Duck Roulade

Remember the Chicken Galantine I featured a few days ago? The pain-in-the-butt, tedious, time-consuming pate wrapped in paper-thin chicken skin? Well, this is it's cousin; Duck Roulade. Duck Roulade is essentially the same thing - a duck pate with an inlay or seared duck breast, rolled in duck skin that has been scraped until it is paper thin. The one main difference is that the duck roulade is roasted, whereas the chicken galantine is poached. 

The duck roulade is tied with butcher's twine to hold it together, rather than being wrapped in cheesecloth. It is then roasted in a pan containing mirepoix, herbs, and duck fat; and is periodically bated in the duck fat. This gives great color, flavor, and texture to the roulade, especially the skin, as it becomes crisp and noticeable in contrast to the skin of the galantine. So I much preferred this, and thought it was ALMOST worth all the work. Almost.

I found the duck easier to debone than the chicken, but that was possibly only because I had done a chicken the day before and they are very similar. However, the duck was much bloodier and gross. The duck meat was however, much more difficult to pull apart from the skin. It did not comes right off like the chicken, so it was tricky to pull the meat off without ripping the skin or leaving a lot of meat behind. The duck also needed much more scraping because the skin was thicker and fattier. 

Please Amuse My Bouche

Amuse Bouche is a French term literally meaning to amuse the mouth. It refers to a small, bite-sized creative canape, appetizer, or morsel of food presented to diners in fine dining restaurants at the very beginning of a meal, often followed by numerous other courses. It is a way of getting diners excited about the meal, impressing them and adding a little wow factor, giving them the best quality food for their money, using up extra product in the kitchen, showcasing a chef's creativity, and trying out new ideas. It is sometimes surprising how much flavor can be built in one forkful of food.

Jellied Asparagus Terrine, Crispy Bacon Curl, Saffron Aioli, Edible Flowers

Brussels Sprouts Three Ways: candied Brussels sprouts,
Brussels sprout chip, black garlic and Brussels sprout
aioli, pickled cranberries, spiced toasted almonds.

Miniature Apple Pie - shortbread crust, poached
cinnamon apple compote, candied pecans, microgreen

Herbed Goat Cheese on toasted Baguette with candied apple twist and prosciutto

Homemade Puff Pastry with Blue Cheese Filling,
Pumpkin Jam, Toasted Pecan, and Parsley

Salmon and Cream Cheese Crepe with Cucumber Spaghetti and Spiced Mayo

Pate de Campagne

In English, country pate. Which is a forcemeat pressed into a terrine mold and baked in a waterbath. It gets in name from its coarse texture, which is acheived from grinding the meat only once through a medium plate.  It usually contains a small amount of liver, some fat, a panada, pate spice, and meats of choice. Inlays (such as seared meats or vegetables), outlays (such as blanched cabbage or bacon strips), and stir-ins (such as sauteed mushrooms, chopped nuts, or dried fruits) are also possibilities to enhance flavor, texture, and appearance (if you ask me, it could certainly use it!). Like I said before, meat terrines are not my cup of tea - both flavor and texture-wise. But I can appreciate the art of making them and the applications they have on menus. 

Bacon, Bacon, Bacon

Homemade bacon is not difficult to make. You simply need pork belly or pork loin and some seasonings, salt, sugar, etc. Peameal bacon is a type of back bacon made from lean, boneless pork loin. It is less fatty and more like ham. It gets in name because it is usually rolled in cornmeal.

Raw and cooked peameal bacon

This one was done with a dry cure

This one was done with a wet cure

This is just regular bacon, well actually, it's double-smoked

Chicken Galantine

Here is something a little different. My first time making a galantine, or a traditional terrine of any sort really. And I kinda hope to never have to do it again. A galantine is a forcemeat wrapped in the skin of the dominant meat and poached, traditionally served cold.

So what does that mean? It means you have to debone a chicken from the back, keeping the skin completely intact. Then the skin has to be spread out thinly and scraped of every gram of fat until it is paper thin. This is obviously extremely difficult to do without tearing the skin, so to make things a little easier while simultaneously prolonging the experience, you can freeze the skin, scrape it for five minutes until it thaws again, and repeat 600 times.

Next, the breasts are heavily seasoned and seared, then sliced to be used as the inlay.

The dark meat is ground with pork fat, seasonings, and binders to make the forcemeat, whose flavor is tasted by poaching a small amount.

Place the forcemeat in the skin, trimming off the extra. Make an indent and lay the breasts in it, and cover with forcemeat. Then wrap this roll in cheesecloth, secure with butcher's twine, and poach. Chill, then slice thinly and serve.

The result? Pictured above. Is it worth it? In one word, I would say, no. The incredibly thin skin surrounding the forcemeat either ends up barely even detectable, or too thick to chew through. It's also rubbery and not crisp since it is poached. It adds zero flavor to the entire mix. The foremeat itself is ok, it could be seasoned as desired, but it could easily be made from any scrap meats and cooked without the skin. Is it worth all the extra labor time, money, and effort? No. Do restaurants do this anymore? Not really. It's a really old, classical way of doing things. But then again, I am not a fan of most charcuterie items to begin with - just not my cup of tea!

I'm Sorry But I Really Like Fruit Salad

Actually, I'm not sorry at all.

This is a typical breakfast bowl for me. Fruit salad is the best -
healthy, sweet, and delicious. It's a great start to the day,
especially with 7am classes. And I can pile A LOT
of fruit into a small bowl. It's an art, and I have mastered it.

Artistically arranged fruit platters such as this one are nice,
but I prefer a big bowl of fruit where they are all mixed
together, sharing flavors and juices, and you can dive in
with a spoon and take a lot at once.

Of course fruit-on-a-stick, chocolate-covered at that,
is 100000000 times better.

This is what I'm talking about.

What a lovely fruit display.

This is pretty and easily dig-in-able as well.

Let's skip the yogurt.......

So colorful, so ripe, so juicy!

A big bowl of fruit.....and sometimes you just need to
add a side bowl of granola.

Of course fruit on a brownie pizza crust drizzled with even more chocolate
ain't bad either!!!! :)

Or supplement a good amount of fruit
with chocolate - souffle and ganache on pancakes.
Balance the meal out with a fried egg of course.

Pretty, but too pretty to eat!

Let`s Look At Some Pretty Desserts

Opera Cake, coffe creme anglaise, whipped cream,
dark chocolate, blueberries, raspberry

Parfait with Chocolate Glaze

Mousse, Fruit Compote, Cookie, Chocolate Cigar

Deconstructed Strawberry Shortcake,
sorbet, shortcake, strawberry coulis

Mille Fille with pastry cream and berries

Chocolate Mousse Bombe, sorbet, berries, cream

Bavarian Cream, crumb, caramel

Pear Sorbet and garnishes

Lemon Tart, Meringue, Berries, Raspberry Coulis

Mango Cream

Blueberry Creme Brulee, chocolate chip biscotti, fruit and cream

Tiramisu

Chocolate Brownie and caramel

Berries and Cream Parfait

Sorbet in a Dark Chocolate Cup with garnishes

Coffee Creme Brulee, Biscotti, Chocolate Garnishes

Chocolate Mousse Bombe, Peanuts, Caramel

Strawberry Shortcake and Sorbet

Parfait with Nut Tuile, berries, coulis

Lemon Tartlet, duo of sauces, berries

Miniature Pineapple Upside Down Cake`
with Coconut Semifreddo

Cheesecake with chocolate and caramel sauce

Lemon Tart with Chocolate Butterfly

Frozen Chocolate Mint Parfait

Cheesecake, Fruit Sorbet, Caramel Cage