Season's Eatings, Duck-Style

I made this for Christmas this year:

This duck is all salted down, in order to draw out the moisture.  It is, actually, supposed to look like this before it goes into the oven.  I did this last year too, after Dad passed, as a special thing to help remember him.  Apparently I'm the only one who remembers the one Christmas several years ago when we had a goose and a duck instead of the typical ham.  Actually, we had that, too.  There was a lot of food.

I would have said something about this last year, but my computer unexpectedly crashed, and the photos went with it.  So no discussion of duck.  I will say this about my second attempt: just as the last time, I used Alton Brown's no-fail spatchcock method of butterflying the bird, koshering it for several days to draw out the moisture from the skin, then roasting it for an hour at 350° (turning once) and then 10 more minutes at 450° to get the skin super crispy.  It wasn't as crispy this year as last, but it was just as delicious.  And had my cat lived to see this holiday, he would have loved to nibble on it as I gave him scraps while I was eating.  I'll have extra for you, baby.

Oh, and for God's sake make sure you save that duck fat!  Keep it in the fridge and it'll likely keep indefinitely.  At least it has for me.

Miscellaneous: Funny Foodie Photos!

Lately I've been so wrapped up in work, singing and soccer (and other personal matters) that I've only had just enough time to do these State-by-State posts.  But with the wonder of my camera phone - which is actually much better than my Coolpix camera, can you believe it? - I've been collecting photos of some strange things I've been seeing around town over the past few months, plus one or two things that aren't strange but certainly are noteworthy.  It helps that I now have a working USB wire to connect it to the computer, so I can share this ridiculousness with you all.  We start way back in October.

Isn't this "Peeps for all seasons" thing starting to get just a tad bit silly?  (The Peeps Chocolate Cats, by the way, are foul. Taken at Harris Teeter in Columbia)

Suet is no longer out of reach, folks! Just stop by your local Wegman's.

Help! Santa's melting! (This should've been a submission for Cake Wrecks.)

Don't eat the blue snow.

DAMN YOUR EYES!

Now this wasn't silly.  After Dad passed we as a family decided to have a nice Christmas to remember him. Some things we did were old traditions, others were brand new.  This Bûche de Noël was one of the new ones, from Sugarbakers Cakes in Catonsville.  It was a tad pricey at $40 but it was lovely both to see and to eat.

Another new thing I did was only kind of new: a duck, made by following Alton Brown's specific procedures in his Night Before Christmas episode of Good Eats.  Complete with oyster cornbread dressing, it gave me months of duck fat and duck broth, plus an extra pound or two I am still trying to work off.  I would've posted about this around Christmas but my laptop chose that very night to die on me, and I didn't get it back from Acer until mid-January.

Back to the silly...

The If You Give a Kid a Cookie, Will He Shut the Fuck Up? book: a new twist on wise-ass "children's" literature.  Plus that dog book is pretty disturbing in itself.

A cookbook in a basmati rice bag - just what I always wanted!

And finally: "Doctor, quick! Save us from the glistening vampires!" (with his new companion, Cornholio, saving his bunghole from the Daleks)

Snacking State-by-State: New York V - The Sauce Beneath My Wings

One of the classic American snack foods is the famous Buffalo wing.  These days you can get them in all manner for forms: one favorite sports bar of mine in DC serves several varieties, including Jerk Chicken, BBQ and I could swear they used to serve them Carolina-style.  But the classic Buffalo wing is also on the menu, and it is indeed from the City of Good Neighbors.

Official Name: State of New York
State Nicknames: The Empire State
Admission to the US: July 26, 1788 (#11)
Capital: Albany (6th largest)
Other Important Cities: New York City (largest in the state, largest in the nation!), Buffalo (2nd largest), Rochester (3rd largest), Syracuse (5th largest) 
Region: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic; Mid-Atlantic (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Maple Syrup; Wild Rice; Clambake
Bordered by: Québec (Canada) (north), Lake Ontario (northwest), Ontario (Canada) & Lake Erie (west), Pennsylvania (south and southwest), New Jersey (south), Connecticut & Long Island Sound (southeast), Massachusetts & Vermont (east)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: apple (fruit), milk (beverage), sugar maple (tree - for the maple syrup), rose (flower - they are edible, you know), trout (fish), apple muffin (muffin), bay scallop (shell), beaver (mammal, though outside of "Bizarre Foods" you won't see many people eating these)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: In New York City, anything and everything - it is one of the most multicultural and diverse cities in the United States, and is a culinary capital of the nation; typical NYC foods include: Waldorf salad, bagels & bialys, corned beef and pastrami, chocolate egg creams, hot dogs, New York pizza, General Tso's chicken, Baked Alaska (invented in New York City), and so on; New York cheesecake; "garbage plate" (Rochester only); Buffalo wings (Buffalo of course); apples and maple syrup, and of course, more apples


The Buffalo wing has its origins at Buffalo's Anchor Bar, where in 1964 bar owner Teressa Bellissimo created them.  From there the creation story gets a little murky - either she created the Buffalo wing sauce out of a need to use up a massive extra shipment of chicken wings, or her son Dominic and his friends specifically requested them [Anchor Bar 2008; Suddath 2009].  Regardless, the Buffalo wing spread throughout the Northeast and from there the country, becoming one of the most common snack foods this or that side of a Super Bowl (I also stuffed myself with too many of them after more than a few soccer games this past summer in the league I was playing in.  Urp).

What I didn't realize was how uncomplicated it is to make them.

The Recipe: Buffalo Wings

The recipe I used is, apparently, the Anchor Bar's original - at least, so says John Mitzewich of About.com (whose know how also helped me a great deal in making sushi rice back when I was looking at California).  I used a third of the recipe.

* chicken wings (bought 12 of them on sale for about $3.80 at Harris Teeter.  You will need to separate the wings, but little did I know that they came pre-separated! There's one step I can skip)
* oil, salt and flour (had them all - you will coat the wings with this before putting them in the oven)

For the sauce, you will need:

* vinegar
* cayenne pepper
* garlic powder
* more salt
* Tabasco sauce
* Worcestershire sauce
* Louisiana hot sauce in addition to the Tabasco (preferably Frank's, so says the recipe - a bottle of this costs about $3 at Giant.  There were a few varieties of Frank's.  I just went ahead and got the one that specifically said "Red Hot Wings")
* butter

Ta-da! Already disjointed.  If not, break apart the flat and wing parts of the wing.

Put oil and salt in a bowl, and coat the wings in it.

Next, put the flour in a large zip top bag.  Put the wings in the bag, zip it up, and shake until thoroughly coated

It's shake and bake, and I helped!

Put aluminum foil on a baking or cookie sheet and coat it with oil.  Man, I wish I had bought those pastry brushes sooner.

Now you're ready to bake the chicken wings.

Bake the wings at 425°F for 40 minutes, turning halfway through.

While the wings are in the oven, throw the rest of the ingredients in a pot and bring to a simmer.

Once brought to a simmer, turn off the heat and cover.

Remember to turn those wings.

When the wings are done, coat them with the sauce.

Oh, this is soooooo not healthy to eat.  But I'm not eating this all the time. So it's okay, right?  Traditionally, these are always eaten with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing, which makes them even less healthy.  But the celery at least gives it the air of "healthiness".  They sure are messy, too.

- - - - -

We're done with the Empire State.  Next we race down I-95 to the home of several of the nation's favorite styles of BBQ (certainly the most nearby to us).  It's the nation's leading producer of pimento cheese and the home of Pepsi-Cola: we're on our way to North Carolina.

Sources:


Anchor Bar.  "The Original Buffalo Wings Story".  Published 2008.  Copyright 2008 The Anchor Bar.  All rights reserved.


Beekman 1802 (Josh Kilmer-Purcell & Brent Ridge).  "December 12" (Maureen Lodes' Apple Cake).  Posted on the "Sharon Springs Heirloom Recipe Advent Calendar" page, Beekman 1802 website.  Copyright 2011, 2012 Beekman1802.com. All rights reserved.


Beekman 1802 (Josh Kilmer-Purcell & Brent Ridge).  "Sharon Springs Heirloom Recipe Advent Calendar" page, Beekman 1802 website.  Copyright 2011, 2012 Beekman1802.com. All rights reserved.


Bon Appétit.  "Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup".  Posted on the Epicurious website, December 1998.  Copyright 1998, 2012 Epicurious.  All rights reserved.  


Center for Jewish History.  "Jews In America: Our Story".  Copyright 2005 Center for Jewish History.  All rights reserved.


Mannur, Anita.  "Indian Food in the US: 1909-1921".  Published on the South Asian American Digital Archive website October 18, 2011.  Copyright 2008-2012, South Asian American Digital Archive.  All rights reserved.


Mitzewich, John.  "Authentic Anchor Bar Buffalo Chicken Wings".  Published on About.com, date unknown. Copyright 2012 About.com.  All rights reserved.

Roberts, Adam (Amateur Gourmet).  "Fall Out Of Fall With A Matzah Ball".  Posted November 21, 2006.  Copyright 2004-2012 Adam Roberts.  All rights reserved.


Sahni, Julie.  Classic Indian Cooking.  William Morrow & Company: New York, 1980.


Sheraton, Mimi.  "Introduction: A Table Before Me".  In The New York Times Jewish Cookbook, edited by Linda Amster.  St. Martin's Press: New York, 2003.


Stradley, Linda.  "New York Egg Cream - How To Make An Egg Cream".  Published on What's Cooking America (WhatsCookingAmerica.net) 2004.  Copyright 2004, 2012 What's Cooking America.  All rights reserved.


Suddath, Claire.  "A Brief History of Buffalo Wings".  Published on the Time Magazine website (Time.com), September 3, 2009.


Sussman, Lance J.  "Jewish History Resources: New York Jewish History".  Posted on the New York State Archives website, date unknown.  Copyright 2012 New York State Archives.  All rights reserved.

Stallworth, Lyn, and Rod Kennedy Jr. The Brooklyn Cookbook.  From the Knopf Cooks American series.  Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 1991. 


Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "New York" and "Demographics of New York City" pages and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "New York".

Snacking State-by-State: New York II - "Murgh" is the word!

The New York Metropolitan Area has the nation's largest South Asian American population, comprised of over 550,000 persons of Indian ancestry.  It goes without saying that New York City is a center of South Asian cuisines in New York State.  I've had some excellent Indian food at the acclaimed Jackson Diner in Queens, for example.  The Jackson Diner is just one of many in a long tradition of Indian restaurants in New York, which was (likely) home to the country's very first.

Official Name: State of New York
State Nicknames: The Empire State
Admission to the US: July 26, 1788 (#11)
Capital: Albany (6th largest)
Other Important Cities: New York City (largest in the state, largest in the nation!), Buffalo (2nd largest), Rochester (3rd largest), Syracuse (5th largest) 
Region: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic; Mid-Atlantic (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Maple Syrup; Wild Rice; Clambake
Bordered by: Québec (Canada) (north), Lake Ontario (northwest), Ontario (Canada) & Lake Erie (west), Pennsylvania (south and southwest), New Jersey (south), Connecticut & Long Island Sound (southeast), Massachusetts & Vermont (east)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: apple (fruit), milk (beverage), sugar maple (tree - for the maple syrup), rose (flower - they are edible, you know), trout (fish), apple muffin (muffin), bay scallop (shell), beaver (mammal, though outside of "Bizarre Foods" you won't see many people eating these)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: In New York City, anything and everything - it is one of the most multicultural and diverse cities in the United States, and is a culinary capital of the nation; typical NYC foods include: Waldorf salad, bagels & bialys, corned beef and pastrami, chocolate egg creams, hot dogs, New York pizza, General Tso's chicken, Baked Alaska (invented in New York City), and so on; New York cheesecake; "garbage plate" (Rochester only); Buffalo wings (Buffalo of course); apples and maple syrup, and of course, more apples

Immigration from South Asia was a trickle before 1924, when the Johnson-Reed Act reduced immigration from the Indian Subcontinent (not to be righted until the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act).  But even before 1924, there were Indians in the largest metropolises of America, and a very small number of restaurants.  Both Chicago and New York City lay claim to some of the earliest Indian restaurants in the United States.  As Anita Mannur notes in the South Asian American Digital Archive, one of the first Indian restaurants in the United States was Manhattan's Taj Mahal Hindu Restaurant.

An advertisement for the restaurant appears in the pages of the February 1920 issue of Young India dating the restaurant to a few years earlier, while a search through the archives of the New York Times leads [historian] Vivek Bald to note that near boarding houses which were home to South Asian laborers—dock workers, restaurant workers, factory workers—that were located on Eight Avenue were a smattering of South Asian restaurants. Bald notes that only four blocks to the west of the Eight Avenue Boarding house were, “two of the first Indian restaurants in the city, which were four blocks south: the Ceylon Restaurant (est. 1913) on Eighth Avenue at Forty-Third Street and the Taj Mahal Hindu Restaurant (est. 1918) on Forty-Third Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, as well as to the Ceylon India Inn, an expansion of the Eighth Avenue Ceylon which was opened in 1923 nearby on West Forty-Ninth Street” (67). [Mannur 2011]

From there Indian cuisine (and South Asian cuisine in general) have become more and more a part of the American food landscape, as have Chinese, Italian, Jewish, Mexican and Japanese before it.  Today famous Indian-American chefs like Manhattan-based chef and actress Madhur Jaffrey and Brooklyn-based chef and cooking school proprietor Julie Sahni are influencing home cooks all across the country.  Jaffrey's cookbooks are famous, and my sister has one or two of hers on her kitchen cookbook shelf.  I have a well-worn copy of Julie Sahni's Moghul Microwave, a cookbook in which the author utilizes the microwave as a handy tool for making Indian food today.  Just from Sahni's microwave cookbook I've attempted everything from basmati rice (don't let it boil over) to potato and peas vindaloo to ready made ghee in just seven minutes (also useful for making the Ethiopian spiced ghee known as nitter kibbeh, as I noted in a past State-by-State post on the District of Columbia).  I was going to make yet another helping of potato and peas vindaloo, but two things stopped me: one, I have already written about that (a few years ago, but still), and two, I want to try something different.  This time, I sought out Sahni's now classic cookbook Classic Indian Cooking to attempt one of my all-time favorite Indian dishes, murgh makhani (or makhani murghi) - that is, butter chicken.  As she notes.

This chicken preparation is a classic example of the true flair and skill of Indian cooks.  In this dish, Mahkani (meaning "buttered," or "in butter") and Murgh (meaning chicken, and referring in this context to the leftover day-old tandoori chicken pieces) are combined.  They are simmered in cumin scented butter and a creamy rich tomato sauce and become a delicacy craved far more than tandoori chicken. [Sahni 1980:225-226]

She also points out that if you don't have any tandoori chicken just lying around, you will need to take the extra step of making tandoori chicken.  So guess what I did?  Yup - in order to make makhani murghi, I first had to make tandoori chicken.  Yes, this is going to take a while.


The Recipe: Makhani Murghi (Butter Chicken)

First, the tandoori chicken, the recipe for which is in Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking pages 221-225.  I halved her recipe.

The Recipe: Tandoori Chicken

* chicken (Sahni calls for 3 whole chickens, about 2 lbs each, cut into pieces.  I cheated and bought 3 lbs of chicken drumsticks and thighs.  I thought about buying Cornish game hens, but the chicken parts were cheaper.  I bought it for about I got it on sale for about $1.99 per lb at Wegman's)

* lemon (had a few)

* meat tenderizer (I had none of this on hand, and didn't know it would be so pricey.  A few ounces will run between $3.50 and $4.50)

For the marinade you will need:

* yogurt (I forgot to put this in the photo, but had it on hand.  I used a small container of plain Greek yogurt, bought for 85¢ at Wegman's)

* ginger (bought a few ounces for about $1 at the 7 Mile Market while shopping for matzah meal for the previous post)

* garlic (had it)

* paprika (had it too but I'm running out.  Oh, need to stock up on smoked paprika while I'm at it)

* cardamom (I had it on hand.  Still fragrant but it's getting old.  Will need to replenish it soon).

* red pepper and cumin (had both)

And finally,

* ghee (for brushing on the marinated chicken before cooking.  Had none on hand, but no problem here!  Just follow Julie Sahni's recipe for quick microwave ghee - a stick of butter, uncovered in the microwave for 90 seconds, then covered, oh for the love of God covered! for 5 minutes or until the sputtering stops, and then strained into a fine cheesecloth to get rid of the burned bits.  Yields about 1/4 cup.  Smells awesome.)

Strip the skin off the chicken pieces.  Here's a Heloise-ish hint: using a paper towel to pull it off makes it come off much more easily.

Prick the chicken with a fork all over, and cut gashes into the flesh about an inch apart.

Throw the chicken into a bowl, and cover it with the meat tenderizer and lemon juice.  Rub this into the gashes in the chicken flesh.

Now you're ready for the marinade.

Throw the components into a blender or food processor.

After a minute or so you get this.  It's not terribly easy to get out of the blender.  I hate that.

Dump the marinade over the chicken, and work it all around until the chicken is completely covered.

Put the chicken in a large Ziploc bag and let marinate, either on the counter (!) for four hours or in the fridge overnight.  Sahni strongly suggests you marinate it for no more than two days, lest the meat tenderizer cause the chicken to become "soft and doughy".  Ick.

Prep the oven.  In retrospect, I didn't need to cover the bottom rack with aluminum foil.  The chicken drippings all drips into a dish after all.

Sahni gives three options for the home cook that doesn't have a tandoor conveniently located on their property: grilling, broiling and cooking in the oven.  The last option seemed the easiest - no constant basting, and it will stay moist.  Turn your oven up to around 500 to 550° - as hot as you can get it without actually turning on the broiler (a tandoor regularly gets up to about 800 to 900°.  You can see why that's not going to happen).

And yes, I need to wipe down the outside of my oven,.  Shut up.

Here is the dish I mentioned earlier.  Preferably you will put the tandoori chicken on a rack, but not all of mine would fit on top.

Brush the raw chicken with ghee.  I was worried I would have too much.  I had just enough.

Put the chicken in the oven and roast for half an hour.

Since I didn't use food coloring or tandoori coloring, my chicken didn't turn out red.  Fine with me since it'll be covered in a delicious orange sauce very soon.

By itself, the tandoori chicken is perhaps the softest, juiciest tandoori chicken I have had in ages.  Like spaghetti, I've become tired of the tandoori chicken I find locally, opting for other dishes.  I could get used to tandoori chicken again with this recipe.

Now you have some tandoori chicken.  It's time to makhani-ize it.


The recipe: The Actual Butter Chicken

In addition to the tandoori chicken, most of which made it into this recipe (I was hungry, alright?), you will need a few more things (recipe follows the tandoori chicken recipe in Sahni's book, pages 225-227.  I did the whole recipe, and plan to save the leftover sauce for the next time I make this)
:

Before I list the rest of the ingredients, I need to point out one thing I forgot to put in the photo: cilantro.  You need a lot of this, firmly packed and chopped.  The fresh cilantro is part of what makes the makhani murghi taste the way it does.  Make sure you buy some. Also note: I put garlic in the photo, but you won't need any in this recipe.  My bad!

* canned tomatoes (I bought Cento brand for $3.70.  You can go ahead and splurge on San Marzanos, but please note: most brands of canned tomato that I found are flavored with basil.  Search for one that is basil-free.  This can of Italian-style tomatoes were, in fact, free of basil.  Don't get me wrong: I love basil, but not when I'm making butter chicken).
* heavy cream (more than I bought - get yourself a pint for the full recipe of sauce.  You'll need most of it)
* butter (about a stick and a quarter)
* ginger (fresh)
* chile peppers (a few that I grew, from the freezer)
* salt, cumin and paprika (have them all)
* And you will need the following to make garam masala, which will probably taste better than the store-bought premade version: whole black pepper, cloves, cumin (not a few teaspoons either - about 1/4 cup for half a recipe.  You will need A LOT), coriander (same thing: you need about a quarter cup of this.  Again, A LOT), cinnamon and cardamom.  Exact amounts in Sahni's cookbook, page 38.  She says you can halve the recipe, but I probably should have quartered it.  I need more cumin now.)

Make your garam masala if you don't already have any.

Ta-da!

Put your tomatoes, ginger and chiles into your blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Next, melt a stick of sweet butter in a large pan (my 12" cast iron skillet in this case.  Coat the bottom.

Sear the tandoori chicken for a few minutes in the hot butter.

About 2 minutes total.

Take out the chicken and set aside, and quickly stir in some ground cumin and paprika for a few seconds.

Pour in your tomato mixture slowly.

Note, it will splatter even when you pour it slowly.  So the slower the better.

Stir the mixture for about 5 mintues.

Pour in and stir your cream

And next, put in the chicken.

This from the pan in which I made the tandoori chicken.  It's tandoori schmaltz!  Yes, I had my fork out.

Add the rest of the butter and a few teaspoons of garam masala.

Cook for about half an hour, uncovered.

Before serving, stir in your chopped cilantro.

I've eaten a lot of butter chicken over the past few years.  I love the stuff.  This is as satisfying as any I've had in a sit-down restaurant, but with the sheer satisfaction of making this deliciousness myself.  It's so buttery and silky, with the strong cilantro taste at the very end.  Serve this with basmati rice and maybe some fried onions and naan (note: pick up some naan).  Now if only Julie Sahni had a microwave recipe for this...

Sources:


Anchor Bar.  "The Original Buffalo Wings Story".  Published 2008.  Copyright 2008 The Anchor Bar.  All rights reserved.


Beekman 1802 (Josh Kilmer-Purcell & Brent Ridge).  "December 12" (Maureen Lodes' Apple Cake).  Posted on the "Sharon Springs Heirloom Recipe Advent Calendar" page, Beekman 1802 website.  Copyright 2011, 2012 Beekman1802.com. All rights reserved.


Beekman 1802 (Josh Kilmer-Purcell & Brent Ridge).  "Sharon Springs Heirloom Recipe Advent Calendar" page, Beekman 1802 website.  Copyright 2011, 2012 Beekman1802.com. All rights reserved.


Bon Appétit.  "Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup".  Posted on the Epicurious website, December 1998.  Copyright 1998, 2012 Epicurious.  All rights reserved.  


Center for Jewish History.  "Jews In America: Our Story".  Copyright 2005 Center for Jewish History.  All rights reserved.


Mannur, Anita.  "Indian Food in the US: 1909-1921".  Published on the South Asian American Digital Archive website October 18, 2011.  Copyright 2008-2012, South Asian American Digital Archive.  All rights reserved.


Mitzewich, John.  "Authentic Anchor Bar Buffalo Chicken Wings".  Published on About.com, date unknown. Copyright 2012 About.com.  All rights reserved.

Roberts, Adam (Amateur Gourmet).  "Fall Out Of Fall With A Matzah Ball".  Posted November 21, 2006.  Copyright 2004-2012 Adam Roberts.  All rights reserved.


Sahni, Julie.  Classic Indian Cooking.  William Morrow & Company: New York, 1980.


Sheraton, Mimi.  "Introduction: A Table Before Me".  In The New York Times Jewish Cookbook, edited by Linda Amster.  St. Martin's Press: New York, 2003.


Stradley, Linda.  "New York Egg Cream - How To Make An Egg Cream".  Published on What's Cooking America (WhatsCookingAmerica.net) 2004.  Copyright 2004, 2012 What's Cooking America.  All rights reserved.


Suddath, Claire.  "A Brief History of Buffalo Wings".  Published on the Time Magazine website (Time.com), September 3, 2009.


Sussman, Lance J.  "Jewish History Resources: New York Jewish History".  Posted on the New York State Archives website, date unknown.  Copyright 2012 New York State Archives.  All rights reserved.

Stallworth, Lyn, and Rod Kennedy Jr. The Brooklyn Cookbook.  From the Knopf Cooks American series.  Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 1991. 


Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "New York" and "Demographics of New York City" pages and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "New York".