NJ restaurant supplier Fossil Farms has re-launched its website and retail store in Boonton. They have an interesting recipe for Roasted Dry Aged Alina Duck Breast, Spiced Apple Butter, Tangerine Marmalade, served with a wilted lettuce. They are also launching a catering operation, which I don't believe they've had in the past.
(Full disclosure, one of the principals is married to one of my former co-workers. I've always been delighted with the products I've selected there.)
I noticed that they no longer carry the Mangalitsa pork from Mosewood Farm, up in Branchville
I was hoping they'd explain the "dry aged" part somewhere, since I've never heard of such a thing for poultry and I'm curious. But in the recipe, you just remove the breast and cook it, and the website says nothing (that I could find) about aging ducks.
I don't actually know what a handbasket is -- but whatever they are, singer-songwriters are in the first ones going to hell. -- Sneakeater, 29 March 2018 - 12:06 AM
notorious stickler -- NY Times
deeply annoying and nitpicking -- Molly O'Neill, One Big Table
I was hoping they'd explain the "dry aged" part somewhere, since I've never heard of such a thing for poultry and I'm curious. But in the recipe, you just remove the breast and cook it, and the website says nothing (that I could find) about aging duck...
I wouldn't consider duck prosciutto (of which I currently have a piece) the same. This recipe just starts with removing the breast from the duck, then later you salt it and sauté it; no aging mentioned.
If anyone knows the how of duck breasts are aged, please do tell. TIA.
I don't actually know what a handbasket is -- but whatever they are, singer-songwriters are in the first ones going to hell. -- Sneakeater, 29 March 2018 - 12:06 AM
notorious stickler -- NY Times
deeply annoying and nitpicking -- Molly O'Neill, One Big Table
I wouldn't consider duck prosciutto (of which I currently have a piece) the same. This recipe just starts with removing the breast from the duck, then later you salt it and sauté it; no aging mentioned.
If anyone knows the how of duck breasts are aged, please do tell. TIA.
The breast comes from a whole duck that's been dry-aged. It's perhaps incorrectly assumed the reader can figure this out.
As for duck prosciutto, there are two distinct classes of product - breast (preferably from force fed duck) that's been rubbed in a modest amount of curing salts and then hung for some weeks, and the massively salted near-jerky you see often around your parts.
sandwiches that are large and filling and do not contain tuna or prawns
I wouldn't consider duck prosciutto (of which I currently have a piece) the same. This recipe just starts with removing the breast from the duck, then later you salt it and sauté it; no aging mentioned.
If anyone knows the how of duck breasts are aged, please do tell. TIA.
The breast comes from a whole duck that's been dry-aged. It's perhaps incorrectly assumed the reader can figure this out.
As for duck prosciutto, there are two distinct classes of product - breast (preferably from force fed duck) that's been rubbed in a modest amount of curing salts and then hung for some weeks, and the massively salted near-jerky you see often around your parts.
So "dry aging" is what used to be called "hanging"? Sheesh. And it's done for farmed birds, not just wild?
I don't actually know what a handbasket is -- but whatever they are, singer-songwriters are in the first ones going to hell. -- Sneakeater, 29 March 2018 - 12:06 AM
notorious stickler -- NY Times
deeply annoying and nitpicking -- Molly O'Neill, One Big Table
That's an interesting question, because I don't know what the difference in the process might be, but I have the impression that dry aging lasts a lot longer than the typical couple of days for hanging.
Chef John McGannon has an interesting article and video on dry aging ducks. After seeing the video, I don't think I could ever eat a NON dry aged duck again.
"The first thing we need to understand is what waterfowl are- they are the equivalent to Olympic athletes. When you think about it, all they do is migrate thousands of miles only to return a couple of months later. Have you ever wondered why their muscles are so dark? Well they have this process called “re-oxygenation,” it allows them to fly for hundreds of miles at a time – they have twice the amount of capillary blood than a land animal. Hence the deep dark almost eggplant color of their flesh. This extra blood keeps their heart and lungs supplied with the needed oxygen during these long flights.
This is great for the birds but not so much for us. The capillary blood that's in your muscle structure is the broken down bi-product of what you eat. So, if you’re a duck eating aquatic plant life out of the bottom of a muddy slough and that flesh is consumed in its fresh state it's going to taste like the bottom of a muddy slough.
The only NATURAL way to remove this excess blood AND breakdown this highly developed muscle structure is through “DRY AGING.”
Re paryzer's quote and the video: Again, that's WILD birds. Who does this with farmed ducks? Is it necessary, since they have lived a relatively easy life?
I don't actually know what a handbasket is -- but whatever they are, singer-songwriters are in the first ones going to hell. -- Sneakeater, 29 March 2018 - 12:06 AM
notorious stickler -- NY Times
deeply annoying and nitpicking -- Molly O'Neill, One Big Table
I suspect most of the dry-aged ducks on New York menus (EMP used to have one, Roberta's) are farmed ducks. Wild ducks are really very noticeably different in size, taste, and texture. Very rarely seen in New York restaurants.
That video troubles me a little, because the intention seems to be to rid game of the blood which is the vehicle for the "gamey" flavor. A "mild" result, he says.
