In honor of the recent 100th anniversary of Julia Child's birth (August 15, 1912), here is a little story about the most technically challenging recipe that I think that I have ever made.
My wife and I have formed three wine clubs over the years. The most successful of which was the first in San Francisco. That one lasted about nine years before it finally petered out.
We had a great time. The concept was simple: Each month a different member or couple would take a turn being the host. The host would decide what the theme would be for the month. They could choose from a varietal, a country or any theme really. It was then up to the rest to arrive at the appointed time with food that would fit the theme and wine as well. We usually brought one bottle and a dish.
We would sit down and as we had our meal each member would read about their wine and tell about the food they brought as we feasted. We each had 8 wine glasses that we were to bring as well.
So picture a large table with say, 8 places set, 64 wine glasses and eight bottles of wine. We ate, drank and learned about the food that each had prepared and the wines that were served.
Really good times.
The themes sometimes went as far as picnic wines, fortified wines, unusual blends, and country of origin to specific AOCs.
All three had the same set up, it's just that the SF version lasted the longest.
One of my favorite nights was in the last incarnations of the wine club here in Oregon.
My family and I had returned from France some months earlier and had had the experience of staying at an apartment in Paris that is owned by some dear friends who had been members of the group at some point, but who now lived in Africa.
Once we returned from Europe, our friends asked us if we had seen the film Julie and Julia. When we said no, they told us we must and let it go at that.
When we finally did get around to watching the film, we were shocked at one of the final scenes where Meryl Streep goes to her neighborhood boulangerie to get her final baguettes in Paris and to say goodbye.
The shop in the film had been right outside the apartment in Paris.
I started cooking a great deal of the items from Mastering the Art of French cooking which is a major theme of the film. I made about ten batches of baguettes and started to get really good at it.
Then my wife had a fantastic idea. The next wine club meeting would be a Julie and Julia theme: Make a dish from the cookbook and bring a wine that goes with it.
I chose to make the Duck en Croute, possibly the most difficult recipe that I have ever made and the one that gave the main character a near nervous breakdown!
I don't have permission to print the recipe, but it can be found on page 571, at least in our copy.
17 hours of cooking later, it was done. Not for amateur cooks. I will probably never make this again, but it was delicious and beautiful, I am very happy that I made it.
My son took most of the photos and my wife took the balance as well as making the dough. My hands run hot, so a dough of this type is not my forte.
To start, you need to de-bone the duck by making an incision down the back and not break the skin anywhere else.
As you are de-boning the duck, it is important to leave as much of the meat from it still attached to the skin.
This is not as hard as it sounds. Be careful and go slow. This is not a recipe for someone in a hurry.
After the rib cage has been separated on the back, cut through the hip and wing joints to remove them from the ribs and body sections.
Carefully cut between the ribs and the breast meat, again leaving the meat with the skin. The most challenging part of this is to cut the keel bone from the skin without breaking the skin. Go slow, you'll get there.
Next de-bone the legs by cutting right next to the bone on the thigh and then the drum. It helps to scrape the bone in the drum to separate the meat from the bone.
Debone the wing in the same fashion except stop after the upper bone and cut the rest off the body. There isn't much meat on the rest of the wing and not worth the time and hassle.
Once the bones are removed, set the skin/meat aside.
Next we start the sausage for the filling. We need minced shallots and onions.
Saute them with some butter until just translucent, give them a little bit of cognac, burn off the alcohol and set aside to cool.
Grind the pork and veal and season as called for in the recipe. This will make the farce, or force meat with which you will stuff the final product.
Combine the ground meat and the seasonings. Take a small tester from the batch and cook it. This will let you know what your final product will taste like. It would be a shame to go through all this work and have a bland dish!
Once the force meat has been completed, cut away some of the meat from the skin and dice. This will be the garnish of the filling.
Mix the garnish into the filling, form it into a sort of loaf shape and wrap the skin around it.
Truss the body and sear it in a pan until brown on all sides.
Refrigerate over night.
Make the dough in the method the recipe explains.
Roll out about two thirds of the dough into a large oval.
Form it around the duck with the breast side up. It is important to leave the trussing string on the body, it will be removed later.
Roll the rest of the dough into an oval. This will be smaller than the first, but will also have more than you need.
Cut the oval down to a size that will cover the exposed portion of the duck while overlapping the bottom dough by about 1/2 inch.
Seal the two halves of the dough with a whipped egg painted around the edge of the bottom half of the dough. You won’t need much egg to seal the dough pieces but you will need the rest of the egg later so save it in the refrigerator.
Cut a small hole in the top of the dough and make a small funnel from aluminum foil. This will act as a chimney to allow steam to escape from the duck as it cooks.
Use the left over pieces of dough to decorate the duck. I tried to make mine just like the drawings in the book, but use your imagination, decorate as you wish.
Don’t forget to egg wash your masterpiece as this will give it a brilliant, golden finish
The next step is to bake the dish.
Place the duck into a 375F oven and let it roll. It will bake for about two hours.
When the dish is done, internal temperature of 170F has been reached, remove from the oven and let it rest for 20-30 minutes.
Cut along the seam of the top and bottom dough, remove the duck and cut off the string.
Return the duck to the dough, replace the top and slice for service.
The "wow factor" on this one is amazing and the dish is delicious!
If you make this one, send me a note and let me know how it went.
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