I'm working up a recipe for a cooking competition and I only have a couple
of days. It is sponsored by a duck meat supplier. My concept is to make a
duck and avocado parfait. I want alternating layers of duck meat and
avocado in a 4" wide mold. The thing will be topped with an avocado
tarragon sauce and served with sauced avocado slices arranged around the
parfait "tower."

I gave some thought to cutting cooked duck breast slices with the ring mold
to form circles. I'm worried that the difference in texture between the
soft avocado and relatively hard duck breast circles will make the dish hard
to cut and eat. I can imagine the judges making a mess of it. So it makes
sense to me to chop the duck meat and then press the parfait layers together
vigorously in the ring mold. I'm looking for some thoughts on what to mix
with the chopped duck meat to give it enough body to hold together after it
is unmolded. Any ideas?

Fred
The Good Gourmet
http://www.thegoodgourmet.com

Fred wrote:

> So it makes sense to me to chop the duck meat and then
> press the parfait layers together vigorously in the ring mold.
> I'm looking for some thoughts on what to mix with the
> chopped duck meat to give it enough body to hold together
> after it is unmolded. Any ideas?

Gelatin and aspic are the obvious choices. Agar agar (available
in asian markets) is a more obscure possibility. Also pectin
(used in jelly making). Tapioca might also work. Definitely
something you want to have a melt-in-your-mouth texture.
Lumps of undissolved gel in your mouth would be not nice.

What would Iron Chef Sakai do? If I knew, I would be an Iron Chef.

This is so far out of my league that all I do is say that is sounds
delicious and wish you good luck.

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Louis Cohen
Living la vida loca at N37° 43' 7.9" W122° 8' 42.8"


"Fred" > wrote in message
. net...
> I'm working up a recipe for a cooking competition and I only have a couple
> of days. It is sponsored by a duck meat supplier. My concept is to make
a
> duck and avocado parfait. I want alternating layers of duck meat and
> avocado in a 4" wide mold. The thing will be topped with an avocado
> tarragon sauce and served with sauced avocado slices arranged around the
> parfait "tower."
>
> I gave some thought to cutting cooked duck breast slices with the ring
mold
> to form circles. I'm worried that the difference in texture between the
> soft avocado and relatively hard duck breast circles will make the dish
hard
> to cut and eat. I can imagine the judges making a mess of it. So it
makes
> sense to me to chop the duck meat and then press the parfait layers
together
> vigorously in the ring mold. I'm looking for some thoughts on what to
mix
> with the chopped duck meat to give it enough body to hold together after
it
> is unmolded. Any ideas?
>
> Fred
> The Good Gourmet
> http://www.thegoodgourmet.com
>
>

On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 01:38:26 GMT, "Fred" >
wrote:

>I'm working up a recipe for a cooking competition and I only have a couple
>of days. It is sponsored by a duck meat supplier.

So what did you do and how did it turn out?