St. Crispin’s day
I made an excellent dinner last night, if I do say so. It was duck leg stew with red wine and mushrooms, served over Anson Mills grits. Not exactly summer, but neither was the weather. I put down Iris’s plate with grits and some chunks of duck, and by the time I got back to the table with her parents’ plates, the duck was gone.
“Duck leg stew is my FAVORITE dinner,” said Iris.
This morning there was one duck leg left over, so I put it in a pan, skin-side down, over low heat before Iris woke up. Duck skin has a magical ability to recrisp as many times as you need it to. If scientists invented such a surface in a lab, it would be hailed as a modern miracle. I sliced the leftover grits into rough slabs and cooked them up in butter.
When Iris woke up, I told her we were having gritcakes and crispy duck leg. “Wow,” she said, “that’s an all-crispy breakfast.”
Comment by Andrew
Do you have a recipe, or a cook book you use for the duck leg stew?
Do you start with a confit or a raw duck leg?
Posted on June 14, 2007 at 11:31 am
Comment by mamster
I used a recipe from James Peterson’s Duck Cookbook. It was very simple: brown the legs, the braise with wine, stock, onion, carrot, garlic. Reduce the braising liquid for sauce. Top with sauteed mushrooms.
Posted on June 14, 2007 at 2:48 pm