Chicken, Quail, and Duck - Experimentation!

Blogging about food is a lot of fun. I just wish I had more time doing it! I wanted to blog about tonight's food because it special to me -- it was about spending time with friends, trying new dishes, and taking a simple comfort food and adding a gourmet twist to it. It literally took about 7 hours to prepare this dinner but it was all worth it. It was a three course dinner focused on poultry cooked 3 different ways:

Most of the items on the menu I never done before. Duck confit was one that I always wanted to do. I found inexpensive duck quarters at the local Asian store. I cured it a day before using a garlic salt paste and refrigerated over night.  I rinsed off the salt and garlic and then submersed it in vegetable oil. I wish I had actual duck fat instead or save the goose fat I had from Christmas. I put it in the oven at 225 degrees for about 5 hours before the meat was fork tender. I pan fried it before serving.

  

This was served with a parsnip soup. We had some parsnip that was part of the product box from last week that I wanted to make a soup. I started first with a garlic and onion aromatic cooked down in olive oil and then added the chopped parsnip. I added in homemade chicken stock that I made earlier in the morning. Boiled it tender for about an hour and used an immersion blender to blend the soup down into almost a puree. I then added a touch cream and cajun spices -- it was perfect!  Next to the duck confit, I cooked down some oyster mushrooms in a butter olive oil mixture. It complemented the soup very well. 

The appetizer dish started off with my desire to make a celeriac (celery root) salad. I picked some up from a farmer's market a week ago and wanted to use it for something. I wanted to pair this with a game bird to offset the the strong taste of the celeriac salad. The salad consisted of shredded celeriac that I blanched in salt water for about 2 minutes, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, dijon mustard, scallions, pepper, and tangelo. It was outstanding! I also made quail. This was marinated with 5 spice, soy sauce (dark and light), sweet rice vinegar, chicken broth, sugar, and salt. The quail were split and then in the marinade for about 5 hours. It was then deep fried at 350 degrees for about 3 minutes to prevent overcooking.  Lastly, quail does very well with fruits. I found some fresh bluebeeries and made a simple syrup gelee. It was a perfect pairing of the all the different ingredients. I reduce down the marinade for the quail and spoon a couple of teaspoons on top of the quails

The colors were amazing.  I could have topped it off with a few sprigs of parsley or cilantro for more height.

The main course was focused on chicken. This was a take on traditional chinese cooking and adding the gourmet twist. I have always wanted to sous vide chicken breast. I have sous vide every other meat you could think of instead of chicken!  The chicken breast was first brined for 2 hours using 1/4 cup of salt, 1/4 cup of sugar, and about 2 cups of water. I then rinsed off the chicken and vacuum pack the breast wtih gray salt and a few slices of ginger. It was sous vide for 1.5 hours at 140 degrees. The result was amazing! It was the most tender and moist chicken you can imagine. I served it with slices of Virgina (Smithfield) ham in a ginger scallion sauce but to be perfectly honest it really didn't need the sauce because the chicken was so flavorful.  The baby bok choy was cooked with a soy miso sesame sauce. The shitake mushroom was braised for 5 hours with oyster sauce, dark soy, light soy, and a little sesame oil. I would have added a couple star anise if I had some in the pantry. The flavors from the mushrooms were earthy and very intense.  It was unbelievable! I also wanted to do a rice cake, similar to a risotto cake. I cooked the rice in a chicken broth and then added scallions. They were pan fried and topped with chinese sausage and a fried quaill egg. If you never cracked a quail egg before it takes practice! I recommend using a very sharp knife to cut the top off and pour the egg out. A good caviar would be wonderful with the egg. 

I like to make dishes that brings up the freshness and flavor of the main ingredients instead of masking it with spices. This is a good example of using simple ingredients and yet blending all the flavors and cooking technique to make great dishes. It is also one of the main reasons why I enjoy sous vide cooking since it about cooking foods in its on juices.

Enjoy!