In the chaotic kitchen of a recipe developer, you get a food blog called FoodMayhem.
I'm Jessica, an Asian-American, born and raised in NYC, and that's Lon, my Jewish, white husband. While professionally trained as a French culinary- and pastry chef, many of FoodMayhem recipes are my attempt to preserve and share authentic Chinese and Taiwanese recipes learned from my mom. We don't eat Chinese food every day, so you'll get a little bit of anything we find delicious enough to share: from our Eastern European side; recipes and techniques learned from my restaurant days; restaurant reviews, food travel tips; and a few other juicy bits along the way. Welcome to FoodMayhem!
There are so many goodies to be had from a whole duck. Every part is delicious, and not just the breasts and legs. The skin and fat, even the carcass, is precious. Start with a 4.5 lb headless Pekin (not Peking) or Long Island Duck. Separate the legs and wings for the confit. Save the breasts for a fabulous dish of your choice. Skin the rest of the duck. Take all that extra fat and skin, cut it into pieces, and throw it into a pot with 1/2 cup of water.
After roasting that duck the other night, we were left with excess duck fat, which we of course saved. I decided to make turkey meatballs, fried in the duck fat, for a nice twist. You won’t really taste definable duck fat, but I do think it adds to the flavor of this dish. On a separate note, I usually brunois carrots for my red sauces, because carrots add a natural sweetness. I was feeling lazy today so I decided to try shredding the carrots on a box grater and the result was great. I may end up doing it the lazy way more often.
*some new photos added 11/23/09
