Somebody was looking for something to make using duck fat

Choucroute
Created by Justin North

* Cuisine: French
* Serves 12 as an accompaniment

This is the French word for sauerkraut, meaning ‘bitter herb’, and is a specialty of Alsace, Lorraine
and parts of Germany. The dish is finely sliced white cabbage that is then salted and fermented.
Traditionally it accompanies smoked pork or sausages.

Featured as part of our Cooks and their Books series, this recipe comes courtesy of Justin North,
owner and manager of renowned Sydney restaurant Bécasse, and Sydney Morning Herald Good
Food Guide 2009 Chef of the Year.

More Justin North recipes
Ingredients

15 juniper berries
10 black peppercorns
3 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves garlic
8 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
100 g (31?2 oz) Wet Salt (page 9)
1 large Savoy cabbage, cored and very
finely sliced
300 ml (10 fl oz) Rendered Duck Fat
(page 274)
2 large onions, very finely sliced
300 g (10 oz) pancetta, cut into a few big
chunks
750 ml (1 1?3 pints) riesling
Preparation

Crush the juniper berries, peppercorns, star anise and cinnamon in a mortar then add the garlic,
thyme and bay leaf and pound to a fragrant paste. Scrape into a large mixing bowl, add the salt and
mix together well. Add the cabbage to the bowl and mix together thoroughly. Cover with cling film
and leave in a warm place for 24–48 hours to ferment. The longer you leave it, the stronger the
flavour will be. Tip into a colander and rinse well under running water to remove the salt.

Preheat your oven to 100°C (210°F). Heat a large casserole dish and add the duck fat and onions.
Sweat for about 10 minutes until soft. Add the cabbage to the pan with the pancetta and riesling.
Cover with a piece of greaseproof paper cut to the size of the casserole dish. Cover tightly and
braise in the oven for 4 hours. Stir every 30 minutes to make sure the cabbage cooks evenly and
doesn’t burn.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Tip onto a flat tray and pick out any large pieces of spice.

--
Is that your nose, or are you eatting a banana? -Jimmy Durante

On Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:11:49 GMT, hahabogus >
wrote:

>Somebody was looking for something to make using duck fat
>
>Choucroute
>Created by Justin North
>
> * Cuisine: French
> * Serves 12 as an accompaniment
>
>This is the French word for sauerkraut, meaning ‘bitter herb’, and is a specialty of Alsace, Lorraine
>and parts of Germany. The dish is finely sliced white cabbage that is then salted and fermented.
>Traditionally it accompanies smoked pork or sausages.
>
>Featured as part of our Cooks and their Books series, this recipe comes courtesy of Justin North,
>owner and manager of renowned Sydney restaurant Bécasse, and Sydney Morning Herald Good
>Food Guide 2009 Chef of the Year.
>
>More Justin North recipes
>Ingredients
>
>15 juniper berries
>10 black peppercorns
>3 star anise
>1 cinnamon stick
>3 cloves garlic
>8 sprigs thyme
>1 bay leaf
>100 g (31?2 oz) Wet Salt (page 9)
>1 large Savoy cabbage, cored and very
>finely sliced
>300 ml (10 fl oz) Rendered Duck Fat
>(page 274)
>2 large onions, very finely sliced
>300 g (10 oz) pancetta, cut into a few big
>chunks
>750 ml (1 1?3 pints) riesling
>Preparation
>
>Crush the juniper berries, peppercorns, star anise and cinnamon in a mortar then add the garlic,
>thyme and bay leaf and pound to a fragrant paste. Scrape into a large mixing bowl, add the salt and
>mix together well. Add the cabbage to the bowl and mix together thoroughly. Cover with cling film
>and leave in a warm place for 24–48 hours to ferment. The longer you leave it, the stronger the
>flavour will be. Tip into a colander and rinse well under running water to remove the salt.
>
>Preheat your oven to 100°C (210°F). Heat a large casserole dish and add the duck fat and onions.
>Sweat for about 10 minutes until soft. Add the cabbage to the pan with the pancetta and riesling.
>Cover with a piece of greaseproof paper cut to the size of the casserole dish. Cover tightly and
>braise in the oven for 4 hours. Stir every 30 minutes to make sure the cabbage cooks evenly and
>doesn’t burn.
>
>Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Tip onto a flat tray and pick out any large pieces of spice.

Interesting kraut prep, thanks... here's the rest of the recipe from
James Beard... I've done this once with wooden barrel kraut from a NYC
Appy, meats grilled just to brown, I used lots of spare ribs in place
of the loin, served outdoors because it gets messy. Makes a hellava
cookout. I posted this years ago:


Choucroute au Champagne House & Garden | December 1959
by James A. Beard

Choucroute is traditionally cooked in champagne but if you wish to be
more economical you can cook it in white wine and add a split or two
of champagne at the table.

Yield: Serves 6 to 8

Salt pork slices
2 to 3 onions, sliced
Several cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
4 to 5 pounds sauerkraut
Large piece salt pork
Freshly ground black pepper
Champagne (white wine may be substituted)
Smoked pork loin, bratwurst, vaurenwurst, knockwurst, or frankfurters

Line a deep kettle with slices of salt pork, add the sliced onions and
chopped garlic. Put the sauerkraut on top with a large piece of salt
pork and grind plenty of pepper over it. Add just enough champagne or
white wine to cover the sauerkraut. Simmer on top of the stove or in a
300°F oven for 4 to 6 hours. The longer it cooks, the better it will
be.

Smoked pork loin is a natural accompaniment for choucroute. Roast it
for 10 to 15 minutes per pound or until thoroughly heated through.
Bratwurst, vaurenwurst, knockwurst, and good well seasoned
frankfurters are also tasty additions. Use any or all these meats. To
serve, heap the choucroute in the middle of a platter and arrange
slices of meat around it.

If the sauerkraut was cooked in white wine, place half a bottle or two
splits of champagne in the center of the sauerkraut. At the table,
give the bottle a good shake and remove corks so the champagne gushes
out over the sauerkraut. Serve with plain boiled potatoes. With this,
drink champagne or Riesling.
---

hahabogus wrote:
> Somebody was looking for something to make using duck fat
>


I use goose fat when when I make the masa dough for chicken tamales.
Duck fat should work just as well. (you may think it's a waste of goose
fat, but it's not as big a waste as keeping it in the freezer forever
until goes off)

Bob

"hahabogus" > wrote in message
50...
> Somebody was looking for something to make using duck fat

Sex.


--
Dimitri
Coming soon:
http://kitchenguide.wordpress.com.

zxcvbob wrote:
>
> hahabogus wrote:
> > Somebody was looking for something to make using duck fat
> >
>
> I use goose fat when when I make the masa dough for chicken tamales.
> Duck fat should work just as well. (you may think it's a waste of goose
> fat, but it's not as big a waste as keeping it in the freezer forever
> until goes off)
>
> Bob

Or make Chinese onion pancakes...flour, fat, salt kneaded together with
finely chopped spring/salad onions. Roll out into rounds, fry on both
sides. Eat hot.

"Arri London" ha scritto nel messaggio
> zxcvbob wrote:
>>
>> hahabogus wrote:
>>I use goose fat when when I make the masa dough for chicken tamales.>>
>>Duck fat should work just as well. (you may think it's a waste of goose
>> fat, but it's not as big a waste as keeping it in the freezer forever>>
>> until goes off)
>>
> Or make Chinese onion pancakes...flour, fat, salt kneaded together with>
> finely chopped spring/salad onions. Roll out into rounds, fry on both>
> sides. Eat hot.

I love those so much I have tried to forget how to make them. You are not
helping.

On Oct 12, 12:22*am, "Dimitri" > wrote:
> "hahabogus" > wrote in message
>
> 50...
>
> > Somebody was looking for something to make using duck fat
>
> Sex.

Anal?
>
> --
> Dimitri
> Coming soon

Too much information.

--Bryan

Giusi wrote:
>
> "Arri London" ha scritto nel messaggio
> > zxcvbob wrote:
> >>
> >> hahabogus wrote:
> >>I use goose fat when when I make the masa dough for chicken tamales.>>
> >>Duck fat should work just as well. (you may think it's a waste of goose
> >> fat, but it's not as big a waste as keeping it in the freezer forever>>
> >> until goes off)
> >>
> > Or make Chinese onion pancakes...flour, fat, salt kneaded together with>
> > finely chopped spring/salad onions. Roll out into rounds, fry on both>
> > sides. Eat hot.
>
> I love those so much I have tried to forget how to make them. You are not
> helping.

Sorry! Not really :P Just make them once a year. We don't eat them more
than a couple of times a year.

In article >, "Giusi"
> wrote:
>"Arri London" ha scritto nel messaggio
>> zxcvbob wrote:
>>> hahabogus wrote:
>>>I use goose fat when when I make the masa dough for chicken tamales.>>
>>>Duck fat should work just as well. (you may think it's a waste of goose
>>> fat, but it's not as big a waste as keeping it in the freezer forever>>
>>> until goes off)
>>>
>> Or make Chinese onion pancakes...flour, fat, salt kneaded together with>
>> finely chopped spring/salad onions. Roll out into rounds, fry on both>
>> sides. Eat hot.
>
>I love those so much I have tried to forget how to make them. You are not
>helping.

Not quite on topic "duck fat", but the related "goose fat":

The question put recently to readers of The Last Word in the Pommie
popular science mag _New Scientist_ was "Why do geese need so much
fat?"

Apart from answers covering various nutritional, physiological and
evolutionary points, there was a contribution from one Hadrian Jeffs
(a Pom from Norwich) in which he mentioned a culinary trick used by
Charles Dickens when cooking a goose. (_NS_ 26 Sep 2009, IBC.)

It seems Charlie had a preference for cooked goose, in spite of his
writings being largely responsible for converting the whole of
Pommerania to the idea of turkey at Christmas. His trick was to roast
a whole heart in a pan placed beneath the trivet on which the goose
was cooking. The dripping fat nicely basted the heart as it cooked,
and added a touch of goose flavour to the otherwise rather bland
heart meat.

Addendum: One of my mates used to enjoy cooking and eating stuffed ox
heart, but for some years has only been able to find dissected hearts
here in the north of Oz. The topic came up again the other day, so I
asked the local animal health guru what was going on... It seems our
modern meat regulations require the heart to be cut open to inspect it
for signs of nasty parasites before sale. So no more stuffed ox
hearts for the hoi polloi.

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

On Oct 11, 3:11 am, hahabogus > wrote:
> Somebody was looking for something to make using duck fat
> [snip]
The NY Times this week has a recipe for potatoes Boulangere in which
the potatoes are fried in duck fat or beef suet. The duck fat would
be superior, imho. -aem