Curry Chicken Brown Rice and a pineapple, pepper, salsa/relish



Came out awesome. Stole and modified the recipe from a cuisine at home book/magazine.

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Went shopping in the freezer and pulled out 2 "eh" duck breasts I had in there. Usually I'd just render them in a pan all crispy and mid-rare, but these cuts were not very good quality. So, I figured I'd mask them in a flavorful marinade.

Duck satay's in a orange ginger marinade and a marinade+cashew sauce, some jasmine rice and a pork bun.

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Been too busy worrying about loosing my job to really worry about anything else as of late. Went to NYC before x-mas, that was nice...and went to LA after new years for work...that was nice because of the weather, but mainly spent time in the office. As far as motorcycles are concerned, I've passed on racing in the Sandblast rally this year, my head just isn't in it. I might go down to help out and talk shit, but won't be racing.

I have tons of pictures, I may update this post, or heck, just go check out my smugmug here http://rtimko.smugmug.com and poke around in Holidays, Food, and Vacations and Trips.

Cooking wise, I have been at it, and more-so in 2009. It was my 2008 resolution, and I think I made it. Another was to get on a better budget to track my money better, I think I did that as well. Another was to eat seafood. I fulfilled that pretty early, my goal was to be able to order a meal from the seafood section of the menu and I did...I'm still training my palate, but I'm 500% better now.

2009 resolutions:
Be better with peoples names
Explore photography more
Get a second "job" to keep my head straight
Be (more) social
Get married! haha.

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http://restaurantguyschocolate.com/

I believe you can even get a free sample....

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In case you haven't gotten me anything yet

1. CIA (culinary institute) bootcamp (and subsequent time off work)
2. All expense paid and subsequent reservations to El Bulli
3. A new pen
4. Handcrafted, hand tooled, leather portfolio, not black.
5. Limo to take me to the city for a nice shave (art of shaving perhaps)
6. Unlimited bar/food tab at Catherine Lombardi or Nicholas
7. To see the movie "The Wrestler" at home, and not travel to NYC to see it
8. A day at the shooting range shooting different guns, I've never shot a gun, would be neat.
9. Left side of my living room furnished
10. Shelves for my kitchen wine rack area...made from 100+yr old wood
11. A nice fresh Kobe steak prepared
12. Socks/underwear/white alfani v-necks,
13. A comfortable (but not expensive)bathrobe so I can spill stuff on and not feel bad about it and pretend to be The Big Lebowski
14. Someone to torrent the entire Velvet Underground library for me and put it on my phone.
15. nice (hand crafted, tooled) leather "wallet" flip up type case for my iPhone, the perfect, slim, design...probably the most impossible gift on this list.
16. The mis-matched color of my rear passenger side door "repair" ...re-repaired
17. my basement organized with some racks/shelves
18. basement painted (ceiling AND floor too)
19. Nikkor Zoom Super Wide Angle AF 17-55mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Autofocus Lens for Digital Cameras or Tokina Zoom Super Wide Angle 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens for Nikon Digital
20. A stunt driving, drag racing, or rally racing class or just a day that I can drive a car like an asshole on a closed course.
21. Someone to paint my garage (walls and floor)
22. An attorney or someone else to have power of attorney so I will never have to go to the DMV ever again. for anything. at all. ever.
23. A nice new watch

24. Job security.

25. A job to keep me from going stir crazy one or two nights a week...restaurant, bar, something.
26. Oil change for my car
27. Kitchen-aide pro 600 mixer
28. NICE pressure cooker
29. old seasoned cast iron. not the new lodge shit


I'll think of some more later...

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...of duck confit, and a new foodsaver.

Crisped up the duck confit that I made over Thanksgiving, and made some risotto with the duck stock I had from the process...best. comfort. food. ever.


Used the foodsaver and the free supermarket butterball to sous-vide a leg with some duck fat, herbs, and butter....amazing.

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Here are some of my pics from my Eric Ripert Cocktail Party..



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Everything turned out great but my aioli...but I'm going to give it another try.

The menu was:

Seared Beef Lettuce Rolls
Mediterranean Platter with Hummus, Roasted Pepper-Walnut Spread and Zaatar Chorizo Stuffed Shrimp
Portobello "Fries" Truffled Aioli
Spicy Parmesan Cheese Straws
Deviled Eggs with Smoked Salmon

Cocktails:
Spiced Apple Cider
Cranberry-Champagne Cocktail
Ginger-Lemon Smash

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We also made a time-lapse video of us putting up the tree (with some antics thrown in!) It's just as long as the song...so might be boring for you, but at least it's a great christmas song!


Christmas Extravaganza 2008 from Robert Timko on Vimeo.

Click the "read more" for some more pictures...

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And god-bless the new food saver!

24$ for 7 filets, a roast, and a nice scrap to use for apps.


Sure, it's not USDA prime or Wagyu, but at 3$ a steak, you can put it between 2 pieces of wonderbread and not feel guilty!

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Click the read more...


For part 1, click here...


Take the duck legs out of the salt...

and what we did was vaccum seal 2 at a time in a bag with a couple of big spoonfuls of rendered duck fat (from the fridge). It was MUCH easier to do it while the fat was cold...it doesn't matter where/how the fat is because when you throw it into a pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil, everything magically works out how you want it....so do that, and then put in a 180 oven, covered, in the pot. (kinda like sou-vide)




pull em out after 7 hours or so, and take the bags and put them in an ice bath to cool and throw them in the fridge for a week.

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Today is repeal day, the 75th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition in the US....go out. It's about as important as the 4th of July.

Second, I went to Burger King yesterday for lunch (I know, what can I say, I love me a whopper) and they had "soft drink pairings" on the wall. It creeped me out.

Third, the place was FILLED with old people...did old people just give up cooking?

I had another thought yesterday I meant to post, but I forgot it.

Oh yeah, heading to LA on business 1/3-1/11...anyone want to take me out to drinks/dinner? (or recommend a few places?)

My Duck confit is in the fridge, for those anticipating it's final pictures...

Hey, check out this blog http://rookielibations.blogspot.com/, great cocktail blog from another NJer.

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I sure as shit wasn't waiting in line at Best Buy at 4am for a few bucks off a cheap electronic. Nope. Not me. SO...to prepare, I went to the Asian market and bought 3 ducks. (30$...cheap) I figured that would keep me busy today...and it did!


Click the read more....


Ok, so what exactly can you do with 3 ducks?

well, first....you can butcher them up into breasts, legs, wings, and carcasses/fat/skin/necks. No to toot my own horn, but I'm getting damn good at butchering up some poultry fast.





you throw 2 breasts in a pan with s&p. (cold pan, fat side down, low heat, to render the fat, then blast it high, and flip it for a second)



Make a pan sauce with balsamic, cherrys (in a can) and some red wine.

Serve it with a salad of arugula, spanish onion, walnuts with a balsamic vinaigrette and a pear.

take the other 4 breasts...and use your new Foodsaver/Vacuum sealer and make sure you label them.


Now, these cheapo asian market ducks could have used a trip to Orange county for some breast enhancement...but, such is life, still better than perdue yellow chicken.

Ok, so now what? Well, you HAVE to make confit......
fill up a something/anyting with a layer of salt...throw the legs and some herbs/spices in

(throw some thyme or/and rosemary in too (not pictured))

then cover completely to the top with salt...and either put a pan over it, and some #10 cans of tomatoes for you cats in the know...or do like me and put a lid on it, and weight it down with leftover something or other that was in the fridge already.


well, that was easy, but unfortunately, you can't touch them for 24 hours. BUT...you'll need some duck fat for the next step in confit, so.........take all the skin from the carcasses....the back skin, and ESPECIALLY the flaps around the neck, etc. ALL of it. Throw it a pot....on low, and render out all that fat for about 3 hours.




Strain that mutha.


Now...you can opt to make a duck fat milkshake like I contemplated doing, or just throw it in the fridge on top of the legs for tomorrow.

Ok, so now you have all this goodness that you strained out....what do you do with it? Throw it away? Sacrilege. Take the skin and put it on a pan in a 375 until crispy brown.


This dish is called....

"you have no idea what you're missing, but probably will when your arteries clog"

For more info on Duck Confit...http://freeculinaryschool.com/category/confit/ has a GREAT few articles and make sure you listen to Jacobs podcasts....very very helpful...and well....we share the same love for crispy duck skin.

so....NOW you're thinking...Phew...nothing left to do...oh...but you have carcasses...necks...wings...well. Throw them in a pot....cover with water....and bring to a simmer over low heat, throw some mirepoix and a sachet in and make some Duck STOCK!

Ok, I actually didn't take many pictures of this...Hey, I'm tired...and its only stock (but damn, made 8 quarts of duck stock....I thinking some risotto with duck stock topped with confit and a trip to the cardiologist is in order next week)


I always strain into a pot in the sink in an ice bath.


p.s. while you're waiting the ~5 hours for the stock and 3 hours of duck fat rendering, have a martini.


So that's it. Nothing else left on these here ducks but a bag of gizzards, and well, I'm not good enough to do something edible with them yet.....maybe next time.

To summarize. for 30$ and some salt and some cheap veggies we made....

an amazing Duck Breast dish...(with 4 more later in the freezer)
6 legs of confit
8 quarts of duck stock
1 buttload of cracklins
36oz of Duck fat

and best of all........you spent 0 dollars shopping....and probably had a far more relaxing day.

Stay tuned for part 2 of the duck confit.

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So, I had a left over mini-slab of pork-belly hidden in the freezer, and figured I'd give it a shot...



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For those who don't know what/who Momofuku's is.....well, it's the hippest most trendy, most foodie, most coolest, most awesomest, most delicious eateries in NYC. If you had to click the link to find out, you're probably not even cool enough to read the rest of this. As as matter of fact....don't...I've already made a reservation for you at Tavern on the Green.

Because this is comfort food, and well...I suck at baking/pastry...and I have an AWESOME Asian market...I bought the buns 10 for 2$...much better than me buying the ingredients that I didn't have only to screw it up. Read the number 3 instruction...




I had brined the pork belly the night before. Now...there is a reason I had a piece of pork belly in the freezer...because it was a shitty cut, and well, I figured I'd use it SOME day...I wish I had a better cut, but for experimentation, this was it.




2.5 hours with foil on, 20 minutes at 450 with it off...


then rest for 20-30 minutes, then chill, then slice...and if you have a good cut, NOT like mine, it will slice up nice.



Very simple, just hoison, cucumber, scallions, pork belly.






all I can say is...wow.


I'd almost match it up against a burger, and coming from me, that says a lot.

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