One duck, three meals

[muckefuck]

The cassoulet is getting meagre (and just at a time when it's finally turning into cassoulet weather!) so monshu suggested we order in for Sunday dinner. Then I had an inspiration: Why don't I skip down to Sun Wah for some barbecued duck? Pick up some pot stickers and greens on the way back and you're talking a fine meal.

We used to eat like this more often before we got so deplorably health-conscious, but we're still living in the indulgent shadow of the holidays right now. I sprung for the pipa duck, since they don't always have it in stock when I go. A sign on the inner door advertised their special vegetable as "Tong Ho" (in Chinese, 唐蒿), which said nothing to me, so I asked. "It's crown daisy," the young woman told me, "we had to look up the English name because none of us knew what it was." She described it as "slightly astringent". "More bitter than you choy?" I asked. "Yeah...when I was little I didn't like it, but we tried some of it with dinner last night and it's good."

I was intrigued, but I was worried it would go limp in the couple of hours before dinnertime and picked up some gai lan at Golden Pacific instead. I noticed that they also had bags of "Tong Ho", which I hadn't remember seeing before; I considered buying one, but I was tired and didn't want to deal with finding the best way to cook a strange vegetable. Only it wasn't so strange--it fact, it looked like edible chrysanthemum. Even with a more pedestrian greens, the resulting meal was fine (the pot stickers stuck too much, however), but there was enough duck left over that monshu begged me to take some home.

I did, and the next night used it to make some decadent chow mein: First, I removed the skin, chopped it coarsely, and fried it to render most of the fat. I poured off the bulk, spread the crispy bits of crackling to dry, and added some vegetable oil. After sautéeing the garlic in this, I added diced reconstituted cloud ears (an unfamiliar brand that had frightened me when I'd taken them out of the bag--so black and musty I was worried they'd overwhelm everything--but soaking and boiling tamed them nicely), then the duck pieces and some Korean acorn-flour noodles I'd boiled with the mushrooms.

After that was out, I quickly wilted some Chinese chives I had originally bought for cooking with you choy, but which ended up sprinkled on the noodles instead. Then more garlic and the greens, which would've constituted a dish of their own if I hadn't suddenly gotten lazy and simply thrown them in the bowl with everything else, bibimbap style. Finally, the touch of decadence: Crumbling some of the duck crackling on top. As snowy_owlet would say, "MUY YUM!" That's what I love about cooking with duck: Your problem isn't How do I get some flavour into this pale, bland meat? but What do I do about all this tasty, tasty oil? I love those acorn noodles, for instance, but I have to be careful what I pair them with so they don't overpower it; not a problem with Sun Wah pipa.

This morning, monshu e-mailed, saying we should order some sides from Mei Shung to extend the duck. I said I'd just bring over the rest of the you choy from my place, but ran short on time and ended up swinging past Golden Pacific again since it's right near the El. This time, I was determined to get some 唐蒿 (or 茼蒿, as I'd seen it spelled at the grocery I'd popped into the night before). Wouldn't you know it, they were out! So, instead, I fell back on our old standby of baby bok choy. Thinking this wasn't enough, I went to Sabadie next door to look for a side. When I told the owner about the duck, he told me he'd modify the chicken soup they sold to make it duck-friendly, which he did by putting in a ladelful of the mysterious black sauce his tofu floats in. "You'll be back for this again," he told me.

He's right of course; we loved it. monshu must've been a little bored waiting for me, since not only did he prepared three different dipping sauces for the meat, but he also prepared ginger soba--a huge amount of ginger soba. Know what I love about too much soba? Yakisoba the next day! Oh, and I finally looked up the mystery herb: Sure enough, crown daisy = edible chrysanthemum. Unfortunately, I prepared this for monshu once before and he hated it, but that was as a salad. I'm hopeful that stir-frying it might reveal a different side of it all together. If not--well, that's what delivery is for.

Comments

[gasterea.livejournal.com]

That was one fabulous read. You've actually surpassed yourself :-)
Now I have such a longing to try chrysanthemum immediately, alas, not too feasible in the middle of the night.
And I somehow always imagined that it is fried as a kind of tempura. Obviously wrong cuisine.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

So kind of you to say so. I had second thoughts about posting this when I thought about how banal it must seem to professionals like foodpoisoningsf and that_dang_otter, but then I reminded myself that this is what I was doing in my journal well before they'd ever come across it.

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

man, that sounds good. I used to experiment a lot in the kitchen, trying out new combinations, hunting for traditional recipes that would surprise me.

Then I had kids. Now I cook about four things on rotation, one of which my son will eat.

[tyrannio.livejournal.com]

I like to put chrysanthemum in soups.