Critique - Seared Duck Breast, Pureed Parsnips, Asparagus

RPM,

For the little I did, you are very welcome. You decided to go with the puree after all. Good choice, you were right.

Red wine reductions are problematic. They tend to get bitter unless you use stock or do some other form of remediation and/or keep temperatures down -- which kind of defeats the whole rhythm of a pan reduction. Port, Madeira, Marsala, rum, cognac, or a fruit liqueur would have been easier choices. With the asparagus and all, I would have gone Madeira.

See if you can't find something inexpensive and good for cooking like San Antonio Madeira (California, around $5/bottle!) in your area. If you can't, keep a bottle of another off-dry like Florio Dry Marsala (Sicily, $10) around, along with a bottle of inexpensive Amontillado sherry like Tesoro (Trader Joe's). They're not exactly quality tipples, but these wines will pull your butt out of many a sling when doing pan reductions.

For whatever reason, red wine reductions became quite popular during the late eighties and through the nineties. Maybe something to do with the increasing number of oenophiles -- easy to pair the dish with a wine, perhaps Quien sabe? Quien darse el culo de un raton? *Who knows? Who cares?")

I don't cook on Wednesday because of a regular meeting in the late afternoon, and Wednesday is $1 Pupusa day at Sabor de Mis Pueblas -- a very high-toned Guatemalan/Mexican place. So, I stopped and brought home tacos de tripas and pupusas de loroco for dinner. Eat your heart out.

Hope you reserved the duck fat. Spuds tomorrow! Say, "hi" to NRatched.
BDL

I'm not that fond of parsnips, so I would have chosen something different, perhaps some mushrooms and pearl onions sauteed in the duck fat, or sweet potatoes with a bit of ginger to complement the 5 spice on the duck.

The duck looks great, but where'd you get those silly little dessert spoons :lol:

mjb.

Well done Mac! Technique technique! :) Now go buy some demiglace and keep it in the freezer.

Looks really nice. Only thing I would have done differently would be to pipe the parsnip puree thru a startip pastry bag for eye appeal. As far as sauce everyone has different tast I might have added a squeeze of fresh orange to counteract sweetness of pineapple or possibly a shot of good balsamic then reduced slightly. Also someone mentioned silly dessert spoons? what you used are not dessert spoons but are soup spoons used with oriental cuisine.

Rob,
[quote- When pureeing the parsnips, I cut it with about a cup or more of water....could I have substituted anything else? perhaps a white wine? [/quote] You don't want to fight with the red wine on the plate or the wine in the glass -- so wine would require some consideration. I frequently use Vermouth for cooking, which wouldn't have been a good choice. Some sort of Alsation or Traminer maybe -- but not with that duck sauce.

Milk or half and half would have been good. Back up for a second in your mind and remember the nutmeg... Almost anything that goes with nutmeg takes milk or cream. When you think "puree," all sorts of possibilities open up -- a little chicken stock for instance; but when you think "mashed," dairy leaps to the foreground.

You're still cooking as though cooking were a million disparate elements. You know a lot more than you think you do about what goes together. Relax and let the ideas flow. Also, the thing you did about talking with a friend

Whether whole would have looked better is maybe-maybe not. It probably would have been best served whole on a separate plate with the duck served on top or against the parsnip.

Cutting the asparagus up like that was an invitation for chopsticks. Which is a weird way of saying we see enough cut up asparagus in Asian restaurants so it doesn't bother us. Cut up was fine. The problem was something else. As it happens, you already plate very well. Too well to trisect the plate with meat/starch/veg -- which is what you made uncomfortable.

And speaking of plating ...
Yes. I would have served the duck on top of something. Probably a handful of sauteed (in the duck fat), shredded cabbage with a little bit of carrot cut paysanne (thin triangles), a little onion and possibly a few poppy seeds. Not much -- just enough to get the duck slightly off the plate and to soak up just a bit of the duck juice and sauce so the diner could get every drop. The slices probably would have looked better fanned, rather than shingled -- with the center elevated.

The soup spoons are cute. $2?! Oh those jokers at Crate and Barrel. They're like $0.49 in the Asian markets here.

Red wine reduction is a harsh mistress. Sounds so easy when other people talk about it. If you're seriously into it, you might want to try very slowly reducing a bottle of something on the juicy side -- say an inexpensive Zin -- to a near syrup and using that as a base.

Agree on the demi. Nice to have about. Or aboot if you're Canadian.

On the whole looked great. The wine sauce was a mistake everyone has t make a few times before the idea penetrates. Take any suggestions with a grain of salt and bask in the respect you so richly deserve.

What's for dinner tonight? We're having Mac and cheese.
BDL

Looks terrific! Duck is my favorite thing. I only buy whole birds, way too much good stuff not to IMHO, so I have ready made stock fixings everytime I cook duck. I make a pan sauce using duck stock and vermouth, which we like, but we usually drink champagne with duck. Most of the time I'll oven roast whole spears of asparagus really tasty and really easy. Most of the time I kick my wife out of the kitchen too--but that 's another story. Enjoy

That's a very diplomatic translation.

Are we not, each in his or her own small way, diplomats?

BDL

Kinda glad you clarified that RPMc. After your recent experience with the Eggs Benny and skillet breakfast, I'm not sure it would be good to make "restaurant quality" food :D

You have mentioned Nicholas quite a few times. I get the impression it is a good place to eat.