A Beautiful Duck Stock

[ironchef]

One task that most professional cooks don't like to do, including myself, it making stock. It's just one of those prep tasks that are time consuming, boring, and not all that interesting. But a good homemade stock is so underrated. Although the process is not very exciting, creating a good stock can be very satisfying.

So in making this duck stock, I roasted the bones and carcasses. After that, they were just covered with cold water, brought to a boil, then onions, celery, leeks, mushroom scraps, ginger, bay leaves, peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, and cloves were added. I then gently simmered it for about 2 1/2 hours, then strained it, chilled it in an ice water bath, then left it overnight in the walk-in refer. The result was a beautiful, gelatinized, and extremely flavorful duck stock. I do not yet know what I'm going to do with it. I was thinking of making duck and foie gras ravioli with a duck nage, but I haven't decided on anything just yet.

 

[Andy M.]

Cool! Even your duck stock has foam on it!

 

[Uncle Bob]

Keep it simple this time IC.....Duck and Andouille Gumbo! You'll be happy!!

Smoked/Roasted duck and andouille gumbo is on my short list this time of year....

 

[TATTRAT]

I DO like the three way duck idea! Your stock sounds awesome. I like the kinda "asiany" twist with the anise and ginger, I would LOVE to try this!

I like UncleBobs take too.

My personal fave is medium rare smoked duck breast, with a granny smith apple and andoullie confit, finished with a wildberry gastrique.

Be sure to let us know what you come up with either way!

 

[Uncle Bob]

Duck & Foie gras ravioli....andouille confit.... Tattrat you and IC need to go back to Lukenbach Texas for a few days!

Naw, just kidding. You guys carry on! I enjoy reading your ideas!



Have Fun!!

 

[college_cook]

I dunno what you're leaning towards, but great stock always screams great sauce to me.

Just an aside, I know most cooks hate making stock, but it's something that I really love to do. I'm always very excited when I get the opportunity to really pay close attention to a stock, and have the time to skim for hours and pay close attention to its clarity, etc.

 

[kitchenelf]

YUM! What about some sort of crepe - love the Asian flavors in the stock!!! Some sort of cheese - maybe goat? And maybe an Asian pear matchstick sort of topper - with a bit of an Asian pear sauce? Or poached Asian pears poached with some star anise, ginger, etc. and then those cut into matchsticks? Duck, goat cheese, asian pear crepes..........you can figure out where I'm trying to go here - - - - or something with figs - - - - - - ???

 

[BreezyCooking]

I don't use duck often enough to be able to make a whole lot of stock from it, but the few times I have, I've reduced it down to sort of a demi-glace, which keeps very well, portioned, in the freezer. Thawed/melted & simmered with splashes of chicken broth & Madeira or Marsala wine - it makes a fabulous quick sauce for sauteed chicken or turkey scallops/cutlets.

 

[ironchef]

Keep it simple this time IC.....Duck and Andouille Gumbo! You'll be happy!!

Smoked/Roasted duck and andouille gumbo is on my short list this time of year....

I was also thinking about some kind of soup, but with the Asian flavors I don't know if a traditional gumbo would work unless I did it with an Asian twist.

I was also thinking about making a "Duck Pho", using the stock as a base and making "noodles" out of the duck scrap meat but I'm out of transglutaminase. I have some methylcellulose but I don't think that will work since it's not really a binder like transglutaminase is. Anyway, the idea would be to serve the duck broth hot with traditional pho garnishes on the side (lime, sliced chiles, culantro, thai basil, bean sprouts) and then the waiters would squeeze the duck mousse "noodles" into the hot broth which would firm them up on contact.

 

[ironchef]

I DO like the three way duck idea! Your stock sounds awesome. I like the kinda "asiany" twist with the anise and ginger, I would LOVE to try this!

Yeah, I was gonna then call it "Duck, Duck, Goose" LOL. I'll try and make the nage this week. I'm thinking of the broth, salt, butter, scallions, and micro cilantro. Maybe a dash of dark Chinese mushroom soy sauce for more depth. I was also thinking of using the larger sized won ton pi as the "ravioli". The filling would be roasted duck scraps, shiitake mushrooms, ginger, garlic, scallions, lemongrass, spinach, soy sauce, and bamboo shoots. We'll see.

 

[ironchef]

I dunno what you're leaning towards, but great stock always screams great sauce to me.

Just an aside, I know most cooks hate making stock, but it's something that I really love to do. I'm always very excited when I get the opportunity to really pay close attention to a stock, and have the time to skim for hours and pay close attention to its clarity, etc.

Yeah, I was also thinking of a Chinese five-spice laced port/red wine and duck demi. Maybe serve that with a seared duck breast and foie gras combo.