Robin Garr's Hairdryer Duck

[shel]

Robin was an old cooking and wine buddy back around 1991-92. One of his favorite recipes was Hairdryer (Blow-dry) duck that we'd enjoy around Thanksgiving and other special occassions. I'd not thought about this recipe in many years, but late last night I happened to see Robin judging a Throwdown episode, and was reminded of this recipe and technique. So, without further ado, and with Robin's commentary, here's ....

Robin Garr’s Blow-dry Duck

Thanksgiving? Turkey? Who needs turkey when you can enjoy the succulent, dark and earthy flavors of the bird that's perhaps my favorite poultry of them all? Make mine duck, if you will ... and so I did, launching the holiday festivities a little early last night with a modern Italian take on roast duck from the Bolognese guru who's just about everyone's Italian cookbook author of choice, Marcella Hazan.


This recipe modified from Hazan's 1978 More Classic Italian Cooking is simplicity itself in terms of ingredients, using only fresh herbs, salt and pepper to accent the duck's natural flavors. But it's way out there in terms of technique, achieving a remarkable, grease-free and glassy-crisp skin by a thoroughly non-traditional procedure: First the duck is simmered in boiling water for a few minutes, then prepped for roasting by blasting it all over with a standard home hair dryer.

Marcella's name for the dish is the simple, descriptive Italian "Anatra Arrosto" ("roast duck"), but for the past quarter-century we've lovingly nicknamed it "blow-dry duck."

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

INGREDIENTS:

Fresh duck, 4 pounds (2kg) or so
Fresh rosemary
Fresh sage
2 teaspoons (10g) salt
Black pepper
The duck liver or 1 or 2 chicken livers
1/2 cup (120ml) duck broth or chicken broth

PROCEDURE:

1. Thaw the duck (if frozen); rinse and pat it dry. Remove the packet (if any) from its cavity and, if there's a liver there, reserve it. I put the neck, heart and gizzards in a little water with salt and peppercorns and simmered to make a quick broth; if your duck doesn't come equipped with these parts, use the chicken broth option in the ingredient list.

2. Chop the rosemary and sage fine, using enough to make about 1 tablespoon (15g) of each. If you must use dried herbs, use a little less. Mix the herbs, salt and pepper and divide the mixture into equal parts in separate bowls. Finely chop the duck liver (or chicken livers if you don't have the duck's original equipment) and blend it in with one-half of the seasoned herbs.

3. Fill a pot large enough to hold the duck with enough water to cover the duck, and bring the water to the boil. Gently place the duck in the water, let it return to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer it gently for about 10 minutes. Lift it out to a large plate, taking care to avoid scalds.

4. Preheat your oven to 450F (230C). While it's pre-heating, turn a hand-held hair dryer to hot/high, and blow hot air all over the duck from an inch or two away, moving it around to cover all surfaces. You'll see a significant amount of fat come streaming out ... feel free to pat some of it away. Hazan says, "This is to keep the pores wide open, and ease the outflow of fat while roasting." Maybe so. I can only testify that it works.

5. Spoon the liver-and-herb mixture into the duck's cavity and spread it around. Pat the remaining herbs all over the outside of the bird. The fat that came out during the hair-dryer operation will help it stick.

6. Put the bird breast-up on a rack in a large roasting pan, and put it in the preheated oven. Let it roast at this high temperature for 30 minutes, trying to ignore the spattering noises and smoke that will emerge from your oven. (If your smoke detectors are sensitive, you may want to take them down before making this dish.)

7. After 30 minutes, reduce heat to 375F (190C). This would be a good time to open the oven door and turn the pan around to ensure that the duck roasts evenly. Cook for another hour.

8. Remove the duck from the oven to a large dish. Drain any liquid out of the cavity into a dish, and scrape out the cooked liver-and-herb mix. Put the juices and the liver in a small saucepan, add the duck or chicken broth, and boil briefly until the liquid reduces a bit.

9. I cut the duck into parts and plated them with the sauce for a neater presentation, but you can just as well carve the bird at the table and pass the sauce in a gravy boat. I served it with simple accompaniments, fresh spinach and rice made with duck broth in place of water

Enjoy!

Shel

[DC Sunshine]

Fascinating - thanks for the post Shel
The hair dryer sure beats hanging the duck in a draughty place for 6 hours - serves the same purpose I guess.

[cheflayne]

Reminded me of the time I sat in Ken Hom's kitchen at his house and watched him prep duck for Peking duck with an electric bicycle pump. What a hoot! Blow dryer, great inspiration, thanks for sharing the idea and memory.

[shel]

Originally Posted by cheflayne

Reminded me of the time I sat in Ken Hom's kitchen at his house and watched him prep duck for Peking duck with an electric bicycle pump. What a hoot! Blow dryer, great inspiration, thanks for sharing the idea and memory.

Was that his place in Berkeley?

I think I may have seen him do the Bicycle Pump Peking Duck ... but that was quite some time ago.

Shel

[shel]

Originally Posted by DC Sunshine

Fascinating - thanks for the post Shel

You're quite welcome. I have to say that when Robin first mentioned the technique a few of us were quite skeptical, but like a lot of other recipes and techniques that seem odd, it works. Around that time a few of us were poaching salmon in the dishwasher. That, too, worked well.

Shel

[cheflayne]

Originally Posted by shel

Was that his place in Berkeley?

I think I may have seen him do the Bicycle Pump Peking Duck ... but that was quite some time ago.

Shel

Yeah it was his place in Berkeley, and it also was quite some time ago, either '83 or '84.

[DC Sunshine]

Along the same kind of theme, I watched a show recently where the chef was browning off the bird (I think it was a guinea fowl) with a kitchen blow torch after poaching it. Bet that skin was nice n crispy.

Gotta get me one of those toys