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brooksmosesFor various and sundry reasons, only some of which are poor advance planning, I found myself preparing a duck for roasting at 11:00 this evening. (To be roasted tomorrow morning, not tonight.)
I decided, on a whim, to try doing some spices on it, inspired by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
desperance's recipe for duck confit and by the fact that I do have some juniper berries on hand.
So, I took some peppercorns (1.5t, or thereabouts; I'm guessing since I didn't measure) and some juniper berries (3t) and put them in our spice-mortar, along with a good bit of salt (1.5t). And I tossed in some whole mustard seeds (0.5t) that I noticed in the cabinet, along with the leaves off a couple of 12" branches of rosemary. And I ground this up, which took a bit of work since the mortar really wasn't meant for quite that much at once, and so I poured it through a small wire strainer into a bowl, and ground up the dregs in small batches (except for the rosemary leaves, which don't grind up but just get bruised into the other bits).
And then, curious, I tried a small taste of it. Just a touch, on the tip of a finger.
Oh, my.
It is entirely possible that this is the best taste I have ever tasted in my life.
It's this complex mix of the rosiny evergreen depth of the juniper and rosemary, and just a bit of bite from the peppercorns and mustard and the sharp-edged salt, and it just melts and the flavors change as the various notes come in and fade out, and it's all this combined flavor rather than being really distinguishable bits. And it is absolutely marvelously glorious.
I decided, on a whim, to try doing some spices on it, inspired by
desperance's recipe for duck confit and by the fact that I do have some juniper berries on hand.So, I took some peppercorns (1.5t, or thereabouts; I'm guessing since I didn't measure) and some juniper berries (3t) and put them in our spice-mortar, along with a good bit of salt (1.5t). And I tossed in some whole mustard seeds (0.5t) that I noticed in the cabinet, along with the leaves off a couple of 12" branches of rosemary. And I ground this up, which took a bit of work since the mortar really wasn't meant for quite that much at once, and so I poured it through a small wire strainer into a bowl, and ground up the dregs in small batches (except for the rosemary leaves, which don't grind up but just get bruised into the other bits).
And then, curious, I tried a small taste of it. Just a touch, on the tip of a finger.
Oh, my.
It is entirely possible that this is the best taste I have ever tasted in my life.
It's this complex mix of the rosiny evergreen depth of the juniper and rosemary, and just a bit of bite from the peppercorns and mustard and the sharp-edged salt, and it just melts and the flavors change as the various notes come in and fade out, and it's all this combined flavor rather than being really distinguishable bits. And it is absolutely marvelously glorious.
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Date: 2008-03-14 10:19 am (UTC)...now imagine that in dark chocolate... :-)
(I should specify that I'm not a big chocolate fan or consumer. But that mix sounds just like it would go very well with nice black stuff...)
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Date: 2008-03-14 11:55 am (UTC)Honestly, if I pulled out the mustard, I might try making that scent. Wow.
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Date: 2008-03-14 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-14 04:51 pm (UTC)(You could put it on potatoes. Potatoes roast up nicely.)
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Date: 2008-03-14 09:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-15 06:47 pm (UTC)i like peppercorns so much i make them up in my mead.
yum!