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So. Have I mentioned that I kind of love the Kowloon Market? Where else can you get duck-for-two for $5?
Which is, in fact, what I did the other night. I went up the street and picked up a few odds and sods, including milk and butter[1] but also including a whole frozen duck (to be roasted at some point in the future, possibly in early November) and a couple of packages of pre-bbq'd duck legs.
I only saved the bones from one package - more fool me - but I am making soup stock today with those legs being the first ingredient.
My cooking philosophy, such as it is, is that you cook with what you've got on hand and so it's helpful if you're good at combining things on the fly and making good guesses as to what will go with what.
If I weren't nearly so intuitive when it came to flavour combinations, I would probably have a different cooking philosophy. But as it stands, this one is serving me well.
So. My experiment for today:
~*~
The bones of two duck legs, with a little bit of meat still clinging to them around the joints
A well-packed cup of dandelion leaves[2]
A few slices of beet, left over from the dinner where the duck bones came from
Four baby carrots
The remains of an onion (probably about 3 tbsp?), chopped into quarters
1 large clove garlic, diced
About half a tomato (the other half became part of breakfast along with some edamame and the rest of the beets)
The water in-which I cooked the edamame
Three medium-small bay leaves
A teaspoon or so of grainy mustard
A heaping soup spoon full of apple butter
A teaspoon or so of rendered duck fat (I keep it in my fridge and treat it like lard)
Three pieces of kombu (I think...)
A big handful of dried inoke mushrooms (hoping I didn't use too many of these)
A couple of tablespoons of blood sausage, plus the water I used to soften it up
Two pieces of dried red pepper
~*~
I think that's everything. I'm currently at the "second-guessing myself" stage, which is where I wonder if I shouldn't add some rosemary and tamari and black pepper... and I may yet do it.
Right now, the broth is in the slow-cooker on "low" and is smelling VERY tomato-y.
I know tomato-based duck broth works - it works well enough that you can use left-over-duck combined with macaroni noodles and tinned tomato soup (made with water) and make a remarkably delicious soup. So I'm not too worried about it.
But I do think those three ingredients might help things along in the long run.
Anyway. We'll see how it goes.
TTFN,
Amazon.
[1] With the demise, several years ago, of the local western-food grocery store, the Kowloon Market has started carrying dairy. This is me rejoicing! :-D
[2] Which I harvested almost a month and a half ago, and which were still just as good as the day I picked them - which kind of shocked me, but is good to know. Dandelions KEEP in the fridge!
Which is, in fact, what I did the other night. I went up the street and picked up a few odds and sods, including milk and butter[1] but also including a whole frozen duck (to be roasted at some point in the future, possibly in early November) and a couple of packages of pre-bbq'd duck legs.
I only saved the bones from one package - more fool me - but I am making soup stock today with those legs being the first ingredient.
My cooking philosophy, such as it is, is that you cook with what you've got on hand and so it's helpful if you're good at combining things on the fly and making good guesses as to what will go with what.
If I weren't nearly so intuitive when it came to flavour combinations, I would probably have a different cooking philosophy. But as it stands, this one is serving me well.
So. My experiment for today:
~*~
The bones of two duck legs, with a little bit of meat still clinging to them around the joints
A well-packed cup of dandelion leaves[2]
A few slices of beet, left over from the dinner where the duck bones came from
Four baby carrots
The remains of an onion (probably about 3 tbsp?), chopped into quarters
1 large clove garlic, diced
About half a tomato (the other half became part of breakfast along with some edamame and the rest of the beets)
The water in-which I cooked the edamame
Three medium-small bay leaves
A teaspoon or so of grainy mustard
A heaping soup spoon full of apple butter
A teaspoon or so of rendered duck fat (I keep it in my fridge and treat it like lard)
Three pieces of kombu (I think...)
A big handful of dried inoke mushrooms (hoping I didn't use too many of these)
A couple of tablespoons of blood sausage, plus the water I used to soften it up
Two pieces of dried red pepper
~*~
I think that's everything. I'm currently at the "second-guessing myself" stage, which is where I wonder if I shouldn't add some rosemary and tamari and black pepper... and I may yet do it.
Right now, the broth is in the slow-cooker on "low" and is smelling VERY tomato-y.
I know tomato-based duck broth works - it works well enough that you can use left-over-duck combined with macaroni noodles and tinned tomato soup (made with water) and make a remarkably delicious soup. So I'm not too worried about it.
But I do think those three ingredients might help things along in the long run.
Anyway. We'll see how it goes.
TTFN,
Amazon.
[1] With the demise, several years ago, of the local western-food grocery store, the Kowloon Market has started carrying dairy. This is me rejoicing! :-D
[2] Which I harvested almost a month and a half ago, and which were still just as good as the day I picked them - which kind of shocked me, but is good to know. Dandelions KEEP in the fridge!