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The greatest of all the wood-people, Pomona herself
Happiness is a duck in the oven and a glaze of quinces and cider simmering on the stove. In one of its forms, anyway. Another is new books—![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
papersky's Ha'penny, desperance's Shelter, Ben Parzybok's Couch, Growing Back: Poems 1972—1992 by Rika Lesser. Yet another is lesser_celery, in person, talking about Tom Stoppard and beef stock and dirty bombs. Music I haven't heard yet. An enameled plaque of squid. My brother, dozing. TCM appears to be playing film noir for Christmas, of which I totally approve. Tomorrow, the Museum of Science; first, I must attend to the duck.
papersky's Ha'penny, desperance's Shelter, Ben Parzybok's Couch, Growing Back: Poems 1972—1992 by Rika Lesser. Yet another is lesser_celery, in person, talking about Tom Stoppard and beef stock and dirty bombs. Music I haven't heard yet. An enameled plaque of squid. My brother, dozing. TCM appears to be playing film noir for Christmas, of which I totally approve. Tomorrow, the Museum of Science; first, I must attend to the duck.
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Just to let you know-- the sixth (actually the first) track on Norilana (assuming you've been following
Happiness is a duck in the oven and a glaze of quinces and cider simmering on the stove.
Amen.
TCM appears to be playing film noir for Christmas, of which I totally approve.
AMC was doing Wayne. I couldn't believe they actually played The Longest Day. Yes, the uncut version. With commercials, six hours. I was impressed.
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And to you. Arrr.
Just to let you know-- the sixth (actually the first) track on Norilana (assuming you've been following help_vera and know about my offering) is going to be called, and inspired by, "Clay Lies Still".
No, I knew about
Yes, the uncut version. With commercials, six hours. I was impressed.
With commercials? Oh, unintentionally ironic literalization, please eat your heart out.
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As hard as it is to take John Wayne seriously at any time (I'm just starting to do the western thing, and I cut my Wayne teeth last year with those Lone Star serials that are so, so bad, and then there was the whole High Noon affair and the resultant Rio Bravo-- which is as silly as any JW/Gabby Hayes Lone Star feature), it's even harder when he's interrupted every fifteen minutes by Billy Mays yelling about the newest great infomercial product. Someone once said (I believe of King Kong) that it's impossible to be scared by any movie interrupted every fifteen minutes by deodorant commercials. Thirty or more years ago I read that quote, and yet still, it's a defining tenet of my movie-watching.
And my, I've gotten way off topic.
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I can recommend him in both The Long Voyage Home (1940) and True Grit (1969), although those are not in any other way similar films.
I just saw High Noon (1952) a few nights ago. It was terrific.
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It is! I didn't expect much from it, as Gary Cooper has never done anything for me, but he really outdid himself in there. Even if you don't get the underlying vitriol (and honestly, is anyone under the age of fifty going to if Robert Osborne doesn't tell them about it?*) it's a fantastic piece of work.
*save movie geeks, of course.
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Nine
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Peel, core, and chop up two quinces. Simmer them in about a pint of cider with three tablespoons of honey, a teaspoon of vanilla, a little less than a teaspoon of ground black pepper, and three sprigs of fresh thyme, about thirty to forty minutes until the quinces are softened and the liquid visibly reduced and thickened. Remove the sprigs, puree, add a teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme, and liberally baste the whole mixture onto a duck which has been in the oven first for fifteen to twenty minutes at 450° F and then an hour and a half at 375°. By this point, much of the fat should be rendered and the duck already crisping; if not, adjust cooking time as needed. Once glazed, cook for a further twenty minutes at 350° until a meat thermometer reads 170° for the thighs and 160° for the breast: remove from oven and let stand about fifteen minutes; devour. I forgot that the duck should first of all be scored—sliced with a sharp knife into the skin and fat, but not so deeply as to cut into the meat—and lightly sprinkled with salt. Anything you do with it after that is up to you.
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I'm going to have to hang on to this recipe. Is that cider as in the fermented beverage, or cider as in unfiltered apple juice?
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We made it with cider as in unfiltered apple juice, which cooks down most obligingly, but I'm sure a variant could be worked out with alcohol. Keep in mind also these cooking times are for a five-pound duck, which I should have mentioned somewhere.
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I'd probably stick with the unfiltered apple juice. The sweetness and substance sounds as if it should be important.
The other kind of cider I mostly use as a substitute for white wine in cookery. It's what I use when I make moules marinère, for instance, which I haven't done in ages as the smell bothers everyone else in my family, even those as will eat mussels. There's also a stunning lamb roast, filled with apples, rolled and tied, studded with cloves, and basted with cider, that needs a boneless shoulder or loin, the which cannot be got here in America as they saw both joints up into chops. I made it once in Ireland, and it was lovely. I _think_ that I may've braised lamb shanks in cider as well, at one time or another.
That last I may have to try again sometime in the next few weeks. Thank you for putting it back into my mind.
Keep in mind also these cooking times are for a five-pound duck, which I should have mentioned somewhere.
Thanks! And how many times do you score the duck?
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The process is uncomplicated and the results so tasty there were none left by today. Go for it.
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We had duck, but it was just plain ordinary roasted duck with celery and onion and apple in the cavity.
Glad you had a happy Christmas with friends and family and new books.
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That is not to sneer at. Plain duck is still delicious. Duck is delicious. It is one of the foods of the gods.
Glad you had a happy Christmas with friends and family and new books.
I hope likewise!
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This is very true.
There was one year when we had enough people in the house at Christmas that we cooked two ducks, one with a bread stuffing and one stuffed with apples and cranberries. I wish we'd had excuse to do that this year.
I hope likewise!
Yes, thank you. It was only my parents and the dog and me, but I'm used to that. And I now have The Children of Húrin, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Eamon Duffy's The Stripping of the Altars, and a very interesting-looking book about Jewish pirates in the Caribbean during the 16th and 17th centuries to read.
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I'm very pleased, yes.
I've kept reading references to Duffy--it seems as if it was about time to actually read him. Now to see how much I can get read before classes start up again and I'm too swamped to read anything that's not either Irish studies or mindless entertainment.
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Also hooray for Ha'penny and Shelter - two fine books!
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Nice. We made lamb tagine for Pesach this year; I didn't think to involve quinces.
Also hooray for Ha'penny and Shelter - two fine books!
I wanted not to devour them both instantly, but that resolution lasted less than a day; I started Ha'penny this afternoon and, after being distracted for four hours by Lawrence of Arabia on TCM, will probably finish it tonight . . .