Duck galantine

Blog's Category: DK Challenges

Duck Galantine

 

Intro

How about deboning whole bird and wrap it back like it is still wholesome one? This is exactly what this month's Daring Kitchen  host had in mind for us, DK challengers. Not bad for a real challenge, hah?

It just happened that not so long ago I already come across Jacques Pepin video of making Chicken Galantine. Right away I was inspired by easiness Jacques deboned whole chicken. His explanation were so clear and whole process seemed to be so doable that I had no hesitation what so ever and made my first chicken galantine.

As I have no time in this life to go by beaten path again and again, I decided to make duck galantine this time. I have to admit that, for some reason, it was harder to pull up duck's meat off the bones than chicken's. Although for presentation and serving convenience sake it may worth your efforts.

FYI, galantine is French cuisine term which stands for a whole deboned bird, served cold. Ballotine is a whole deboned bird also but served hot, right from an oven. Both can be lightly or heavily stuffed with herbs, vegetables or giblets.
 

Duck Galantine



• young duck
• 1 cup whole walnuts
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• salt
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
• 1 tbs minced garlic
• 3 tbs olive oil

- Follow video of Jacques Pepin and using pictures below, debone your duck.

- Use bone, neck and gizzards to make stock. I will use a cup or two later on in my recipe.

- Place deboned duck, skin down, flat open on a cutting board. Rub garlic and salt into meat, sprinkle with cumin, coriander, pepper and walnuts. Wrap duck together to resemble the whole bird. I ended up not knowing what to do with a long neck skin (it's duck!) - see pictures below to find out how I dealt with it ;)

- Tie bird up (again, refer to the technique Jacques shows brilliantly in his video).

- In a preheated pan with a little olive oil, on a medium heat, cook duck on a one side until golden brown. Using tongue and spatula, turn bird over and cook on another side until golden brown.

- Add 1-2 cups of stock from your pot with duck leftovers. Cover pan with duck and stock tightly with a lid, switch heat to lowest setting and let it braise for an 1.5-2 hours. Turn heat off and let duck to cool down completely.

- Transfer whole duck into container and pop in a refrigerator for a few hours.

- Remove from a fridge, cut in slices and serve as a lavish appetizer or, along with freshly sliced vegetables and nice crusty bread, as part of "build your own sandwich" lunch, brunch or dinner. Enjoy!

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IN PICTURES

 

Duck bones are harder and joints are more stiff than chicken. It's part of why making chicken galantine is easier than making duck galantine.

First is a long cut on a back.

Duck "wish bone" is quite different than chicken's...and again, harder to reach and pull out.

I definitely need to work on my hand muscles to do this work of pulling meat down off carcass.

..before cutting out bones from wings and legs.. 

 

Here is a battle field... not bad for vegetarian, hah? Mixed feelings - sorry for duck, proud for myself..

Fully deboned - just ending joints are left - as explained by Jacques, those are have to be left intact in order skin not be shrunk off during cooking - makes perfect sense to me..

..my homemade spices I used..

..and where in a world I need to hide this neck skin?!..

I'm sure there would be better solution but for now...

..tucking it in somewhere..

..funny looking..

Bones and gizzards go into stock pan.

...my duck skin was slightly cracked on a front when I bought it.. when cooked, this crack got worse...oh..well..

Stock added - it's ready to be covered and braised for a while.

Cooked and cooled down.

Next day, pulled from a fridge. Before strings are cut...

With a thin sharp knife it's easy to slice...

 

Pretty and delicious ...Too bad I didn't try it but I trust my testers - approved 100%.

 

 

Blog-checking lines: For the April Daring Cooks Challenge, Lisa from Parsley, Sage and Sweet has challenged us to debone a whole chicken, using this video by Jacques Pepin as our guide; then stuff it, tie it and roast it, to create a Chicken Ballotine.