MUSCOVY MEAT!!!!

[Ahab]

Sous vide is a great technique for tenderizing fibrous meats without overcooking. I tried a duck breast yesterday, about six hours at 135F, then flash-browned over a wood fire. Perfectly medium-rare, the fat nicely rendered, and the skin very crisp. Way more tender (from older ducks) than a breast from the same hatch crisped in a saute pan then finished to medium-rare in the oven.

I've been making duck confit via the sous vide method for the past year. I'd rate it about 90% of the taste/texture of conventional confit, but way easier and far more economical of fat. For this I do 180F for about 8 hours, then cool in water and refrigerate for two or three days to let it mellow. It also freezes nicely. Just thaw and crisp to eat. And save the fat.

You can do sous vide very inexpensively, with a bit more hands-on. I use a big pasta pot with a strainer insert and a digital thermometer. On an electric stove, I can maintain temperatures plus-or-minus 5 degrees, which is good enough for who it's for, as we say in Maine. The key is to maintain that temperature for a half-hour or so before putting in the vacuum-bagged food, to allow the temperature to stabilize.

 

[Totalcolour]

Sous vide is a great technique for tenderizing fibrous meats without overcooking. I tried a duck breast yesterday, about six hours at 135F, then flash-browned over a wood fire. Perfectly medium-rare, the fat nicely rendered, and the skin very crisp. Way more tender (from older ducks) than a breast from the same hatch crisped in a saute pan then finished to medium-rare in the oven.

I've been making duck confit via the sous vide method for the past year. I'd rate it about 90% of the taste/texture of conventional confit, but way easier and far more economical of fat. For this I do 180F for about 8 hours, then cool in water and refrigerate for two or three days to let it mellow. It also freezes nicely. Just thaw and crisp to eat. And save the fat.

You can do sous vide very inexpensively, with a bit more hands-on. I use a big pasta pot with a strainer insert and a digital thermometer. On an electric stove, I can maintain temperatures plus-or-minus 5 degrees, which is good enough for who it's for, as we say in Maine. The key is to maintain that temperature for a half-hour or so before putting in the vacuum-bagged food, to allow the temperature to stabilize.

Yes, that works, but I think for only the higher temp foods like confit or turkey legs. If you want rare or medium rare, you do need to keep the temp withing one degree of accuracy or your rare could turn out medium rare instead.

love your idea of flash browning on a hot wood fire!

 

[Ahab]

It works fine on low-temperature cooking for small pieces of meat. I routinely do steaks and lamb chops this way, when it's too warm to fire up the wood stove (flash-brown over the fire, then into a low oven until 125F shows on the internal thermometer).

For quick-and-dirty sous vide, I hold in the water bath at 130 or so for a few hours, depending on the thickness of the meat, and then flash off in either a skillet or over some quick coals (a handful of oak chips will do it). For a larger piece of meat, however--a rib roast or a lamb leg, where you need to maintain 130F for seven or eight hours--I don't think it's precise enough.

But then, it doesn't $450, either.

 

[Totalcolour]

Well, we had to pop a couple of Welsh Harlequin boys (kept breeding my Muscovy hens) so we tried some legs for dinner on Sunday. I was quite excited about comparing them with Muscovy meat.

Truth be told, they were a bit lighter in colour, but not much difference in flavour, although I think the texture was a little finer. They were superb, so I may end up popping the others when they are old enough.

Duck Meat Rules!
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[DysPatter]

D'Artagnan is the WORST!
Please don't recommend this company to others.
If you wish for duck meat, buy it local.
D'Artagnan:
1) charges an arm and a leg.
2) then charges ANOTHER arm and a leg for shipping.
3) Their "sales" and "free/discounted shipping" sales are a complete joke.
4) I have personally interviewed just over 300 Active Duty Members of the Armed Forces, Veterans, and DISABLED VETERANS; absolutely none of them has ever received the advertised shipping discount; NOT EVEN THOSE IN NY!
5) D'Artagnan advertises "oven ready" birds at $70+ dollars. Plus shipping, of course. Be prepared to spend another 40 minutes doing D'Artagnan's job for them; you know, the work you paid to have done.
6) D'Artagnan does NOT offer a military discount. This makes the list because:

6A) The alpha-gal allergy that is afflicting our troops especially, acquired during their service to our nation.
6B) Somehow, their "free shipping" and "discounted shipping" doesn't apply to military installations or the immediate surrounding communities, even in NY!
6C) for somebody who enjoys the freedom to sell a $10 duck for $70+, plus about $50 shipping...they sure don't give a poop about the people making that freedom possible.
6D) they sell their "oven ready" $70+ duck, and charge $50+ for shopping, to DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS WOUNDED IN FOREIGN WARS. Then said disabled veteran, who spent so much of their income on this meat from D'Artagnan, is forced to spend 40 minutes to an hour finishing the prep job D'Artagnan was supposed to have done, was paid handsomely to do, all the while suffering from the pain and attempting to overcome the difficulties imposed by the wounds of war.
6E) I could go on and on about the "special elite" that D'Artagnan thinks it is. I will not. I will leave you to ponder the fact that of all the Active Duty Military Members, Veterans, and Disabled Veterans I have interviewed, and will include myself: NOT A SINGLE ONE HAS EVER HAD A MESSAGE RESPONDED TO BY D'Artagnan. Not a one. Very very many have actually been lied to on the phone by D'Artagnan.
D'Artagnan many not be the worst company ever; but they are in the running.
Save yourself $150.
Support our troops, and buy your $10 duck locally.