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Food Thread: Duck, Duck Fat, And Other Glories Of Western Civilization

[No politics or I will get cranky]

Screw "balance." Ignoring the idiocy of the government's food recommendations, which seem to be produced by a cabal of Big-Ag plus some retarded functionaries working in a sub-basement of a D.C. government building, balance in cooking should be a function of the use of herbs and spices and fats to make the food you are cooking as delicious and pleasing as possible.

Meals should be appropriate fuel for our bodies, and some people are content to eat with that goal in mind. But many of us take elemental pleasure in the act of making and consuming that fuel, and balanced foods that tickle and please the palate without overwhelming it with one flavor seem to be the goal for most cooks.

Sure, a big fat steak grilled to perfection is as simple as it gets, but how much better is that steak when it is salted perfectly, and the richness of the fat and the intensity of the beefy flavor is balanced with the glorious punch of salt? Or a bowl of chili, laden with beans and carrots and beef, but also with a wonderful spicy backbone from chilies and cumin and maybe a touch of Mexican oregano, with a delicious undertone from caramelized onions and the barest hint of garlic?

Simplicity and balance are obviously not mutually exclusive, and complex recipes with lots of ingredients may not be any more in balance than that steak.

And to make it more complicated lovers of spicy food, among whom I count myself, have experience with blazingly spicy foods that are nonetheless delicious and complex, even though that heat threatens -- but doesn't quite manage to -- overwhelm our taste buds.

Yeah...I have no real explanation for this, but I know balance when I taste it, and I'll bet you do too!

As for dietary balance? The government can take its diet edicts and shove 'em, along with most of what it has told us about our health in the last 50 years! Eat what you want*. It's nobody's business but yours.

* Except Maple Syrup on French Toast...thank is a crime against nature and all that is good and pure about food.

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Oh hell...Eat, drink and be merry. That's the best revenge against the pinch-faced food scolds and the priests of the Sustainable Organic Church Of The Carbon Apocalypse.

Drink booze, eat fat, chomp down on as much red meat as makes you happy, and ignore the latest fads about "Healthful Foods!" They are mostly nonsense, and just make us all unhappy, because they do not taste good!

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Roasted or broiled oysters are delicious! The classic Oysters Rockefeller can be had at most steakhouses, but there are wonderful variations, including the famous New Orleans char-grilled oysters that are absolutely worth eating.

Here's a fun looking recipe that makes me want to rush out and buy a dozen just to see whether they are as good as they sound.

Broiled Oysters with Chile Butter

I would use something other than plain old red pepper flakes...some sort of good dried chile would elevate this dish. But in a pinch? Anything spicy will do.

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I imagine that RedMIndBlueState is way ahead of us, but in case someone needs a primer, The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Camel Meat should take care of your next exotic (or disgusting) food forays.
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******That's the first time I have spatchcocked a duck, and I think it is a keeper of a technique. The duck cooked perfectly evenly, and all of the fat that I wanted to render ended up in the bottom of the pan, which is just perfect. I carefully drained it before I finished the duck with a sweetish glaze in a hot oven, because my kitchen hood stinks, and I did not want to fill the house with smoke!

And that is the fat that I rendered from all of the extra skin and fat that I trimmed away from the duck before I roasted it. I cut it all up, tossed it in a pot with a cover, and rendered over a couple of hours on very low heat. When it was all rendered I took the top off, increased the heat a bit to drive off the water, and when the temperature exceeded boiling I was done!

That there is liquid gold!

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Flap Meat...whatever the hell that is...just send it, Broccolini that isn't $6/bunch, garlic...lots of garlic! (and basil! My basil did not do well this year!), well-marbled hanger steaks and elk chops to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

And don't think that the rest of you are off the hook with maple syrup and French Toast: so why don't you put maple syrup on your steaks and chops and chicken?

But the real culprits are those poor deluded souls who shake their Manhattans. These are are the same people who drink fine bourbon with coke, and probably shake red wine with ice too.

However, I will give dispensation to those who use maple syrup on Brussels Sprouts! I tried that last week and it worked nicely. I still prefer Agave, but still...

And yes, I used to demand fancy bourbon, but let's face it, $1,200 for a bottle of bourbon is just stupid, insulting, and a ghastly affront to most people's palates and wallets. I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.