Spiced duck a l'orange with mashed vanilla sweet potatoes

speaking as OP, avoid red meat at restaurants. You can always make it better at home in a skillet

Duck is heavy because of the high fat content, hence why it's usually paired with stuff like cherries or oranges that have both strong sweetness and acidity that neutralize their fattiness.

The chinese are the only ones I've seen who can take that heavyness and master it without a counterweight but for home cooking the greatest lie ever told is that you have to leave the skin on.

Instead, cut it off, mince it, render it like bacon and use only a tablespoon or so of fat to sear it like a steak and reserve the rest of the fat and cracklings to make rice

Why not just render the fat, change either temp or temp application, and then finish cooking the duck. I've had duck and every time it's been fantastic.

Vanilla would have a decent place paired with coffee or chocolate. So think brown sauces or glazes. Red eye gravy, mole, chili. I'm not too fond of pairing citrus with vanilla, so look for another source of acidity. Maybe apples or vinegar proper. You could possibly use it in braising or even infuse the bean into something like vodka and use the vodka for deglazing for a syrupy pan sauce

if you're skilled at temperature control it can be done and it can be done wonderfully, but it's easier to render the skin separately and you get cleaner fat that way that can be re-used. plus as user said, duck can be heavy. separation lets you control not only how much the fat renders but how much you actually end up using

However, Nathan Myhrrvold I think had a good compromise technique where he removed the skin, scraped most of the fat off and then reattached the skin

I can agree on the citrus topic. I think vanilla would probably do better with stuff like yoghurt, creme fresh or coconut

ice cream can be savory

That's a good call. I don't like coconut so I don't use it in savory or sweet dishes. But I could see a coconut crusted airline chicken breast with a vanilla pan sauce.

Different but related question: have you ever used or thought about savory applications of whipped cream? One time I made horseradish and white pepper whipped cream with a little bit of sour cream (but not fully acidified) and served it with seared salmon and brussels sprouts

> what is creme fraiche

No, I hadn't.

I can imagine it but wouldn't you need something especially soft or doughy to avoid a textural conflict. Salmon was probably a good choice but I can't imagine searing it for something like that. Baking would give better results I imagine

Feeling generous so here's the flavor bible for vanilla pg 1 of 2.

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BOLD CAPS - pairs excellent
bold pairs well

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fuck, I have that book but I don't know where it went. Thank you

What books are you waiting on /sffg/?

for me it's
>The Plastic Magician (April)
>Dandelion Dynasty Book 3 (Unknown)
>Peace Talks (Never)
>John Dies at the End Book 4 (Does the series have a name?)

vanilla tends to be too aromatic to be used in most savory contexts, i've had sweet potatoes mashed with a bit of vanilla and it just isn't good, then again it could've been a bad recipe (i didn't make it, an aunt did), but the vanilla came through and tasted off.
it's a meat that's got a variety of applications, a bit of duck breast sliced on a salad is nice and not too heavy since it isn't a huge portion of meat or anything like that.

Man you just havent had good/well prepared duck.

Pic related is top 5 best tasting things ive ever eaten. Salt/pepper, fat cap rendered, both sides basted in butter with thyme and garlic. We were tempted to just present the duck by itself as a tasting menu course because it was THAT good that it didnt need anything else to make it a complete dish.

Fuck.

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Creme fraiche isnt whipped cream, dumbass

>vanilla in a savory context
my mum makes a killer blanquette using vanilla, don't have the exact recipe but it works amazingly well

>But I could see a coconut crusted airline chicken breast with a vanilla pan sauce.
That sounds utterly fucking horrible.

Vanilla goes well with olive oil. I also enjoyed it with scallops. People should stop thinking of adding it to creamy/sweet things if they want to put it in a savoury dish. You want to take AWAY the association with desserts, not reinforce it.

No shit, maybe stop using retarded ingredients like whipped cream to make a sauce for fish.

> Vanilla sweet potatoes
> Coconut encrusted chicken
> Salmon with whipped cream

Why are the way you are OP?

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nice sear dumbass. You slightly burned it