Southern Comfort (27 page)

P
EOPLE TAKE THEIR MEAT
very seriously in this part of the country. One of the reasons may be that the cherished tradition of hunting and bringing home your own meat for the winter continues to be passed down from one generation to the next. Or maybe it’s because when you go for a ride out in the country, stopping to let the free-range chickens cross the road is sometimes necessary. Better yet, it could be that men in these parts really like to show off their cooking skills, and nothing does it quite like a glistening pile of meat on the table.

They take it so seriously that if you go to their house, you might not even get it for free, but need to cough up a few bucks for that fried chicken plate. Like at Skip’s Patio Inn.

Slade worked with Skip at Mr. B’s Bistro in the French Quarter as a young cook. Skip was a calm and confident mentor there, his feathers never ruffled day after day of pumping out nearly three hundred covers every lunch (not that Slade didn’t try to piss him off by lighting matches and putting them in the heel of Skip’s shoe as he was setting up his station). Nope, he still invited Slade over to the makeshift restaurant that he ran out in his backyard on Sunday afternoons. There were only two options at the Patio Inn, a fried chicken plate or a fried fish plate. But VIP’s such as Slade and his fellow cook, Danny, got a lagniappe plate of fried chicken livers, too. They listened to the tunes of Clarence Carter out in that backyard while enjoying a home-cooked meal—but not for free. It cost them five dollars each.

To brine the duck, combine all the brine ingredients in a small stockpot and add the duck. Place a plate on top of the duck to weight it down. It is important the duck is completely submerged to brine properly. Refrigerate the duck in the brine for 24 hours.

To roast the duck, the next day, preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the duck from the brine, and place it in a roasting pan surrounded by the reserved duck neck, shallots, garlic, carrots, celery, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, and sage. Season the duck inside and out with pepper. Roast the duck until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thick part of the thigh reads 175°F, 1½ to 2 hours. Then remove the duck from the pan and set it aside to cool for 30 minutes. Reserve the vegetables and herbs in the pan to make the sauce.

To make the sauce, place the roasting pan over a burner on medium heat. Deglaze the pan with the red wine and brandy. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the bottom of the roasting pan to release any caramelized bits into the sauce. Cook until the liquid has reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the stock and cook for 10 minutes.

Remove the vegetables, herbs, and duck neck from the sauce and discard. Strain the pan sauce through a sieve into a blender; add the salt, dates, vinegar, and butter. Puree until the sauce is smooth and reserve.

Carve the duck and arrange on a platter. Spoon the date sauce over top and serve.