Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Duck in the style of Seville/Rehoboth Beach



Rehoboth Beach Delaware is working very hard to become a dreadful tourist trap. From the parking permit price increase to the Barney Fifes on their bikes riding around hoping your meter will expire; Rehoboth as a town is getting a very bad and well-deserved reputation.

Most of the restaurants have joined the fray determined to charge the highest prices for the least quality. It has reached the point that despite the glorious beaches, tourism is actually down and for the first time Hotels are offering discounts.

Maybe the city council will head towards the age of enlightenment and spend some of their ill-gotten gains on changing rooms and showers for the beach. We live in hope.

Fortunately with the help of S.O. who has been going for the last 15 years I was able to navigate away from some of the worst tourist traps and eat some pretty darn good food.

Can we say cheesesteak?
15 S Boardwalk
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
(302) 227-3329

While you really don't need the address to find this gem, I include it for the detail oriented. You merely have to follow your nose. Thinly shaved beef cooked with lots of onions and served on the soft bun with Provolone cheese, not that nasty American or even worse, cheese from a can but the real melty delicous thing. Hold this sandwich over napkins or paper because it will drip but the delicousness factor will astonish you. If you are not a big eater, split a sandwich. Half is enough.

As luck would have it right across the boardwalk divide is Thrashers fries. All they do are fries. Idaho potatoes freshly fried twice in peanut oil with salt and vinegar. NO KETCHUP is ever served and they have signs warning you not to ask for it.

Cheesesteak and fries are their own sort of heaven.

But wait, there's more...

Mariachi Restaurant.
14 Wilmington Avenue
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
(302) 227-0115

The salsa was thin but tasty, the guacamole was good with some nice onion to it, but the crown in their cap...Duck. If you can't get there, but want to make the duck the recipe has been shared.

Ingredients
Ingredients: 1 large duck
¼ pound of salt pork
1 finely chopped carrot
2 thinly sliced leeks
1 julliened onion
5 cloves of garlic
2 cups sherry
4 cups veal stock
½ cup V-8 juice
1 cup sliced green olives
Cayenne pepper
Salt

In a large cast iron skilled heat some oil with chunks of salt pork and the garlic. Cut the duck in half and brown it all over. Add the chopped vegetables and sherry. Place in a hot oven (400) with duck skin side up and roast for 90 minutes.

Remove the duck and strain the sauce. Either use a fat skimmer or chill the sauce and duck overnight to remove the fat.

Debone the by gently turning it skin side down and using a pair of scissors and your hands to remove bones doing your best not to tear the skin.

Add the V-8 and a dash of red pepper and reduce the sauce til thick and place the duck halves in the sauce, add the chopped olives and place in a hot oven til fully warm. Cut the duck in slices, skin intact and serve with rice.

This is a traditional Easter dish in Seville. Thank you Mariachi for this most delicous dish.

2 comments:

Yanon Soume said...

I bought a duck, this preparation is to amazing to resist. This will be the first duck I have ever cooked.

I LOVE the new shot of you on the profile. You are a very handsome man. Hard to believe you are 40.

Karl said...

I find duck to be an easy/versatile dish to prepare. The wonderful rich flavors are often a crowd pleaser...unless of course you have one of those people in the crowd who "Does not eat duck" and won't even taste it.

It is the same kind of person who 'does not like seafood' because once a long time ago they were forced to eat a Mrs. Paul's fishstick.