyone in America wanted this type of turkey, there would be no way to supply that demand. A puzzlement. In the meantime, however, I wish all who read this Blog a Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope that you all play with some food this holiday season - make homemade cranberry sauce instead of opening that can, or maybe try gravy from scratch. Food tastes so much better when you play with it first!

Fun Playing With Fresh Chicken, From Farm to Table

We recently picked up our last chicken shares from the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) of the Blue Egg Farm. I brought my camera to our visit to Kathy Breychak's farm, and I was glad I did.

We were greeted by the resident rooster turkey, who is a grand old fellow.





An Araucana Chicken Struts Her Stuff

We arrived just in time for Kathy to deliver lunch to the turkeys and geese.


These geese know where their next meal is coming from - and they want it now.



I understand that there are still geese available for sale, with pickup in December 2008. Please contact Kathy for more info.



Hungry, aren't they?


Ahh - fed at last!


Kathy tries to introduce one of her little friends - surprise!



The lambs look on and await their turn.


Feed Me!

And of course, the object of this particular trip:


Free Ranging Chickens!

Sadly, I neglected to photograph our birdie before Butcher Bob got to her.


Butterflied Birdie

After a spice rub and a visit to Mr. Weber - our birdie looked like this:






Bob's a Leg and Thigh Man


Breast and Wing for Me!

The textures and tastes of this bird were incomparable - likely due to the combination of the way it was raised and the freshness factor. Thanks to Kathy Breychak, we got to play with our food, literally, from farm to table. And Playing With Food doesn't get any better than that!