16 November 2012

Weekend cooking project

I'm starting today. I took the duck out of the freezer this morning (Friday), and it will thaw slowly in the refrigerator until Sunday morning. Then the work will begin.


Besides duck, the ingredients are pork, turkey, rabbit liver, mushrooms, eggs, shallots, spices, and white wine. It will be quite a production. Let's hope it all works out.


As you can see from the labels, I got a duck from the supermarket for 4.95 euros a kilo. That would be something like $3.00 a pound in U.S. terms. What a deal! This weekend's recipe will use only part of the duck; the rest will go into some other recipe. A canette, by the way, is a duckling. It's sold cleaned, with no giblets (PAC = prête à cuire = "ready to cook") except the neck. The duck weighs 1.772 kg, or almost four pounds.

21 comments:

  1. De quoi s'agit-il? D'un pâté en croûte? Or is it just plain duck pâté? Or some kind of duck sausage?

    ReplyDelete
  2. We saw canette on the menu one day and asked what it was. The owner, who likes to try his English on us, thought a moment and said that canette is "wife of the duck," which we all got a kick out of.

    Should he have said "child of the duck"?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pâté? or chm's other idea of some kind of sausage!? Either one is quite adventuresome! (wait, or is it adventurous? In any case, it will be quite an adventure!)
    Judy

    ReplyDelete
  4. The hen duck is the cane, the male being the canard. The little one is the canette.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wonder what you are making?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Est-ce que ce sera une terrine au canard?

    Have fun in the kitchen - here it was -1c this morning and now it is 1 C.

    Have a nice WE

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was watching "professional Masterchef" on the telly this week and one of the technical tests was to prepare a duck for confit and the crown for roasting.....most of them made a real pig's ear of it - I'm sure you would have done better !!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Je dirais qu'il s'agit de soit une terrine de canard forestière, soit un canard à la royale (désossé, farci, et ficelé comme un rôti). Avec l'une ou l'autre des recettes, tu vas passer un bon moment dans la cuisine.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow! I am thinking my Thanksgiving turkey is sounding very humdrum.....

    ReplyDelete
  10. Looking forward to seeing what develops with all those ingredients. Nice price for the canette and glad you told me what that was.

    ReplyDelete
  11. We like duck....a lot. It has only been recently that we could find it locally.

    ReplyDelete
  12. In my opinion, “canette” refers to a young female duck, just as “poulette” refers to a young female chicken. Ducklings would be either “canetons” [male and female] — just as “poussins” [male and female] for very young chickens —, or “canardeaux” [male and female] for older ones not quite adults. So "canette" would be, specifically, a female older duckling, or a female canardeau. French is so easy!

    ReplyDelete
  13. And some French people just love it that way, don't they?

    CHM, it's not a pâté en croûte, but it is a kind of pâté. Beaver and Dean found the answer — I'm not sure how (Dean, good googling?). It's a terrine de canard forestière. I'll make it tomorrow.

    Usually, for confit you would choose a canard gras. That's one that has been fattened to produce foie gras. I don't usually see canetons in the supermarket, but in fall there are canards gras and canettes for very good prices.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Jean recently took a terrine class and has made several; I'm sure she will make this one once you post your recipe and photos.
    Lately, we've been trying various recipes for pissaladière.
    (Je suis gâté...et de plus en plus empâté.)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ken

    I didn't google for the answer- it's when i saw pork and liver + eggs that i realized that it is going to be a terrine - something that I can't have or make but Yves buys them from the butcher for the holidays so that he can enjoy them with our guests. I partake the seafood that I make for the children in lieu.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Bonjour Cousine,

    Do I understand you make seafood with "lieu" included? LOL or MDR

    ReplyDelete
  17. CHM, bonjour, the Grand Robert dictionary says the term canardeau is rare. In cooking terms, is a caneton (duckling) really the equivalent of a poussin (chick)? I don't think anybody cooks and eats chicks, but they do eat ducklings. Caneton = coquelet, maybe, culinarily. The distinctions between caneton, canardeau and canette in French are lost in English: they are all just called "ducklings."

    ReplyDelete
  18. I don’t think there is anything smaller than caneton in French. Caneton is that small thing that climbs on its mother’s back at times! Canardeau, according to Robert is the size above caneton. But, until two days ago, I had never read or heard the word canardeau. As you say, the term is rare [no pun intended!].
    I think, culinarily speaking, you’re right to equal caneton to coquelet [and to canette].
    It would be interesting to know how old a caneton [forgetting the canardeau] has to be to be called a duck. IMHO in general terms caneton is male and female.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Re-bonjour Ken.
    Yes, I'd say a caneton is the equivalent of a poussin, unless poussin is also used in the Duck Family.
    Robert says poussin comes from:
    1389, poucin XIIe; pulcin "petit d'un oiseau", v. 1120; pop. lat. pullicinus, low latin pullicenus from pullus. See poule [hen].

    Again according to Petit Robert, caneton [petit du canard] is derived [XVIe] from canette. We are turning in circles! LOL

    Then canette = poussin! QED. RE-LOL

    ReplyDelete
  20. Ken, just now on "Des Chiffres et Des Lettres", the contestants were given the letters:
    "anacardes".
    The winning word was "canardés" ("terme inspiré des méthodes de chasse au canard sauvage").
    I couldn't help but think about your exchange with CHM!

    ReplyDelete

What's on your mind? Qu'avez-vous à me dire ?