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Post by lagatta on Dec 5, 2011 20:07:03 GMT
I was at a nearby Sino-Vietnamese shop that always has yummy bbq (roast) ducks in the window, and today they were just putting out packages of the neck bones (very cheap) and of livers, hearts and gizzards. I had just thought to make soup from the necks, but there seems to be quite a bit of meat on them so I browned the necks a bit and am simmering them for a bit; then I'll remove the bones and continue doing broth with the bones (and spinal cord) and other things I have leftover in my fridge and freezer.
Of course duck livers are anything but a problem; even just grilled they are lovely. But are the gizzards hard? They are larger than chicken gizzards, and a slightly different shape. The hearts could just be sautéed.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2011 22:06:46 GMT
My only problem is duck tongues and the fact that they contain bones!
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Post by hwinpp on Dec 6, 2011 8:29:38 GMT
Very nice stuff there, Lagatta. I'd have done them the same way.
You could sort of score the gizzards, makes them quicker to fry and easier to eat.
Also agree with Jack that duck tongues really aren't sooo hot because of those bones.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 6, 2011 13:50:59 GMT
That's a good idea, hw. So far I've just grilled the livers, and had some of them in a salad last night - they were lovely. I think the hearts might be too dry done that way and the gizzards certainly too hard. I'll probably sauté them; I could also braise the gizzards a bit in some of my yummy ... Duck Soup!
(Mandatory Marx brothers allusion).
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Post by lagatta on Dec 6, 2011 21:08:26 GMT
Thanks for suggestions (here and on the "what's for supper" thread). Thanks to the duck soup, I had a little bit of what amounted to rendered duck fat. Not enough for a confit, but I sautéeed the gizzards in it and then braised them slowly. I did slice them lengthwise - not just in half, as they are fairly large, but in slices. However they do shrink considerably when cooking. I had a tad more duck fat left over and quickly sautéed the little hearts. They are all cut up now, like "giblets" for soup or gravy, and ready to put in a rice, soup, salad or whatever.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 6, 2011 23:32:57 GMT
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Post by lagatta on Dec 7, 2011 1:10:09 GMT
Yes, I actually recalled that recipe (name) when I was preparing the duck giblets, but didn't know where to look it up. I much prefer the second recipe, except for the odd converted rice of course. I much prefer giblets finely minced (with a small, sharp knife) rather than pulsated into purée. Funny how many people substituted something more "respectable" for the offal bits, which seem very much the point of the recipe - to make a nutritious tasty recipe with what is on hand. Like the "stuff" in it too - so many recipes, from family cooking to haute cuisine, are based on a mixture of finely-chopped vegetables. (Mirepoix, Duxelles, Sofrito...) Get the kids eating their veg, too. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirepoix_(cuisine) Oh, I see your "Holy Trinity" substitutes bell peppers for the celery. I'd add them, but want that bitter celery touch! I'd have put some mirepoix or added mushrooms (does that make it Duxelles?) to that recipe without even thinking; it simply goes. What rice would you use? I don't know if we'd have the right kind of Creole seasoning hereabouts - Most Creole mixes here would be from Haiti or the French islands (Martinique/Guadeloupe). But the included Creole Mix recipe gives me ideas, although I have a lot of that stuff fresh. Edited to add: Remember that I have duck broth, bits of duck neck meat, and the (dirty, savoury) liquid from braising the duck bits! The dirtiest rice ever!!!
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 7, 2011 3:05:59 GMT
Actually, that particular recipe calls for celery, too. I think I'd reduce the amount of bell pepper & maybe replace the volume with more celery. I'm sure you could just wing it on the "creole seasoning", as that's what people did before there were commercial mixes of the stuff. Also, even though I really like Tony Chachere's for instance, the unwary could ruin a dish because of not knowing that it's really salty.
Speaking of the old ways, my grandmother told me that dirty rice is not a truly old dish -- that it was something that came out in the newspaper in the 1940s. That may be true, but it's such a logical food that surely it was around before someone put a name to it &/or publicized it.
Yours will be the yummiest ever, with all that good stuff!
As for rice, plain old long grain white would be authentic, although I see on the web that people use all kinds of nice things like basmati.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 7, 2011 11:01:52 GMT
I've been eating necks, hearts and gizzards raw for some time now..........but then I'm only a Woolly-necked Stork living at Tod's place
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Post by lagatta on Dec 7, 2011 13:42:44 GMT
I'm sure people have always made that sort of thing, but since it is staple "poverty food" it probably didn't even have a name. But "poverty foods" can be and are dressed up as something fancier - there are countless examples. What makes it typical is the seasoning and how the giblets are combined with the mirepoix and seasonings. Yes, I saw that there was celery in the recipe; I was referring to the Wikipedia article I posted.
The only long-grain rice I have on hand is Basmati. Not just because it is nice, but also because it has half the glycemic index as most other white rices. I buy it in big sacks at South Asian shops, so it is not expensive at all.
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Post by lagatta on Apr 17, 2014 18:19:00 GMT
Looking up gizzards, I happened on this again. hwinpp is telling me from the beyond to score the gizzards - that is a good idea, as I find it very difficult to remove all the silverskin.
I also have a bit of concentrated duck stock, if I should decide to make a dirty rice.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2014 19:07:13 GMT
One must always listen to voices from the beyond.
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Post by lagatta on Apr 18, 2014 19:11:53 GMT
Well, I made it again, and it was even better. I had a bit more than 500g of duck livers, giblets and hearts (combined, not each). I only used a cup of basmati rice, and cooked it mostly with water but added a bit of concentrated duck stock. I had sautéed my gizzards and livers beforehand. I did manage to remove most of the silverskin, and fed it and the bits of flesh that adhered to it to Renzo - he had no trouble eating it.
There is a much higher ratio of duck giblets to rice than in the recipes proposed, but it still looks and has the consistency of a rice dish. I added a couple of jarred piquillo peppers - those are very mild peppers from Peru, just a bit hotter than bell peppers (sort of like Espelette peppers or some of the Portuguese ones). I mostly added them for the brilliant flecks of red.
I had cilantro on hand, so I didn't bother to buy parsley. It was fine, and the dish is not overspiced, which can be a fault.
I used no butter, just sautéd everything in olive oil, and considerably less than the equivalent of one stick of butter. Olive oil is wrong for high-heat cooking, but can be used to sauté things at the same temperature as with butter.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2015 23:24:53 GMT
I have to grin every time I go to my Chinese supermarket, because in one of the frozen food cases, there are always boxes of "duck paws." This always puts an image in my head of a weird duck-dog hybrid.
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Post by lagatta on Nov 19, 2017 3:50:25 GMT
I presume the duck paws are wings? Or are they duck feet, which are more prized?
I finally have some more duck livers. And a bit of rendered duck fat. Ideas are welcome.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 1, 2017 18:48:41 GMT
They are duck feet. I have bought them two or three times already.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 1, 2017 21:18:44 GMT
I'm sure that this is a cultural divide, but I don't see the point. I've certainly bought chicken and duck feet when they were cheap as the gelatin in the feet very much enriches stock, but I see no point in gnawing on them. There is no meat, and no crisp skin.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 13, 2018 8:33:44 GMT
I'm going to do another dirty rice, as I bought some turkey bones with a LOT of meat attached to make stock, along with bones and vegetable scraps I'd saved in the freezer. And underneath the carcass pieces, there were three hearts and at least two livers, and some gizzards - surprisingly small, the latter. I have a good container of cubed poached meat, and the giblet bits (sautéed). I think I need some more livers or hearts. Would thing such as ham or bits of sausage ever go into this dish? Ideas? (Remember to look upthread here at the links bixi posted), especially at reply no. 5. Probably not authentic, but some flatleaf parsley is definitely going in at the last minute. Here is another version, but I'm definitely NOT including bacon. Perhaps some ham or capicollo if I find a nice heel of it at Fruiterie Milano (a supermarket, not just a fruit shop. I don't like the trend of putting bacon in everything: www.africanbites.com/dirty-rice-4/
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 16, 2018 4:02:21 GMT
LaGatta, the ground beef is a good idea, but yeah -- I agree with you about how inappropriate it is for everything to have to taste like bacon. And yes, some people do put in loose breakfast sausage along with or instead of the ground beef. The flatleaf parsley is a perfect addition.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 16, 2018 11:41:23 GMT
Yes, it seems very lazy, and the bacon really takes over from all the other flavours in the dish. Not to mention how very salty it is.
I did add the parsley, and it also makes the dish more attractive. It came out really well this time. I added no ground beef, because I had made stock from some very meaty turkey bones. I removed the bones when the meat was just done, let them cool down and stripped them off. There was a good container full, to such an extent that I only used half (in little cubes) and froze the rest for some other dish. I also made 40-some wee chicken balls, also in the freezer. This morning I'll make a salse for them; tomato sauce with lemon, diluted in some of the stock, which also incorporated vegetable scraps such as large parsley stems, a carrot and the usual onion. But I don't want to overload the little freezer!
A friend's fridge - and freezer - died on him recently; odd as he bought it new and paid quite a lot for it. It is far from old, though I'm sure the warranty has expired. His fridge was utterly full (friend is more than a bit of a hoarder). What a mess too.
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