RESEP MASAKAN ORIENTAL

Sorry for the delay, but if there's anything that deserves the “better late than never” tag, this duck fesenjan is it. A savory stew featuring duck, pomegranate, and walnuts, which is every bit as exotic as it sounds. Keep in mind, I’m brand-new to Persian food, so this is just my interpretation of the ancient classic. I’m assuming like most similar recipes, every household has their own version, and this kind of thing can be obviously, and easily be tailored to your tastes. The ingredients are simple and easy to manipulate. If you have trouble finding pomegranate syrup, or pomegranate molasses as it’s sometimes called, check out the online retailers, but you can actually make your own. If you want to try, check out this recipe from my friend Elise, from Simply Recipes. It takes an hour or so, but its usefulness goes far beyond this duck recipe. By the way, if you're not down with Simply Recipes , you really should be. Elise has an amazing collection of recipes.  Regarding t...

I first tasted pastrami-spiced, smoked duck breast about 15 years ago, and ever since I’ve wondered how it would be used in a classic Reuben sandwich. I never got around to actually trying it, but this is close, and I’m going to say, way, way better. This was one of the more delicious and interesting duck breast preparations I’ve had in a very long time. The pastrami spices are perfect with the duck meat, and the crisp, cheesy rye was a worthy base.   The quick slaw and mustard dressing helped balance the richness, and like I said in the video, the final results were stunning. The key here, as it is with any duck breast recipe, is to not overcooked meat. I like to go about five or six minutes on the skin side, until nice and crusty, and then turn it over and continue until the breast springs back under your touch. Obviously, the cooking times I mention in the video will depend on how large the breasts are. Mine were about 5 ounces, which I found to be the perfect size for this....

If you’ve worked in restaurants before, you know that every night before service the staff sits down to what’s called the “family meal.” One of the younger cooks is usually charged with scraping together something filling and, more importantly, not expensive. I t was during one of these meals that I first had adobo. When I worked at the Carnelian Room in the late 80’s, much of the kitchen crew was Filipino, so chicken and pork adobo was a very common dinner. One of the dishwashers made a particularly great version, and I fell in love with the bold, simple flavors. I also remember being pretty annoyed that the dishwashers there were better cooks than I was at the time, but that’s another story. Anyway, I happened to have some duck legs around last week, and all it took was a well-timed email wishing for adobo to inspire this video. I understand that most of you will not use duck for this, but if you do, be sure to save the fat. Duck fat is prized by chefs, and more heart-healthy than pe...

This video recipe produced for About.com is my take on a classic French sauce, the Gastrique. In its most basic form it’s simply a caramelized sugar and vinegar reduction. The modern Gastrique is usually a vinegar reduction combined with some type of fruit, either fresh, or in jams and preserves. The reason for the “Simple Complexity” in the title is the fact that this sauce is ridiculously easy to make, yet the number of potential combinations is virtually infinite. The complex layers of flavors that can be achieved by mixing and matching different fruits and vinegars is what makes this such a fun sauce to make and serve. You could use the exact same technique you’ll see in the video and make a new version every time you serve this for the rest of your life. By the way, if you have any smoked duck breast laying around, the combination of Black Currant preserves and aged Balsamic vinegar I used was perfect. Enjoy!

Duck rillettes is one of the most amazing culinary magic tricks of all time. Even though most of the spread is made up of fairly lean duck meat, by emulsifying in a little butter, duck fat, and duck gelatin, you’ll swear the final product has the fat content of the finest foie gras torchon. By the way, I miss foie gras torchon. The key here is to mash the large chunks of cold duck with the warm duck fat and gelatin. As the meat breaks down, the fat cools and turns the whole bowl into creamy duck spread heaven. Pack it in a crock, keep it sealed with a layer of fat, and you have an incredibly tasty snack that will last long into the winter months. Some chefs prefer to let the duck sit overnight with the rub on, and “potpourri” in, but I skip that step, and instead let the duck cool in it’s own juices after roasting, and then sit overnight in the fridge, to continue developing flavor. Once made, it can be enjoyed right away, but if you can hold off a few days, it will really come into it...

It’s not easy to pry gumbo-making secrets from a cook in New Orleans, but you should have better luck if you slip them some truth serum, in the form of several well-made sazeracs.  This particular gumbo, featuring duck, andouille sausage, smoked pork hock, gulf shrimp, and langoustine, was inspired by my recent trip to New Orleans, where I sampled a half-dozen varieties. One rye whiskey-induced tip was to cook the famous Cajun roux in some duck fat instead of the more common and mundane vegetable oil. The roux is the soul of the gumbo and one of the challenges of this recipe is giving the fat and flour enough time to turn into that deep brick red-brown color. My little trick here is to add a couple extra spoons of flour after the roux is browned. The dark roux gives the gumbo its signature flavor, but it doesn’t have much thickening power. I just cooked it a couple minutes, and then stirred in the stock. Another tweak is using pickled okra instead of fresh or frozen. This particula...

This cherry sauce recipe tastes like it requires many steps, and a fair amount of time and finesse. As you'll see, this is not the case. This may be the simplest wine sauce recipe there is. A decent red wine, a jar of tart cherry preserves, and in about ten minutes you have a truly delicious sauce. I used it on duck confit , but it would be perfect for turkey, chicken, game hens, pheasant, venison, and ham. This video recipe was inspired by a sample of Braswell's Select Tart Cherry Preserves I received. I'm not a big jam-on-toast guy, but I LOVE to cook with fruit preserves, especially in sauces. This tart cherry preserves has a bit of sherry wine in it, and a very intense cherry flavor. I liked it so much, I've linked to their website in case you would like to check them out. I also tried their fig preserves, and a very interesting balsamic onion jam. I'm not sure if these new flavors are available on the site yet, but you can contact them for more info. Enjoy! ...

This video recipe was filmed over a year ago (with a webcam duct-taped to a spice rack), and was never posted here due to what I thought was a corrupted file (and no back-up). I won’t bore you with the technical details (which means I'm not sure how I did it), but I was able to extract the video and do a new voice-over. Unfortunately, there were no photos of the dish, which explains the screen shot, with watercolor filter applied, seen here. As I say in the video, duck legs are such great meat. They are cheap, rich tasting, easy to work with, and if you do some research, you'll learn that duck fat is actually not such a bad thing. I doubt your local grocery store sells them - instead you'll find whole frozen ducks, which will work in a pinch. But, if you call a meat market, or restaurant supplier, they can easily order a box of frozen duck legs for you. I get mine at a local SF meat wholesaler for about $3 a pound. They really are delicious, and well worth the trouble searc...

I'm just guessing, but I bet there's some old French kitchen expression that roughly translates to, "Hey, it has crispy, fried duck skin crumbled over the top, how bad can it be?" This video recipe for duck fat homefries is perfect when you find yourself in possession of this highly coveted ingredient. The recipe is the easy part, finding duck skin is a little more challenging. The easiest method of attainment is to know a duck hunter. They can hook you up faster than you can say, "Nice Elmer Fudd hat." If that's not an option, try and make friends with line cooks who work at restaurants that serve duck. They can make it happen, and it will probably only cost you a couple draft beers. Finally, you can go to a butcher that sells whole ducks, and have him break one down for you. Tell them you'd like two nicely trimmed breasts, two leg quarters, and all the excess skin from the rest of the carcass. They will smile knowingly, and say no problem (for extr...

Foodbuzz, the Internet's largest social network for foodies, celebrated their one- millionth post by treating their featured publishers and other associates to a d e licio us Tuesday night of wine and food pairings at the beautiful Press Club in San Francisco. You've heard me si ng the pr aise s o f Foodbuzz before, and deservedly so. Ryan Stern (the Director of Publishing, pictured below wi t h Nate Perry-Thistle, Director of Tech), and the rest of the F.B. team have provided valuable support for what I do here on Foodwishes. I co uldn’t be happier for their success and really appreciate the way they paid tribute to their food blogging partners. As I sipped and nib bled my way around the softly lit, subterranean wine bar, I felt that vibe a room gets when everyone is thinking happy thoughts and feeling appreciated. Of course, the 16 tastes of wine poured, and the fab ulous plates of "small bites" provide by Michael Mina may have contributed to this "vibe,...

Cooking duck is surprisingly easy if you give up on the idea of cooking it whole. Sure that whole duck a l'orange looks nice on the magazine cover (except for that damn curly parsley), and your cookbooks are filled with seemingly simple roast duck recipes, but if you follow the technique shown here, you'll be enjoying duck at it's absolute best. In the kitchen, a duck's breast and leg could not be more different. The legs need long, slow cooking to tenderize the succulent meat, while the breasts beg to be quickly pan-seared to a juicy pink. If you roast the duck whole, the best you can hope for is one of the two pieces to be okay, but usually what you get is a too-done breast and under-cooked leg. By the way, the sauce you'll see in the clip is a Black Currant and Balsamic Gastrique , and you can see how to make that recipe here . I did this video for About.com a long time ago, but it just recently aired. I'll remind you again that I'm no longer able to emb...

You know a potato side dish is going to be good when 75% of the name refers to fat or meat. These super-crusty, oven-fried potato wedges, or “steak fries” as they call them where I’m from, are done with rendered duck fat, and while I’m a big fan of ones done with olive oil and/or butter, these really are better. Not only does this fat help create a great texture, but it also adds a layer of richness and meatiness to the potatoes that’s nothing short of magical. Back in the day, you had to work or eat in a restaurant that served duck to enjoy this special treat, but happily, those days are over. Thanks to evangelizing celebrity chefs and apparently smarter marketing people in the duck industry, this rendered fat is now pretty easy to find. My neighborhood Whole Foods stocks it, and I’ve seen it at many of the higher-end grocery stores. By the way, if you’re concerned about that next cholesterol test, relax; duck fat is surprisingly healthy, and a quick Google search should explain why ...

I don’t think I’ve made Duck “a l'Orange” since culinary school, nor tried to pronounce it, but thanks to a rather enticing photo in a friend’s cookbook, I decided to go full culinary time machine, and I’m so glad I did. That friend would be award-winning food blogger and author, Hank Shaw. He’s recently published a cookbook called Duck, Duck, Goose: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Waterfowl, Both Farmed and Wild , which was the inspiration for this gorgeous, and very easy dish. Still looking for a sexy Valentine’s entrée? You could do a lot worse. This is one of those classic dishes that somehow became a cliché, and people stopped making it for fear of looking un-cool, which is too bad, since it’s really good. This is traditionally done with a whole roasted duck, but by using breasts we get pretty much the same results, in a lot less time. My version is very close to Hank’s, except I don’t use orange juice. I prefer the flavor of the sauce with just marmalade, zest, and Grand Mar...

In part one of this lesson, we prepped and roasted the duck. In this second part you’ll see how we finish this dish. You’ll also learn how to do a simple fruit-based pan sauce that’s a winner with any type of game. It’s simply equal parts berry jam, vinegar and water. You’ll be amazed how this basic 3-part formula comes together to create such a delicious and versatile sauce!

Duck Confit is one of the World’s great culinary experiences. “Confit” is an ancient French technique of cooking and preserving meat in its own fat. What makes this so irresistible is the combination of the soft, succulent, fragrant meat encased in the impossibly crispy and crunchy skin. Traditionally this takes days to make. The duck legs are rubbed with salt and herbs and pressed overnight. Then the legs are covered with gallons of rendered duck fat and slowly roasted for hours. Finally the legs are crisped-up in a hot oven and serve with some type of tangy fruit-based sauce. The two part version you are about to watch is specially designed for the home Chef. While not exactly the “classic” method, the results are still AMAZING and must be tried!! In part one we prep and slow-roast the legs. They are cooked in a low oven, 225 degrees F., for 2 1/2 hours. After cooling to room temp., they are kept in the frige overnight. Check for part 2 and see this great dish finished.

With all the rich and decadent football party food I’ve been sharing lately, I’d thought I’d take a little break, and post a nice, simple green vegetable side dish. Of course, these beautiful roasted Brussels sprouts were just a prop so I could demonstrate using leftover duck fat, but still. If you watch any amount of celebrity chef TV, you’ve undoubtedly heard them going off on the virtues of duck fat. They mostly pontificate on its deep, palate-coating richness, which is true; but they also like to point out the health benefits. That part is a little cloudy…you know, like saturated fat when it cools down. Duck fat does have much less saturated fat than butter, and is higher in oleic acid, the stuff that makes olive oil so popular with the healthy eating gurus, but make no mistake, this is still an animal fat, and should be used in moderation. The good news: “in moderation” totally works ! A few tablespoons and a very hot oven is all you need to turn some sleepy vegetables into so...

I have several unpublished blog posts about my picks of the world's all-time top-ten recipes. The reason none have gone live yet is I can never settle on just ten, so I put it away and write something easier. While I may not be able to provide a final list yet, one recipe that will always be in my top ten is cassoulet. This video recipe for cassoulet shows my version of the iconic French classic (it’s so delicious I meant for that to be redundant). Like America's mac and cheese, Spain's paella, and Italy's lasagna, this Frenc h baked bean and meat masterpiece has earned its rightful place in the pantheon of one-dish wonders. There are hundreds of variations, but the basic formula is always the same; tender white beans, aromatic vegetables, flavorful broth, and fatty meats, all baked under a divinely crisp, garlicky, breadcrumb crust. As you'll see, this topping is usually built in two stages - the first a moist liaison between cassoulet and crust, and the second a c...

If you watch any food television at all, yo u've undoubtedly seen the "sous vide" (French for "under vacuum" ) technique many, many times . What was once a very uniq ue procedure is now about as rare as a hung-over line cook. Not so long ago, only a handful of pros using state-of-the-art sous vide set-ups, costing thousands of dollars, got to play this game. Today, there are many options for home sous vide kits, most costing hundreds of dollars, but what about the home cook who just wants to try this once and a while, and doesn’t want to invest that kind of money and space? How about a simple, almost foolproof, stovetop sous vid e method that requires no special equipment? Too good to be true? Well, I'm happy to report it's so very true, and produced what Mi chele and I agreed was the best duck breast we've ever had. The principles behind this sous vide duck breast's succulence is quite simple. Put the meat in a watertight, vacuum-sealed bag, an...

Just wanted to say Happy New Year to you all, and share what Michele and I enjoyed for our final meal of 2010. The first course was a superb Moroccan-style chicken crépinette seasoned with preserved lemon from Fatted Calf . I served it over a salad of raw, shaved asparagus, and garnished with kumquats candied in a chili syrup.  For our main course I continued my exploration into equipment-less sous vide, which produced the finest duck breast I've ever eaten. I served it with a huckleberry gastric, and green lentils, The meat was perfect beyond description. I can't wait to show you how amazing and simple doing sous vide cooking at home actually is. Stay tuned! Thanks to J. Kenji Lopez-Alt over at Serious Eats for his " Sous-Vide 101: Duck Breast " post, which served as the guide for the duck technique.