I was reminded that my favorite hot dog place in the entire country, Hot Doug's on Chicago's Northside (they call themselves an "emporium of encased meats") has a thing they call "Duck Fat Friday". They cook their fries in duck fat! Outrageously delicious.
Add to non beef or non seafood soups, and cooked dry beans (pinto, white, etc), multigrain pilafs (a few spoons), risotto,roasted smashed baby potatoes, hash,in place of mayo on some sandwiches, haricots verts, roasted veggies.soft scrambled eggs, grits and polenta.
Hopefully you also preserved the duck's liver? Take 3tbs of duck fat, saute 1 shallot with some thyme, add duck liver cut into 4 pieces and cook til no longer pink. Transfer contents to blender, add 1 tsp Cognac and whir to a puree. Eat on toast.
This will sound crazy, but a few years ago I was at a small restaurant in western Ukraine and we asked for some bread and butter to start our meal. The bread came with a pot of what looked like lard. It was, and loaded with chopped garlic. You spread it on the bread and have (cold) garlic bread. We ate the whole thing ! It makes me wonder about taking some duck fat from the fridge (still hard) and putting some garlic in it, spread on baguette slices and eat cold, or toast and have warm. Crazy ? Probably - but delicious.
Lucky you. I've been on a duck binge lately. Excellent for sautes as in the potatoes mentioned above. You can also use it to confit other duck parts like legs.
Oh, you can use it for anything! Warm salad dressings (simple vinagrettes), rubbed under and on chicken skin before roasting, or - my favorite- as the replacement for 1/2 the fat in savory pastry. Delicious!
12 Comments