Until recently I would get my steamed duck from Chinatown. Then, almost overnight, it couldn’t be found anywhere. The stores where I had gotten the steamed duck, hole-in-the-wall joints that had been making it for years, were no longer offering it. This was disconcerting to me. Unlike everyone else I know, Asiatic or not, I prefer steamed to roast duck. Chinese roast duck is ubiquitous. We all know it and it’s featured at almost every Chinese dinner. This being the week of the Chinese lunar New Year, the Year of the Monkey, every banquet will serve it. But, to my mind, where roast duck is the preferred dish, steamed duck is for the connoisseur. Roast duck I can pass by. Steamed duck I cannot. So, here I was now, bereft. I couldn’t find my beloved fowl. I asked more than one proprietor, why no steamed duck anymore? They told truthfully, it didn’t sell as well as its other cousin. This further baffled me. Didn’t sell? In anger I thought, What do you want from the Great Unwashed. What the hell do they know?

Still, it didn’t solve my problem. Which meant that now I would have to make my own duck or go unrewarded. I canvassed my friends and acquaintances in Chinatown and finally came up with the following recipe. My one criteria: it had to be easy. I wasn’t going to mess with fandangled steamers and fryers and what-have-you. Some would question whether the recipe given could be categorized as steamed duck, some would say it’s mote like braised duck—and I don’t use a steamer. It’s all semantics. My friends call it steamed duck, and so do I. The dish is delicious. That’s all that matters. With some hot rice on the side, and a light red or chilled white wine, it can’t be beat.

One final note. Most places in Chinatown use Long Island duck, which is notoriously fatty. I’ve discovered there is other duck out there where the fat content is minimal. If you can, try to obtain a wild duck, or Muscovy duck, or Bavarian duck—which need no trimming of fat. If you do use the Long Island species, then remove fat from the cavity of the duck, and trim excess fat from the neck and body. And follow the recipe as is.

STEAMED DUCK

1 duck (4-5 pounds)
1 tablespoon salt
3-4 strips orange peel, about 2-inches long
1 tablespoon Chinese 5-Spice Powder
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 whole star anise, smashed with the side of a cleaver
2 tablespoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
3 whole cinnamon sticks
1/2 cup dark soy sauce

Vinegar Sauce:
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 red chopped, chili pepper

1. Rinse duck under cool running water, and pat dry with paper towels. With the tines of a fork or sharp knife, prick the duck all over.
2. Place duck in a large wok or pot. Add water to cover. Bring to a boil and blanch duck in the boiling water for about 1 minute. This is done in order to rid the bird of its gamy taste. Remove duck from pot, drain well, and rub evenly with the salt, including the cavity.
3. Stir in the rest of the ingredients (minus vinegar sauce) to the water in the pot or wok. Bring to a second boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and gently lower the duck into pot.
4. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 1 hour or until duck is tender (internal temperature using a meat thermometer should register 165 degrees F.)
5. Turn off heat and leave duck immersed in sauce liquid for another hour.
6. Remove duck from pot. Using sauce liquid, rub or brush duck all over. Cut into serving pieces. At this point, make vinegar sauce: combine ingredients in a small pan and heat briefly (about 3-4 seconds).
7. Heat a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add duck pieces, skin side down, and saute until skin begins to sizzle and brown. Turn and brown on  other side.
8. Transfer duck to a serving platter and serve with vinegar sauce.
    Yield: 4 servings.

For a holiday dinner, instead of the usual turkey, how about a Cornish hen roast? The warming spices in this treat will be a pleasant compliment to Christmas cheer. Here you have such staples as cumin and coriander to add an exotic twist to a classic dish. The hens are cooked in a glaze of honey, orange and ginger; then served over couscous. You family, friends and acquaintances will marvel at your ingenuity.

ROAST CORNISH HENS

1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 cup fresh orange juice
1/4-inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 basil leaf, plus 1 tablespoon chopped
2 tablespoons honey
4 Cornish hens
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon fresh chopped oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
2-3 cups cooked couscous
2 tablespoons melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. First, make the glaze: combine cumin, coriander, orange juice, ginger, orange zest, garlic, and basil leaf in a small pot or pan. Simmer over medium-high heat until reduced by half, about 5-7 minutes.
3. Discard garlic and stir in honey. Reduce heat and simmer gently about 2 minutes more.
4. Meanwhile, rub hens all over with oil, salt, pepper, oregano, and chopped basil. Place hens, breast side up, in a roasting pan (I prefer cast-iron) and place in oven.
5. Roast hens until skins begin to crisp, about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and generously brush with warm glaze. Return to oven and continue to roast until meat is just cooked through, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and generously brush with glaze again, Return to oven and roast until glaze browns, about 3 minutes.
4. While hens are roasting, cooked couscous (according to package directions). When done, place in a bowl and toss with melted butter. Serve with each hen atop a mound of hot couscous.
    Yield: 4 servings.

 

Quail, is a very distinctive bird, which comes in various sizes. In the store you’ll usually find the smaller coturnix quail. There are bigger quail out there such as the bobwhite and mountain quail; and if you do find them, cooking time will vary. Quail is very common in French cookery where it is noted in such classic dishes as grilled quail ragu. It is also found in Indian, Polish, Portuguese and even in Mexican cooking, such as quail mole (pronounced “moh-ley”) , which includes the famed mole poblano sauce with such ingredients as chili peppers and chocolate. Which set me to thinking, why not add a Puerto Rican twist twist to this delicious fowl? By that I mean using ingredients native to our cooking so that the result is a Caribbean treat. Thus you have the recipe given below.

Since this is a Boricua recipe, I served it with yellow rice. But you can substitute plain steamed white rice, or even serve it with tostones (fried green plantains—check the posting of 9/9/10 for a quicky recipe).

CARIBBEAN QUAIL

4 whole plucked quails, cut in half
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons fresh chopped oregano or 2 tablespoons dried
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground allspice
Juice of 1 lemon

1. Wash quails under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels.
2. In a small bowl stir together the oregano, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and allspice.
3. Rub the mixture all over the quails.
4. Place in a covered dish or in a zip-lock bag and refrigerate for at least 1 hour for the flavors to develop.
5. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
6. Place in a cast-iron frying pan making sure the quails do not touch each other (to speed the cooking process).
7. Roast from 10 to 15 minutes. The quicker time will render a tasty, juicy quail, but a little bit pink on the inside. I prefer the longer time span which will give a still succulent quail, but more browned and fully cooked. Note that beyond 15 minutes you, might get a dryer bird.
8. Remove from oven. Let rest for 5 minutes, drizzle with the lemon juice and serve over pilaf or yellow rice.
   Yield: 4 servings.

In general, most of us out there seldom if ever cook squab. It’s one of those (as my father would say) “rare bird dishes.” In a way it might go back to our culinary habits. Throughout history squab was considered a dish of the more wealthy and upper classes. Well, I don’t come from the wealthy or upper classes, and I love the suckers. Squab has a moist, tender and richer taste than most game birds. Its dark meat and fatty skin gives a milder flavor than other game poultry. And it can be found these days in most Asian, Middle Eastern or specialty food stores. I get my squab in New York’s Chinatown.

Squab has a long culinary history. It was popular in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome and Medieval Europe where domesticated pigeons were consumed. That’s what squab is: a young domesticated pigeon, usually about a month old. Recipes for squab go back back a long ways. In the 4th century Roman cookbook, Apicius, there is a recipe for roasted squab in a sweet and sour sauce. The well-to-do Romans did know how to live.

In cooking squab it should be remembered that due to their delicacy and size, it normally takes half the time to cook than it does chicken or other poultry. To maximize its taste it should be served medium-rare. I cook squab in what I call Boricua Style, that is,  the Puerto Rican way. I season it as my mother would season any game bird for roasting, using the herbs and condiments popular to our cuisine. It calls for crushing the condiments in a mortar. This device, either wood or metal, and native to our cooking, can be found in any Asian or Caribbean store. Even with the use of a mortar, the recipe is easy and no-fuss. With a good bottle of red wine, it can’t be beat.

BORICUA SQUAB

4 squabs, 1 to 1 1/4 pounds each

4 cloves garlic, peeled
12 whole peppercorns
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Rinse squabs, inside and out, under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels.
3. Place the garlic, peppercorns, salt and oregano into a mortar and pound until crushed. Rub the squabs, inside and out with the seasoning.
4. Place the birds in a shallow roasting pan (I prefer cast-iron). Drizzle with the vinegar, and pour in the olive oil to coat the squabs. Place in oven and bake 15-20 minutes (an instant-read thermometer inserted in the breast should read 145 degrees F.) Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes before serving.
    Yield: 4 servings.