or, How to make a Duck Risotto
My Fiance and I found a frozen duck for dirt cheap and decided to treat ourselves yesterday. The duck thawed all day Saturday (and we had our traditional Italian Sunday pasta a day early), and Sunday he started roasting the duck early, as it would be a four-hour process. Once it was cooled, he separated it into component parts, removed all the skin and meat from the bones, and tossed the latter into a pot with the neck and let it boil several hours to create a duck stock.
Why all this work ahead of time? To create the most decadent risotto yet! What follows is a photostream of our combined efforts. Risotto cooking time is approx 30min, and towards the end requires some tag-teaming to avoid sore arms... but is SO worth it!
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| The Roast Duck |
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| The duck fat warming |
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| Boiled Duck neck & bones |
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| The Duck Fat |
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| Roast Duck |
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| Prep work |
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| Starting the Mushrooms (Mini-Bella's first) |
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| Prep work & Shittake Mushrooms |
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| Toss Mushrooms |
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| Add Thyme |
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| Add Lighter mushrooms |
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| Broth is ready! |
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| Cheesecloth to strain |
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| Removing duck bits from precious duck broth |
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| Add duck and toss |
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| Finished Sauteed Mushrooms |
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| Separate |
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| The Eco-Friendly ceramic pan is SO easy to clean! |
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| The rice. Not our usual brand |
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| The aperatif |
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| 2 servings of rice = 1 1/2 cups |
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| Warming the clarified duck fat |
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| To supplement duck broth... |
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| Warmed duck fat. Isn't that colour beautiful? |
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| Add Arborio rice & toss; The idea is to toast the grains first |
Toasting the Grains
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| Grains are still mostly opaque. Not quite ready, still needs toasting. |
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| Grains almost completely translucent... time to start adding stock! |
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| The first ladle of stock. Add then stir vigorously |
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| Stir vigorously - you want more broth absorbed than boiled off! |
Beating the first ladleful
First ladleful almost absorbed (12sec)
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| When ready for next ladle - make a nice well. Note how liquid doesn't fill it on its own when its ready for more |
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| Stir welll; you want the rice to absorb broth as evenly as possible |
The trick is to make sure every grain absorbs the stock equally. When liquid is absorbed enough, make a trough for the next ladle...(39sec)
... then mix it in evenly and repeat (8sec)
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| It gets thicker and goopier as you go |
Almost done. Only a few ladlefuls to go. Note the texture
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| Stirring in the last ladleful |
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| Finished texture. Bite a grain to be sure - should not be al-dente |
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| Ready to add the extras... |
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| In goes the roast duck and sauteed mushrooms |
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| Stir in |
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| Cover for 5 min to finish absorption |
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| Finished risotto |
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| Texture shot! |
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| Presentation |
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