Christmas Mad Mac Series: Duck Penne w/ Duck Fat Cream & 4 Cheese Sauce

Sometimes, the best meals are created by accident. Other times, it comes from necessity (which is true in this case). I had made this dish before and because of a November #FoodieChat session, this came to life once again. It all began with a question. 

Q4 #Foodiechats What was your first home cooked meal you made, and how have you perfected it over the years? #HomeCooking

7:20 PM - 6 Nov 2017

 So the fuse was lit. And one response started it all. My reply follows. 

lillian lake‏ @llake

Replying to @Foodiechats

Macaroni/cheese - I use 5 different cheeses - dairy products & don't overcook the pasta. Also, I add lobster time to time. #FoodieChats

John Duncan‏ @emptyplateadv

John Duncan Retweeted lillian lake

You really want to kill the crowd, substitute lobster w/ duck. #FoodieChats

Gloria Piantek‏ @GGoodtaste even added some encouragement. 

I shared why I had to substitute duck for lobster (I'm allergic). Maple Leaf Farms came to the rescue. Through a chain of events, Maple Leaf Farms provided a duck and some duck fat for me to work with. I had some fun but was unsure what angle I would take to make this happen? As I thought about this, it’s really not hard to do. For all practical purposes, use your normal, go-to mac & cheese recipe and then add duck to it. Really. It’s that simple. If you never cooked a duck before, there are a few things I suggest before doing so. First, treat it like chicken- thaw it and then rinse and pat dry (some debate doing this but I feel better doing so). Next, before you cook it, pierce or score (which is best to do) the skin of the duck on all sides. I also suggest placing a bowl underneath the duck. Commit 20-30 minutes per pound at 350 degrees F (about 175 celcius). Mine took about 4 ½ hours (it was about 5 pounds). You can see the end result below. Once it cools, shred the meat off the duck and reserve it (or in plain English, put it aside).  What you see is the result. 

Above, you see the finished duck. I used an electric roaster for a few of reasons. The main reason was it would be easier to clean. As you can see, I used a rack to cook and cool the duck. You could also use a chicken roaster (or an upright roasting rack like you see on the bottom right, 2) or a rack. Duck fat & duck meat seen below. You can see all the fat I collected (conservatively, about 3-4 cups). I chopped some onions and garlic as well since I am using the fat. As for the rack, hint hint William Sonoma!!!!

Now if the name of this blog doesn’t fit a post past, present or future, this one will do just that. I spend the following weeks deciding on the pasta and the cheese. I wanted to use a more elbow or ear/shell-shaped pasta. So I get ready to boil the pasta and thinking I had some “conchiglie” pasta (which is Italian for “shells” or “seashells”) but went into the pantry……. and NONE on hand! I hope for elbow pasta but all I had was penne. I figured it would work since that sauce hold sauce well. All you need is about 1- 1 ½ pound of your favorite pasta. Follow the instructions and once done, drain pasta water into a bowl in reserve. The starch still remains and can help thicken the sauce if needed. I like to season the pasta with salt, pepper, a little oregano, garlic (granulated or fresh works), and some red pepper flakes. You can add whatever other seasoning you desire to use.

THAT was the easy part. So I was thinking of making a white sauce (or Bechamel) similar to the once you see below (1). Pretty simple to do.

1-1/2 tbls (25 grams) of butter & flour each. Melt the butter, then add the flour until it becomes a paste. Keep the fire low to medium (cook slowly) Then once the paste is formed, add 1 ½ cups (or 300 ml) of cold milk, added in equal dosages of three.   

The problem? NO MILK!!! So the pasta water came in handy. The butter- flour mix basically became a roux. I then added sour cream & American cheese to the penne with some of the remaining pasta water on low heat. The result was the pasta water cooked down, mixed with the sour cream and the pasta water. Again, on a simmer/LOW heat. If I had the pasta on anything but a simmer, I promise it will burn. I added sour cream to the consistency I wanted (about 1/3/-1/2 cup of sour cream added and stirred frequently. Of course, I added some of the duck fat reserve (from the bowl shown about) to this as well. I used only a few spoonful’s as I went along.

So now, once I got my pasta where I wanted it (with the sour cream and pasta water), I then added the shredded cheese. So what should you use? Whatever cheese you would eat alone but if you use multiple cheeses, make sure at least one melts well. I was debating should I used a form of gouda or a goat’s milk cheese of some sort? I was in my local Mariano’s market and they had a cheese called Lamb Chopper (sheep’s milk, which was VERY smooth). They served some up to me and from that moment, I was hooked. Cheese #2 is in. I went to a local Whole Foods and they had some 12 Month Aged Manchego, which has some modest “heat” (e.g., spice) to it. But still good enough and Cheese #3 was found. I shredded both cheeses and stirred them in the penne.   

Here's the result of this adventure. My parents also enjoyed this as much as I did. I can tell you this with no hesitation. This dish was MUCH better the next day, which happened to be Christmas day. As you can see, this penne was a nice compliment to the rest of an already heavy meal. What could I have done to top this? I think some vegetables, like mushroom, peas, tomato, roasted or grilled bell peppers may have added a different dimension to this dish. Still, I'm please with how it came out. 

So what began with a vision, fell into borderline megadeth panic, only to save the day with victory. As I already said, you can basically take your own favorite macaroni and cheese recipe or whatever you make lobster mac and cheese with and add duck. This is a win for someone like me, who is allergic to fish and seafood. I was six when I found out I was allergic after eating red snapper, which led to a FULL prophylaxis attack (the only serious one I had). entire  You'll be amazed what you might create when part of the food chain is excluded from your diet. I can't really miss what I could never eat to begin with. So if I didn't have allergy, I may never have thought to create this dish. There's a trade off for everything. 

And in case you doubt me, it also travels well for lunch. Both dishes you see here have trace of duck fat. In the case of the non duck penne, I added some of the duck fat when I heated it up. Yes, it worked like a charm!!!! The post-Christmas penne with the Christmas Eve meat pasta. I wish lunches were always this good.. Step out and experiment. That's where all the fun is found!!! Again, THANK YOU AGAIN to the good people Maple Leaf Farms for their help with this project. They asked how they could be of help and they were. They can be found here: https://twitter.com/MapleLeafFarms  and  http://www.mapleleaffarms.com.

Last thing. This is only the START of sorts. A new start and life this blog in 2018 (which I hope to post at least 3-5 time in a month about something). The start of an old food experiment of mine (Mad Mac Experiment) as well as at least one new one (Fabulous Fat or Eat Wilder). And guess what? There are MORE things I did with this duck fat I will share soon. 

Works Cited: 

1. Gordon Ramsay- “How to make a classic white sauce with cheese” video. Gordon Ramsay YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOPb95Wo3H4            

2. Vertical chicken rack photo taken from William Sonoma’s Internet site (https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/the-ultimate-chicken-roaster/).  

Prime Time: A Prime Rib Birthday Dinner

Prime rib!!!! This was part of the dinner my Dad and I served my Mom last week. As is customary in my family, you get what you want for your birthday. Mom chose lobster and since I can't eat seafood, she decided to have us make a Prime Rib for the rest of the meal. She actually found the roast at a very good price!! That helps a great deal.  On this post, it will be brief but to the point. The cut we used was graded prime. I hope to get a cut of meat like this during the summer. Imagine this coming off the grill!!! Yep, I thought so.

As you can see with the first two pictures, there is a prod connected to the roast itself. That actually connects to the over. THIS is the say to do a roast. This provides a nice way to eliminate any error in cooking. Mom actually started this. What was done is simple. Take the prod and connect it inside its slot into the oven. Then set the desired temperatures you wish to cook the meat and where you want the meat to be at. In this case, it was cooked at 375 degrees for about 2-2 1/2 hours. My parents prefer more towards medium, so the targeted meat temperature was 130 degrees. The roast itself was about 6 pounds (pre-cooking weight). If you're considering getting a new over, the ones with a prod thermometer feature is amazing. Once the desired internal meat temperature is reached, the over shuts off. The meat rested for about 30 minutes, covered in foil. Which leads me to the next part of this dinner. A pretty cleaver idea came to my head and it worked like a charm. 

Now this is what you may call the "educational part" of this post. Since I live in the midwest, it's pretty obvious that I won't get getting the farm fresh foods anytime soon. It's too cold to really grow

anything. The interesting thing is where much of our fruit comes from (in particular, where I live and during this time of year. 

As you can see from the top picture, we get a lot of fruit and vegetables from South America, namely Peru and Chile. That's a good thing in my book. We get the food we need, it's normally fresh, and some farmer in another country can male a decent living, selling fruits to places like where I live. I don't ever take being able to get decent asparagus at this time of year. I normally drift towards white asparagus since they're a bit sweeter (to my taste anyway) than it's other counterparts.

Now this is the new trick I tried to keep them asparagus warm. This is something I had not considered doing until I finished cooking these asparagus. I cooked them as I normally did (water and finishing with olive oil for about 5 minutes each). I would boil the water first, cook the asparagus in the water for about 5 minutes then add some olive oil to finish cooking them (3 to 5 minutes, to the point where they're soft but not soggy). I finished them as I normally do, seasoning with salt an pepper. Now the fun part. As you can see from the smaller picture, I pulled out the foil. Once I finished cooking the asparagus, I them cooled down the skillet I cooked them in, wrapped them in foil and that was it. I tried it on a hunch and it worked well. They stayed warm for the 25 minutes it took to cook the lobster.

As you can see, the above is the finished product.I have some of the asparagus break on me during my prep time. So those went to me. I ate them. So it doesn't exactly look pretty but it did taste very good!! I was very happy with how the meal turned out. Mom had one of the smaller pieces. This was the biggest piece, which since I'm a fairly big guy, it went to me. Dad has a piece a little smaller than this one. I'm not getting into the potatoes since they're so simple to do. Now imagine going to a fine steakhouse and getting a cut like this and a lobster tail (for Mom). Price tag is shell shocking. 

Another look at the "Diamond John" Cut. I'm guessing this piece is between 20-25 oz and since my piece was in the middle of the roast, mine was closer to medium rare (just as I like it). Sure, it's great to have a great meal like this but there is something greater at play here. I have several friends who have buried at least 1 parent. My Grandmother (Mom's mom) died earlier this year at age 96. Both of my parents are still alive and very well. I know that I can't spend as much time with them as I would like. If you get nothing more from this post, take this with you. You have loved ones who are still in your life, enjoy time with them every chance you get! This dinner was so much fun and every time there's a special occasion like a birthday, I want to make sure I can be there to enjoy with my parents. They're the only ones I have and quite frankly, I would not want anyone else. I am VERY thankful for my parents. I'm lucky to have them. Finding a good rib roast at a great price, great. Getting the meal, fit for royalty at home, even better. Enjoying a meal like that with great parents like mine. Priceless!!!

A King's Feast: My 2014 Christmas Dinner

I’ll cut right to the chase. My Christmas dinner is seen here (shown above). Clockwise from left to right, peppered green beans, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and crown roast of pork. All the items were home made by my Mom. This isn’t meant to be some tease or “porn” to grab your attention. I figured in what way I can share and maybe plant some seeds for a later date. This dinner was TREMENDOUS!!! Mom went a little off the norm in creating this dinner. I figured I’ll share what I can and what I decided to ask her on what she did. I’ll share what I can and what I can’t give completely, I will revisit down the road. I won't give you step for step. This is about showing some of the modifications made for this meal. Some different techniques, some different preparations, and totally thinking outside the box. To make a great feast, you don't always need 10 items or more. A few well executed items get the job done, as you will see here. 

Let’s start with the crown roast of pork (shown below). Mom went a bit off the script. Instead of using leaving the pork as a crown, she split the roasts into halves. She then used a rack and cooked as normal. She cooked it at 375 degrees (about 190 Celsius) for about 2-2 ½ hours or until an internal temperature of about 135-140 degree Fahrenheit(55-60 degrees Celsius), as it will continue cooking while it rests. Use the seasons of your choice but she used salt, pepper, some thyme, rosemary and sage (enough to cover for the latter 3 ingredients. That was it. How nice of a dinner does that look like? Now maybe next year, time will allow me to make macaroni and cheese as well as some dinner rolls.

The peppered green beans sounds more difficult that it really is. It’s not that hard at all. She placed them in a pan w/ some oil (grape seed I do believe), sautéed until tender (about 5-10 minutes). While cooking, she added the pepper in spurts, not in one mass. That way, the pepper would still not only taste right, but won’t be overpowering either. This was a VERY pleasant surprise and hope to try this down the road. No, not hope to. I WILL do this. I’m not sure if I’ll do this for a holiday, dinner, lunch or whatever. It will happen. WOW that dish was fantastic!!! Don't let the name of this fool you. This isn't as hard as it looks. I did something similar a while back. Mom just made it better. If you're using frozen green beans, follow the instructions and then add most of the pepper before the end. This will inspire an incredible dish down the road. Now how I'll pull it off remains to be scene. Only time will answer that question. For now, enjoy the finished product. 

I touched upon the cornbread dressing already in a different post. I just did it yesterday (previous blog post). As I mentioned before, just take your normal stuffing recipe and use cornbread in its place. PLEASE REMEMBER TWO THINGS!!! Cornbread tends to need more liquid so make sure you have enough stock available for your use. On average, you’re looking at least 32 ounces for a 9” X 12” pan. You may need more so make sure you have enough  stock on hand. I suggest using a baking or glass pan in lieu of a cast iron pot. Cast iron might be a trick for some and the cornbread could form a bit more of a crust that may be optimal. Apart from the liquid content and the actual cornbread itself, don’t change any of your preferred seasonings.  

Now as for the next two items, the sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce (not pictured), I wish I could share more but I didn’t ask my questions. Here is what I can give you. In the case of both the sweet potatoes and cranberries, my mother used Splenda. That’s the one thing she’s changed. We have some diabetics in our family and through some trial and error, she knocked this out of the park. She took about 16 ounces of fresh cranberries and cooked as normal. I think she used just about ¼ - 1/2 a tablespoon instead of a full cup of sugar. She used about ½-3/4 tablespoons for splenda for the sweet potatoes. She’s played with the ratios over the last couple of years and found the ration she liked. I’ll confirm and share more in a later post. One of my problems with eating sweet potatoes is that they can get too sweet. Notice there are no marshmallows or anything of the like on them? As time has gone on, I generally don't want that stuff on them. It makes the MUCH TOO SWEET for my liking. For each is their own but I prefer sweet potatoes as they are. Add very little if anything to them since they are naturally sweet.

And once again (below), the finished product for Christmas dinner. I ran out of battery so I didn't show my empty plate. Still, very good and will revisit some of these items down the road. I thought it was good good not to share again. Thanks, Mom!! You always make a wonderful meal for the various holidays. I've learned much from you and I will make this up to you and Dad in 2015. At the very least, I'll do some of the sides and the meats. Notice how I said MEATS?! I guess turkey alone may not be enough. I enjoyed the ham we had at my cousin's home. This meal would make King Henry the 8th envious. 

Clockwise from top left to right, peppered green beans, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and crown roast of pork. A feast that would make a king jealous!!

This is the first post of the year. I hope this is the first of many more to come. I have learned and got so many inspirations from different sources. If you're a Twitter user, there are SEVERAL food chats you may want to be a part of. There is a great deal of friendship and exchange of ideas each week, often sponsored by different brands. You also meet people from all over the world. You'll be amazed to see a food lover in India participating at 2:AM their time. From time to time, there are even some giveaways. The weekly schedule is listed below and are about 60 minutes unless listed otherwise (all times listed are CST and the correct hashtag listing the chat's name and the hosts connected with them). Maybe our paths will cross at one of these chats. I don't think you'll be sorry you came.

- Sunday's at 6:PM, #SundaySupper (various hosts)

- Monday's at 3:PM #FNIchat (hosted primarily by @FoodiesNiteIn, @CookingwCaitlin)

- Monday's at 7:PM #Foodiechats (hosted by many including @Foodiechats @FoodiechatsCHI, @steveGOgreen, @AngelaWoodley and a few others).

- Tuesday's at 3:PM #PantryChat (hosted by @CompletePantry). 

- Wednesday's at 7:PM: #FoodTravelChat (I've missed this one a few too many times but still a great session if you can make it).

- Thursday's at 2:PM: #Fdbloggers (this one is globally hosted from the UK, 7-9PM GMT, @fdbloggers is the main host from what I've seen). 

Until then, thanks for reading and happy eating!!! May your plate be full only to be emptied because of great meals. I hope 2015 will be filled with many posts to share with you all!! I hope and believe you will enjoy them. One of the main subjects will be macaroni and cheese in their various forms. I am finishing part 1 of many. This was TRULY an adventure of sorts. Once I make the post, you'll see what I mean. I will show not only how versatile it is but how I adapted on the fly and went outside the box. The next post will be a perfect example of that.

Dressingus Maximus: Southern Cornbread Dressing

So if you follow me or participate in different Twitter food chats, the discussion of side dishes often came up. Of course holidays have some specialties and some more specific than others. One of which was the "debate" between "dressing" and "stuffing" side dishes. What made this interesting is that we had many people from other parts of the world- Canada, United Kingdom, and India among many other places. If you a member of any of these chats I mentioned, you probably noticed how I mentioned cornbread dressing is the way to go. It was funny how some didn't know the difference or even tried to argue there was a difference between stuffing and dressing.

Well, is there a difference? Yes and no. The differences are just as the names imply. Stuffing is what is actually stuffed inside a bird. Dressing is the same thing (in concept) but served on as a side dish (in a casserole dish or large foil pan, depending on who is making it). From a recent #fdbloggers chat, Hannah Webster (Twitter handle @Hannahwebs, from the UK) and I had this exchange, which inspired this post (in part anyway). It went like this:

1. Hannah Webster ‏@hannahwebs  Nov 20

   Q2 What festive food could you not have Christmas without? #fdbloggers

   0 replies1 retweet0 favorites
   
2. John Duncan ‏@emptyplateadv  Nov 20

   @hannahwebs A2. I know it sounds a bit lame but for me, cornbread dressing & mac & cheese or au gratin potatoes are mine. #fdbloggers

   0 replies0 retweets2 favorites
   
3. Hannah Webster ‏@hannahwebs  Nov 20

   @emptyplateadv I've never cornbread dressing or au gratin potatoes so I can't comment! #fdbloggers

   0 replies0 retweets0 favorites
   

John Duncan‏@emptyplateadv

@hannahwebs Cornbread dressing/stuffing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdI_OqpkCxI … (1); http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEsg_93a9K4 … (2)

‏@hannahwebs  

@emptyplateadv oooh I'm not sure about that! haha.

At least she had a sense of humor. Here's another brief exchange from the #Foodiechats exchange with the host. The version I shared is similar to the one my Mom makes.

1. #Foodiechats ‏@FoodiechatsCHI  Nov 17

   Q2 #Foodiechats via @NinjaKitchen What is the best way to prep stuffing ahead of time?

   0 replies6 retweets2 favorites
   

John Duncan‏@emptyplateadv

@FoodiechatsCHI @NinjaKitchen A2b. Like my Mom makes hers (minus stove top;chicken stock,no cream of..) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcXTWvNRFng … #Foodiechats (3)

OK. While I touched upon the difference between stuffing and dressing, there are differences between HOW each is made. Some call for some form of bread (e.g., white, baguette, sour dough, TOAST which seems odd to me, etc). For me, most of my family on both sides have Southern roots. My parents and various extended family lived (and many still do) throughout central and southern Illinois. Those before them can be traced to Indiana and Tennessee. For those with those roots, cornbread is the bread of choice. 100% cornbread, not a mix with another. This style of dressing is MUCH more dense and filling. Depending on how it's made, it can be a meal onto itself.

I had an interesting discussion with my friends from my health club. What's more ironic is that we had this discussion in the club's sauna of all places. So when asking about what we (my family) would be having, the stuffing-dressing discussion came up. She is from Poland (but her husband is American) and she had never had cornbread dressing. After explaining there was no difference between stuffing and dressing, there are different types. She had the typical dried breads. She had never thought about cornbread dressing until I had mentioned we have that exclusively as a side. Another member basically confirmed what I had said about cornbread dressing. I provided 3 different recipes to make this (properly cited) as a reference.

So right about now, you're probably expecting an step by step recipe for how to do this. I already posted references that are similar to my Mom's dressing. My friend, Jola (from my health club) asked me if she had to do anything different from what she already did. I said there were 2 key differences. The first is the cornbread itself. The first thing you do is bake one pan of cornbread as if you were making a cake or a side dish. Some say cover and some say not for a day after baking. After a day or so, begin to break the whole cornbread cake into smaller pieces and then follow your regular recipe for stuffing. Some don't believe in letting the cornbread sit for a day. That's a debate for another day. For the sake of this exercise, let it rest a day. Whatever seasoning you use in your stuffing will work with this as well (as you'll later read). The second key differences is that cornbread tends to absorb more liquid. So the one thing you'll need to be aware of is that you may need more stock for this. Break the pieces of bread and add stock as you normally have. You may have different texture, but consistency should be similar (somewhere between mashed potatoes and a casserole). Expect to use between 24 to 36 oz of liquid (stock or your choice is best). If you use a 9" X 12" pan to cook the cornbread dressing, cooks at the normal temperature you uses for about 45-60 minutes.

The above is the payoff. You want to talk about tasting better the following days ahead (if there is any left), put this on the list. Now this is how I enjoy my family dressing each holiday season. My goal is to learn my Mom's cornbread dressing. I had two dinners for Thanksgiving. I also at with my extended family as well. My Aunt's cornbread dressing is a bit heavier on celery than my Mom's is but still very good. Due to the liquid content of this, you really don't need gravy but if you wish to have it, go for it. Add your choice of flavor to the gravy, such as oyster, pepper, sage or whatever you choose to have. Below is the cornbread dressing I had for Christmas dinner. Trust me that this recipe doesn't get old at all. I will share some of the highlights of my Christmas dinner a a couple of days or so. As for my friend Jola and her husband, they became believers as well. Once you try it, you'll believe it as well. If you try this, feel free to share how it turned out and what, if anything, you did differently. 

Works Cited:
1. Down Home with the Neely's: Neely's Cornbread Stuffing, taken from the Food Network via YouTube, uploaded on October 26, 2010.

2. Kimberly In The Kitchen (YouTube channel), "Southern Cornbread Dressing" recipe, YouTube Original Channel, uploaded on October 25, 2012.

3. "How to Make the Best Cornbread Dressing Ever", TeeTee Online original YouTube video, uploaded on November 12, 2010.