Smoked duck - a Thanksgiving experiment

There was a slight delay in uploading this Thanksgiving feast, but better late than never!

After discovering the power of my friend's smoker, I asked if I could borrow it for Thanksgiving. He generously said yes!
Cue the music and my wheels turning. I have never cooked duck, but felt like this was the time to take on the challenge. I read that sometimes its better to air dry it for 24 hours, like Peking duck, to help crisp the skin. As much as I would like to install a hook in my fridge, time did not permit and I went with an 18 hour brine instead.

Step 1: Thanksgiving Eve
Brining the bird
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp yellow and brown mustard seeds
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tbsp cardamom pods
3 bay leaves
5 garlic cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 large strip of orange peel (reserve the orange for the next day)
1 cup of kosher salt
1 gallon of water
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup wheat free tamari

1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer.
2. Off the heat, add 4-5 cups of ice to cool down the brine.




Ready your duck, open it up and pull out the neck, heart, liver and gizzards. (I saved them for the gravy.)

Place the duck into a bucket or large tupperware container for its evening bath.


Cover and keep in the fridge till you are ready to smoke.

Day 1: Thanksgiving
Smoking the duck
brined duck
orange, halved
soaked wood chips (for smoking)
charcoal
water (for the basin in the smoker)

I pulled the duck out of the fridge, drained the brine and pat-dried the skin while the dinner host started the charcoal. Once it go red and then white, we spread it out onto the bottom layer of the smoker, and covered it with more charcoal.




Wood chips soaked for about 1 hour:


I through a few handfuls of chips onto the charcoals, then placed the body of the smoker on top. I filled the basin with water and half of the orange. Then placed on the racks. I put the other half of the orange into the duck cavity and place it up on the top rack.



The internet told me the duck should take about 5-6 hours, but at 1:45 it looked like this:


Oh hello!


At 3 hours, the internal temp was over 160, so I pulled it, slightly worried it was going to be dry.



The taste was wonderful! There was a great pink smoke ring and the meat was juicy. There was still some soft fat under the crisp skin, but no one complained.

I hope this will become a new Thanksgiving tradition.

First company in US to label OTC meds gluten-free

If you have ever had to navigate pharmacy isles searching for something that is safe to help make you well, you know what 13 syllable words look like in 7 point font. (Why anyone thinks this is a good idea, especially if you are sick and already out of it, I don't know.) Or you have gone to the counter to get a prescription and you ask the pharmacist if the generic version is also gluten-free and all you get is a shoulder shrug. TOTALLY BOGUS

There are places like: gluten free drug which lists gf meds. This site has saved me time standing in the cold & flu relief isle on hold with customer service, but its still shouldn't be this hard - nor should people have to have access to a cell phone or the internet to be able to be healthy!

Ok, ok, I am done complaining, because Perrigo just announced that in 2010 it will be labeling its over the counter medications that do not contain gluten, "gluten-free"!

Thanks to Gluten-Free Fun for posting this awesome news and info.

Gluten Free Food Bank Opened

Dee Valdez in Colorado is doing something rather amazing, she has worked to open a Gluten Free Food Bank.*

A quote from the press release:
About 15 years ago, Valdez remembers talking to a mother with a sick 7 year old who had Celiac Disease. The exasperated mom said she had to choose between feeding her whole family or just feeding her sick daughter the very expensive gluten free food she could find. The distraught mother said, referring to her Celiac daughter, “She’s just going to have to live with diarrhea."

A lot of focus these days has been spent on the heath care debate, whether or not to include a public option (I quite frankly feel that those in congress who have access to health insurance, paid for by their constituents, should have this privilege revoked if they don't support extending the same privilege to the American people, who they represent.)

That aside, food security and accessibility is as big a concern as health care, especially when health an wellness hinge upon being able to access food that doesn't make you sick. It is sad that being able to find and afford safe food is even an issue in this country, but Dee's work is astoundingly wonderful and hopefully fewer people will be put in the situation of placing one or more family member's health at risk because they cannot find or afford food.

*By way of the Triumph Essential Gluten Free Blog.

Bertucci's adds a gluten free menu

The Triumph Dining Card blog is spreading the news that Bertucci's is now part of the Gluten Intolerance Group and now has a gluten-free menu, in some states - MA is one!

Cookbook Release Party, Show & Bake Sale!

So I have been working on a side project, and while the entire thing is not gluten-free, there is a big chunk of it that is, so I think its worthy of the space.

I had this wacky idea back in September about creating a community cookbook and, well, its happening! I haven't mentioned it here, but I spent part of my summer working at a gluten-free bakery and after wrapping up that gig and coming back to the wonderful world of office work, I realized that I truly missed making things.

I knew I did not want to go into business. Even if I donned protective gear, working in a traditional bakery once a week seemed like a horrible idea. Even a NASA space suit would still be covered in flour after a shift and wouldn't be the easiest to work in... thought perhaps the self contained hygiene system would be a perk. I digress.

So I realized that I have been asked to coordinate a lot of projects lately and that maybe that is the thing I am "good at." I love food and have thought about cookbooks for a while, but I don't feel like I am ready to pitch one on my own, but thought that coordinating and editing a cookbook might be something I could do.

If you work in publishing, you can start laughing now. I have no idea about how book making works, I just thought I would collect a bunch of recipes, make photocopies and bind them at Kinkos. Luckily many people have been interested in helping put this together, people far more knowledgeable than me. So fingers crossed, in just a few weeks a real book - perfect bind, that means it will be a paperback covered book - will be made and in my hot little hands!

The book will have a special icon for the over 40 gluten free recipes.

Here are the details and the other blog if you want to follow along:

Cook Food Every Day is a community cookbook with over 130 recipes and artwork from 38 contributors. All of the proceeds benefit the Greater Boston Food Bank. The cookbook release party, show and bake sale is going to be at 9pm on Dec. 16th @ PAs Lounge in Somerville. Come out, have snacks, listen to music and check out the book!

Gluten free buns at b.good

b.good is now carrying gluten-free buns! I normally just get my burger sans bun, but I was excited to give it a try. The best part - they come TOASTED!
(I think they are a version or Jillian's, because they were tasty but fell apart within 45 seconds. Next time I will grab a fork and knife.)

Poll - VOTE!

The googler keeps asking me if I want to "monetize" this blog and until know I have been ignoring it. It doesn't get a ton of hits, but I thought... what if I did add ads, but the proceeds went to a celiac research foundation?

I am on the fence about it, because I hate being bombarded with advertisements when reading about food or news, but this seemed like a simple/easy thing I could do that would be different than just making a personal charitable donation.

To aid me in the decision-making processes, I added a poll.
Look to the right --->
Please vote!

Poll ends 11:55PM on December 10, 2009