Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Bacon, Garlic, and Thyme Gougères | Duck Rillettes

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I saw the recipe for similar gougères a few days ago on the Cook's Illustrated website. I had some leftover Emmental from the Quiche Lorraine, my bacon, and thyme in my garden; now was the time to finally try pâte a choux. Back in June, Michael Ruhlman had posted about taking some cheese puffs to a friend’s house and eating them with leftover duck confit. I didn’t think ahead to make duck confit, but while I was at one of my favorite grocery stores – Calandro’s – buying the flour, right there in the charcuterie area was canned duck confit. Not quite inventing the universe; but, sometimes, instant gratification is very satisfying. I decided to use the Cook’s Illustrated flavorings with Ruhlman’s Ratio. I watched Jacques Pépin make the choux paste on his The Complete Pépin: Techniques and Recipes DVD for a confidence boost (he uses half the butter compared to Ratio, hmmm).

 

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My bacon, thyme, and the rest of the Emmental.

 

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Minced thyme and garlic cloves.

 

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Diced bacon and minced garlic, draining.

 

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Replaced some of the unsalted butter with bacon grease.

 

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The choux paste. I used buttermilk (had some in the fridge) rather than milk.

 

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I didn’t want to clean my pastry bag after this sticky paste, so I used the baggie trick.

 

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Ready to bake. My piping skills aren’t so good.

 

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Coming out of the oven.

 

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Warming the duck legs.

 

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Lovely duck fat and gelatin (duck goo) in the bottom of the can. After shredding some of the leg meat to serve on the gougères, I made Duck Rillettes (adapted from Kevin Weeks’ – adapted from Charcuterie). I just tried to get the proportions right for the goo and fat to the amount of duck leg meat left and processed it.

 

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Served beans from our garden on the side.

 

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The shredded confit was lovely, but I like the rillettes. For some reason I find it amusing that it looks like devilled ham.

 

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