Duck Confit Part 1: Prep and Roast

Duck Confit is one of the World’s great culinary experiences. “Confit” is an ancient French technique of cooking and preserving meat in its own fat. What makes this so irresistible is the combination of the soft, succulent, fragrant meat encased in the impossibly crispy and crunchy skin.

Traditionally this takes days to make. The duck legs are rubbed with salt and herbs and pressed overnight. Then the legs are covered with gallons of rendered duck fat and slowly roasted for hours. Finally the legs are crisped-up in a hot oven and serve with some type of tangy fruit-based sauce. The two part version you are about to watch is specially designed for the home Chef.

While not exactly the “classic” method, the results are still AMAZING and must be tried!! In part one we prep and slow-roast the legs. They are cooked in a low oven, 225 degrees F., for 2 1/2 hours. After cooling to room temp., they are kept in the frige overnight. Check for part 2 and see this great dish finished.

Tarragon Aioli – Keeping it real!

Many of you have never had real “aioli.” Oh, you’ve probably had garlic flavored mayonnaise-based sauces and dips many times. But today we’re talking about “real” aioli. Modern aioli comes to us from the south of France and is commonly used as a dip for vegetables, potatoes, as well as fish and meats. It’s more ancient origin is probably the Italian “Aglio Olio” which simple means “garlic oil.”

The reason I say that you may not have ever had “real” aioli is because 95% of what is served as aioli in American restaurant is nothing more than garlic mayonnaise. What’s the difference? Let me explain. Most cooks simply chop, or mince, or blend garlic with mayo, add other flavors, and call it aioli (some freaks of nature even use roasted garlic!!). Now, I don’t want to sound like some kind of food fascist. I have no problem with roasting garlic and stirring it into mayo, but call it a “roasted garlic mayo.” The only real way aioli is made is by using a mortal and pestle. When you crush the garlic in this ancient culinary tool, you are completely pulverizing the cells of the garlic clove which sets off crucial chemical reactions that you don’t get by simply chopping or blending. There are compounds formed during this crushing that produces something called “allicin,” which gives real aioli its amazingly sharp and intense flavor. The follow excerpt is from www.herbalchem.net:

“Odorless and stable, alliin is the most abundant sulfur compound in whole, unbruised Garlic. It is stored inside one kind of Garlic cell; in a separate type of cell, an enzyme called alliinase awaits. When the cells are broken open, alliin mixes with alliinase, and in about ten seconds all of the exposed alliin has been converted into a new group of compounds: allicin and its close relatives, which give off the aroma of fresh Garlic.

The beauty of aioli made in the traditional method, with a mortar and pestle, is that a small amount of garlic can flavor a large amount of mayo. Also, this real aioli is so strong and powerful that you don’t need half a cup of mayo on your grilled fish. Just a teaspoon of my version is so intense; it will fully flavor a whole piece of meat or pile of veggies. Also, the legendary health benefits of eating raw garlic are largely derived from this allicin production. Fair warning: if you don’t like garlic, don’t even attempt this recipe. It could kill you. But, if you do love garlic this demo may change your life. And by all means, get a mortar and pestle! I use it for other things besides aioli, like crushing whole spices for dry rubs, etc. Once you have your plain aioli recipe down you can start to experience with various fresh herbs, like the tarragon I used here. I served this under my Salmon Cakes recipe, and it was really good.

Ingredients:
2 garlic cloves
pinch of salt
tbl of fresh tarragon
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup mayo
dash of cayenne

Mushroom Gravy – Quick, somebody find me a slice of meatloaf!

My mother just reminded me that I promised a mushroom gravy recipe clip when I did the meatloaf demo. So, here you go; better late than never. This mushroom sauce can be done with any type of stock, but I used beef stock here since I’m going to be making some more meatloaf (if you haven’t seen that clip, check it out here).

This is usually a 2 pan recipe; chefs normally brown the mushroom in a large sauté pan and then add them to a sauce pan to finish the sauce, but why wash another pan when you don’t have too? So, I’m showing you my patented single-pan method. It does take longer, but the final results will be the same. Be patient, wait until all the liquid is gone and the mushrooms are browning in the butter before you make the roux. Enjoy!

Black Pepper Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Black Cherry Reduction

This succulent dish has all the things I love in a recipe; an easy piece of meat to work with, a super simple sauce that tastes like something that took hours, and the classic flavor combination of hot/tangy with sweet/fruity.

Our meat choice, the pork tenderloin, is one of the most user-friendly cuts ever. It requires about 3 minutes of trimming and you’re ready to rock. The sauce is made in the pan after the meat is cooked and the sweet and tangy fruit sauce pairs perfectly with the spicy black pepper crust on the pork. Since most of these tenderloins are pretty standard size at about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds each, 20 minutes at 375F after a good sear in the pan is going to give you a perfect medium almost every time.

By the way, you can use any vinegar and fruit preserve in this recipe and it will be great, although there is something about cherry and black pepper that’s magical. Enjoy!

1 pork tenderloin (not loin)
1 clove garlic
1/3 cup white vinegar
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup black cherry preserves
salt to taste
lots of cracked black pepper
2 tbl butter

The Beurre Rouge – A red wine butter sauce born during that other French Revolution

Well, it happened again! I get an email asking for a red wine sauce. I reply please check the site, I’ve already posted one. They reply, oh no you didn’t. I check site and realize…oops, I never posted this clip. Excusez-moi. As usual, the standard “this is an old clip” disclaimer applies.

We all learned about the French Revolution in school. You remember, “let them eat cake,” and all that stuff. Anyway, there was another French Revolution that started in the 70’s and it had to do with French Cuisine. It was called “Nouvelle” cuisine which is simply French for "new cuisine." This style was a reaction to the classic “Haute” cuisine (meaning "high cooking"). It focused on lighter and more delicate dishes, without heavy flour-based sauces. One of the darlings of this new style was a simple butter sauce called a “beurre blanc” which was a reduction of white wine and vinegar, finished with whole butter. These lighter sauces became all the rage.

The version I’m showing today is the red wine version of the classic beurre blanc. I usually force you to get the procedure by watching the clip (multiple times, I suspect), but just this one time I’ll give you a brief procedure below, so the sauce doesn’t “break” or separate.



Ingredients:
A couple of nice steaks
1 minced shallot
1/2 stick butter (2oz)1/4 cup wine vinegar
1/2 cup red wine
salt and pepper to taste

1. Remove steaks from pan and turn off heat.
2. Add shallots with 2 tsp of the butter.
3. On low heat, sauté shallots until lightly browned.
4. Deglaze with vinegar, cook until almost evaporated.
5. Add wine and cook on med-high heat until reduced by half.
6. Turn off heat and whisk in butter, adjust for salt and pepper.

Croque Monsieur… King of the open-face sandwich!

Easier to make than pronounce (croak-mon-sir), this is world’s most famous open-face sandwich. According to my French sandwich sources (Wikipedia) the name is based on the verb croquer, "to bite hungrily," and the word monsieur which means "mister." So, I guess this basically translates to “bite hungrily Mister!” And if you make this delicious open-faced delight you’ll know why. By the way, I’m sure it’s the same if you’re a Madame or Mademoiselle.

There are many versions, but mine is slices of the round, crusty French bread (pain au levain) topped with our cheesy,home-made thyme béchamel (left-over from our cheese soufflé recipe video), covered with ham, tomato and cheese, and then baked golden brown. How do you say “to die for” in French? I stole this version from a French bakery here in San Francisco called Tartine, which has lines of people out the door waiting for these beauties to come out of the oven. Bon Appetite!!

Ingredients:
4 thick slices of bread
1/2 cup of cheesy Bechamel
8 slices tomato
salt and pepper to taste
thinnly sliced smoked ham
grated cheese of your choice
olive oil

Steak au Poivre “Pepper Steak”

This clip was already been posted on the site when we first started, but since there is a good chance many of our newer viewers have not seen it, I decided to re-run it today. It’s probably the dish I’ve gotten the most emails about and also lots of comments on YouTube. It’s very simple, and makes for a fantastic “special occasion” dinner.

We’ve streamlined this steakhouse classic to work for the home chef. If you can find veal stock, or even demi-glace, you can use that instead of the beef stock I used in the clip. Either way, it will produce a delicious, rich pan sauce perfect for a couple tender, medium-rare filet mignons. Also, many Chefs use a combination of black and green peppercorns. So if you can get them, go ahead and add a teaspoon of crushed green peppercorns to the sauce when you add the stock and it will be even more authentic.

Speaking of old clips, if you not happy with your mashed potatoes, check out that clip on the site and watch how to make great mashers every time.


Ingredients:
2 Filet Mignon (Beef Tenderloin, about 8 oz. each)
3/4 cup Veal Stock or Beef Stock/Broth
1/3 Cognac or Brandy
1/3 Heavy Cream
Cracked Black Pepper
Salt
Unsalted Butter