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57 minutes ago, Coral said:

This is how I want to cook. It is the work thing that interferes. This is how I try to cook on weekends. 

 

Yes, it is a real pain when work runs late and we're hungry, but haven't planned anything for dinner. A mad dash to the pantry/fridge/freezer to see what we can invent.

 

Time to go whip some cream for that almond-cranberry tart!

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OK, I am officially stuffed.

 

The duck came out great. I left the breasts in the refrigerator for a day, uncovered, so the skin dried out a bit. That made them extra crispy.

 

20201126_162244.thumb.jpg.baa4b08b3d4dba8ca92e1afa6214893c.jpg

 

20201126_163508.thumb.jpg.257a2810eefdbf7e5fa647f6567163ea.jpg

 

20201126_163832.thumb.jpg.00d4a70b16257ebaee5453f92b7ecae7.jpg

 

My exotic ingredient today was to substitute Madagascar wild peppercorns for regular peppercorns. We brought them home from Madagascar a few years ago. A very different flavor profile from regular pepper. Almost fruity. Went well with the raspberries. 

 

@Coral, dessert was really tasty. I can't believe how much almond flavor it had, considering it only took 1/8 tsp of almond extract. Must be that the stuff from Odessa is extra strong!

 

Here is the recipe. https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/brown-sugar-cranberry-tart

 

I didn't bother sprinkling it with confectioner's sugar. Instead, I saved the cranberry syrup and poured some of that over the whipped cream.

 

20201126_180439.thumb.jpg.8ed34289940a6c907d71bab3f96ef9dd.jpg

 

Now I am in a sugar coma and I have a zoom call with about 20 Italian cousins coming up in an hour. We'll see how that goes!

Edited by jpalbny
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1 hour ago, jpalbny said:

OK, I am officially stuffed.

 

The duck came out great. I left the breasts in the refrigerator for a day, uncovered, so the skin dried out a bit. That made them extra crispy.

 

20201126_162244.thumb.jpg.baa4b08b3d4dba8ca92e1afa6214893c.jpg

 

20201126_163508.thumb.jpg.257a2810eefdbf7e5fa647f6567163ea.jpg

 

20201126_163832.thumb.jpg.00d4a70b16257ebaee5453f92b7ecae7.jpg

 

My exotic ingredient today was to substitute Madagascar wild peppercorns for regular peppercorns. We brought them home from Madagascar a few years ago. A very different flavor profile from regular pepper. Almost fruity. Went well with the raspberries. 

 

@Coral, dessert was really tasty. I can't believe how much almond flavor it had, considering it only took 1/8 tsp of almond extract. Must be that the stuff from Odessa is extra strong!

 

Here is the recipe. https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/brown-sugar-cranberry-tart

 

I didn't bother sprinkling it with confectioner's sugar. Instead, I saved the cranberry syrup and poured some of that over the whipped cream.

 

20201126_180439.thumb.jpg.8ed34289940a6c907d71bab3f96ef9dd.jpg

 

Now I am in a sugar coma and I have a zoom call with about 20 Italian cousins coming up in an hour. We'll see how that goes!

OMG - your dinner looks amazing! Thanks for the recipe!

 

I just looked at the recipe - I may make that for Christmas!

Edited by Coral
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Sure, the duck breast recipe is also from Food & Wine. Here it is. I halve the recipe because I just use one duck at a time.

 

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/pan-seared-duck-breasts-with-red-wine-raspberry-sauce

 

I have also made this one a few times. Equally good but so different. It's a little more annoying because it's a recipe for 10 breasts and how can you divide it by 5 for just two people?

 

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/grilled-spiced-duck-breasts-blackberries

 

It took me a few tries to get the sense of how a medium-rare duck breast should feel, but now I am pretty good at telling when they are done. The fat and skin protect the meat from cooking too much so you have to leave them in the pan with the skin side down much longer than you'd think, but once you flip them over, watch them like a hawk because they will cook really fast if you're not careful. At medium-rare, they should still feel squishy when you touch them with a spatula.

 

***

 

Duck legs are incredibly tasty so I always buy a whole duck so I can use as many parts as I can. I have a few favorite duck leg recipes.

 

One is super simple. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, sear both sides in a skillet, then remove. Chop a few potatoes and/or carrots and onions, and fry them in the duck fat. Add a few herbs like thyme and rosemary, then put the legs skin-side up on top of the vegetables. Pour broth into the pan until the vegetables are covered but the duck skin is still out of the liquid. Bake for an hour or two until the meat almost falls off the bone and the skin is super crisp. It's like confit without using a quart of fat. And the whole kitchen smells so good afterwards.

 

I have made duck legs confit but they are more of a pain. I marinate them overnight with lemons, garlic, juniper and allspice then the next day you have to find enough duck fat to completely cover them while they bake in a very low oven for many hours. Then you have to take them out of the fat and re-crisp the skin in a frying pan.

 

I never have enough duck fat to make a proper confit, so I have to waste olive oil to make up the difference. The meat from method #1 above is almost as tender, and the skin stays crisp from cooking, so I prefer that now.

 

Now you've got me craving duck legs. Maybe next weekend.

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On 11/24/2020 at 1:40 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

 насолоджуватися

 

I have a fair command of Russian but couldn't figure this one out.  When I put it in my secret decoder ring I figured out why - it's Ukranian!  I like it, nice thought for the situation we find ourselves in.

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17 minutes ago, Roz said:

Duck is a food I never eat anywhere else but on a cruise ship.

I think I have had Peking duck once but don't remember eating duck otherwise. Something I probably should look into as jpalbny's food looks amazing. I live in beef country and get amazing beef here and don't think much beyond beef, chicken and pork for meat.

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You probably will not believe this but I had never eaten turkey before I was sixteen. In our family we never had that meat and it was barely eaten by the majority of people. If you ate turkey at Christmas you would be presumed either British or American or "unusual". We eat a lot of meat in our region and get a wide range owing to the forests nearby. Wild boar I can buy "just round the corner" - I will have venison sausages this weekend -, but we also eat rabbit and goose. Lamb is available. Most people do go for the standard of beef, pork and chicken, though. Talking of goose, I saw today that a restaurant that is open for takeaway is offering goose at the weekends. Will consider phoning them up and order.

 

Aldi, by the way, have a got a "gourmet" range that is full of interesting stuff before Christmas, have already bought a couple of things. You probably get this kind of upper price range as well with them where you are. Not all is great, but generally Aldi is really good value for money. I like their battery-operated Christmas lights with timer. Work better than other ones I have had. They are all made cheaply in the same Asian countries but there is nevertheless, oddly, a difference in quality, depending on where you buy them.

 

Dr. Oetker, every German woman's baking favourite! My, that sounds like an advertising slogan. But it has certainly been a firm favourite for about a hundred years. Look at the little display of objects from inside my kitchen cupboard: 1643342835_IMG_20201126_162515-Kopie.thumb.jpg.3de8f3be7e78c907a6f688831a6b9812.jpg

 

A brownie point for the person who spots the odd one out and can tell me why.

 

Oh, and I went to bed last night longing for cranberry cake with whipped cream. @jpalbny thanks for the recipe. Now I can try it out, I think I know a greengrocer's that has got the fruit.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

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@notamermaid, I've noticed Europeans eat a lot more wild game than we do in the USA.  The last time I was in Germany I had an excellent wild boar ragu over pasta, also wild boar sausages.  Quite tasty.  I only eat lamb in Middle Eastern or Greek restaurants or on cruise ships.  The lamb we get in grocery stores just isn't up to the quality of restaurant lamb, in my opinion.  

 

In the USA it's pretty much beef, pork, and chicken.  Fish and seafood depending on where you live.  Obviously more fish and seafood in coastal areas.  In the Southern US where I live, catfish are commonly eaten.  I don't consider them to be a real fish.  😛

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@notamermaid, could it be the "Bicarbonate of Soda", which I think we call Baking Soda here?  It's from England, not Germany?

 

I've looked at the SoBe, is it something like Creme Anglaise?  Not much for deserts in this house (mostly cheese & fruit), but maybe for a glaze?

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The European variety of catfish also lives in the Rhine, but I think I have never eaten it. Not sure where they are offered. There is more fish to be had in the coastal areas here for sure, as well. Most fish around here is imported, but there is a trout farm that I can get fresh fish from which is not too far away in a car. I do not think I have ever had real fish from the Rhine, when I was young the water was too polluted. People do get fish out of the Rhine to eat, there are a few types that are typical among them eel. Those used to be fished in abundance many years ago. Now I think there is only one commercial fisherman for eel left on the Rhine. I do eat fish and a bit of seafood, not a fish gourmet, mostly I go for the fish n' chips variety, but the Fischbrötchen (fried fish in a bun) I had last week was a tasty Friday lunch!

 

In normal times, quite a few people would now be on a Rhine river cruise sampling local food and perhaps learning to bake gingerbread men. Weird times. Gingerbread men, that reminds me to look for spicy cake (Gewürzkuchen) tomorrow. Not every bakery has it. Love the stuff, only in the shops for about six weeks, the hunt is on!

 

notamermaid

 

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5 minutes ago, Daisi said:

@notamermaid, could it be the "Bicarbonate of Soda", which I think we call Baking Soda here?  It's from England, not Germany?

 

I've looked at the SoBe, is it something like Creme Anglaise?  Not much for deserts in this house (mostly cheese & fruit), but maybe for a glaze?

Yes, Daisi. Brownie point! The two at the back are German and the container I bought online from England as I use English recipes that state bicarbonate of soda. The gelatine is obvious - jelly - and the Soße is spelled with the weird s that we have in German, it is essentially a type of custard, a bit thinner in consistency, for pouring over desserts. Creme Anglaise sounds like something similar, according to my German google, but a bit more for "more sophisticated cooking". Whatever that means! I cannot do fancy cooking, I think I will stick to my Soße :classic_biggrin: .

 

notamermaid

 

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6 hours ago, notamermaid said:

You probably will not believe this but I had never eaten turkey before I was sixteen. In our family we never had that meat and it was barely eaten by the majority of people. If you ate turkey at Christmas you would be presumed either British or American or "unusual". We eat a lot of meat in our region and get a wide range owing to the forests nearby. Wild boar I can buy "just round the corner" - I will have venison sausages this weekend -, but we also eat rabbit and goose. Lamb is available. Most people do go for the standard of beef, pork and chicken, though. Talking of goose, I saw today that a restaurant that is open for takeaway is offering goose at the weekends. Will consider phoning them up and order.

 

Aldi, by the way, have a got a "gourmet" range that is full of interesting stuff before Christmas, have already bought a couple of things. You probably get this kind of upper price range as well with them where you are. Not all is great, but generally Aldi is really good value for money. I like their battery-operated Christmas lights with timer. Work better than other ones I have had. They are all made cheaply in the same Asian countries but there is nevertheless, oddly, a difference in quality, depending on where you buy them.

 

Dr. Oetker, every German woman's baking favourite! My, that sounds like an advertising slogan. But it has certainly been a firm favourite for about a hundred years. Look at the little display of objects from inside my kitchen cupboard: 1643342835_IMG_20201126_162515-Kopie.thumb.jpg.3de8f3be7e78c907a6f688831a6b9812.jpg

 

A brownie point for the person who spots the odd one out and can tell me why.

 

Oh, and I went to bed last night longing for cranberry cake with whipped cream. @jpalbny thanks for the recipe. Now I can try it out, I think I know a greengrocer's that has got the fruit.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

I think the Bicarbonate of soda would have been purchased in England, since it is in English. 

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12 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

I think the Bicarbonate of soda would have been purchased in England, since it is in English. 

Yes, purchased through a very good online shop in England. Daisi was a bit faster so she has already got the brownie points. Sorry. Thanks for joining in my one-off quiz question.

 

notamermaid

 

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I eat rabbit when I can find it on a restaurant menu - it is quite tasty. I've had rabbit in Germany - also in Prague, and in Lviv when we were visiting Ukraine. There are some chefs in Albany who will occasionally put it on their menu. I have not bought it to cook it at home, nor have I tried to catch (and cook) one of the many rabbits that roam our yard every summer.

 

Turkey is OK but not my favorite. I didn't miss having it this year. I have tried to cook a goose once and did OK but it wasn't as good as I'd like; I think I overcooked it a little bit. I am looking for one this Christmas but they are proving hard to find around here. There is a gourmet poultry farm in the Hudson Valley, south of us, but their prices for a whole goose are through the stratosphere. They want $200 for a 10-pound goose! At that price, I would be afraid to cook it myself for fear of messing it up. Maybe I can go to the local park and catch one of those pesky Canadian geese? 😉

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3 hours ago, jpalbny said:

I have tried to cook a goose once and did OK but it wasn't as good as I'd like; I think I overcooked it a little bit. I am looking for one this Christmas but they are proving hard to find around here. There is a gourmet poultry farm in the Hudson Valley, south of us, but their prices for a whole goose are through the stratosphere. They want $200 for a 10-pound goose! At that price, I would be afraid to cook it myself for fear of messing it up. Maybe I can go to the local park and catch one of those pesky Canadian geese? 😉

 

Come to our neighborhood with a 9 iron and you can have your pick.  [Just don't bring a 1 iron, because 'even God can't hit a 1 iron'...]

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To me, the best part of turkey is the soup I make the next day (and the stuffing with apples and cranberries).

 

After you separate as much meat off the carcass as you can, boil it down.  Separate liquid from solid chunks; liquid to fridge so the grease will rise and you can remove, solid stuff paw through after cooled and remove meat pieces.

 

Next day the stock is like jello, into the crock pot with carrots, celery, onions and mushrooms.  I play with it as it cooks down, season salt, some pepper, dark mustard to taste.  I put all the dark meat and some white in about an hour before the carrots will be ready, then the meat that came off the boiled carcass last.

 

If you want noodles, cook separately...I don't add them to the crock pot  later as they soak up all the juice and turn gummy.

 

Very, very good, one of about 3 things I make that are tasty.

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On 11/24/2020 at 7:07 AM, notamermaid said:

Hello mj_holiday,

They say we have a word for everything, us Germans. We do have a word for "too" many road signs standing around: Schilderwald, literally forest of signs.

 

Thanks for the castle photo. When were you on the Rhine?

 

notamermaid

 

We were on Scenic on the Rhine in 2015.  Basel to Amsterdam.

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2 minutes ago, mj_holiday said:

We were on Scenic on the Rhine in 2015.  Basel to Amsterdam.

The classic route. :classic_smile:

 

 

While I am here: had my first two slices of stollen* today. No, that is not gluttonous, it is a very small stollen from Aldi. I do not recommend it. It is okay, but I would not buy it again. Baker's handmade stollen I will try next. More expensive, but more enjoyable.

 

*famous German traditional Christmas cake that is kind of bread-shaped. Interesting history, good wikipedia page in English, if you want to look it up.

 

Have a great first Advent Sunday, everyone. 🕯️

 

notamermaid

 

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6 minutes ago, Roz said:

@notamermaid, stollen is common in areas of the US settled by Germans.  I agree, the best stollen is either homemade or bought from a good German bakery.  

 

I lit the first candle on my Advent wreath today. 

So many people in the Eastern half of the country will know stollen, I guess. And some traditional German bakeries exist? Interesting. Have not heard about that. I know that German beer gardens are in abundance. :classic_biggrin:

 

I have decked the halls - quite literally - today, not with holly like in the carol, but fairy lights from the shops. Holly is less of a traditional thing around here. Will get a bit of greenery next week probably.

 

notamermaid

 

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