food porn

[julesjones]

I did indeed buy duck legs, and start the preparation for confit this afternoon, according to the recipe kindly supplied by desperance here:
http://community.livejournal.com/foodanddrink/4293.html

Two slight hiccups, in that the legs in the New Castro Market this week are larger than the last time I experimented with confit, and thus will not fit in the same Pyrex dish as last time, and in that I forgot about the bay leaves. The latter is no real problem, but the former might be, as the quantity of stored duck fat assumed a particular cooking dish. There is a larger Corningware dish available -- we shall see on the morrow whether it matches both the quantity of duck legs and the quantity of duck fat.

Long term food preparation also happened, in that yesterday I planted the Siberia tomato in the pot on one side of the patio door, and today planted the Black From Tulsa tomato in the pot on the other side of the door. Both went in on a layer of banana skins at the bottom of the pot topped by only a thin layer of compost, so that I could bury the lower stems below the final surface of the compost. It will help them develop better root systems, a necessity in this climate where they need all the water-gathering capacity they can get even when well watered. I'm planning to put the Yellow Pear in the other patio pot, with the rest of the plants going in the bed in the front garden. There was a minor virus outbreak last week with yellow-mottled leaves, suspected vector being the Roma plum tomato bought a week or two after the rest, but the infected leaves were removed and all but the Roma are still looking healthy and vigorous. Several of the plants have put forth their first flower trusses in the last few days, although at this point they're still tightly in bud.

The pineapple sage is coming along nicely after winter, with a flush of flowers that's keeping the hummingbirds very happy, and enough fresh leaves for me to use occasionally. The grape vine has thoroughly broken bud, and various other things are poking up from the soil. It'll be a while before there's anything other than rosemary in great abundance, but I forsee lunch components straight from the garden in the near future...

Comments

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I recently made beef gravy from drippings, and decided I really shouldn't find duck fat odd. Will have to consider the confit recipe, though.

[julesjones]

Duck confit is very tasty, but it does use an awful lot of duck fat in the preparation, so unless you are prepared to acquire your own fat supply via roasting a duck or six, or to buy the fat, it's probably easier just to buy confit. But there's another discussion from my first try at it last year here:
http://julesjones.livejournal.com/82674.html

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Thanks, ;o)

[willa-writes.livejournal.com]

Food porn? Yes. Yes, indeedy. You made me want *duck fat*.

I'll content myself with some leftover sliced turkey...

[julesjones]

I use that phrase for a reason. :-)

desperance is even worse. Someone who makes a living by writing fiction, who is a foodie as well -- and who likes to talk about whatever he's been cooking...

[willa-writes.livejournal.com]

To my shame, I am not a foodie -- well, at least in the sense that I can't cook. At all. I have been known to screw up when warming things in the microwave. Often.

Do I appreciate good food well cooked? Absolutely.

It would be awfully nice to be a foodie... perhaps someday I'll get stern with myself and start learning.