The Art of Cooking Duck in Bordeaux
- michaelvenckus
- Jul 24
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 2
July 22
There probably is no better place to get a tutorial on cooking duck than in the Southwestern Region of France where it is a staple of French Cuisine. We booked a dinner class at The Gastronome in Bordeaux with Chef Daniel Bowers, owner, and an Expat from the U.S.A. Along with the duck there was plenty of cremant, white and red Bordeaux wine to taste.
The goal of the evening was to brush up on a couple of sauces as well as cook/prep several duck dishes. The sauces included the Gastrique (the simple sweet & sour sauce used as the base for many savory fruit sauces) and bordelaise sauce (that can be made with a duck, chicken or beef stock) that we adjusted for our duck.
Our duck preparation included learning how to make duck prosciutto, a twenty-one day process that you can cook at home as long as you follow strict salt/weight ratios. You can experiment with many different spices to get the flavors you most love.
A duck confit with white beans and garlic bread crumbs. This is a hearty dish that we used quite a bit of duck fat in as we baked it off. Delicious.
And of course, the main event, duck breast with sauteed foie gras, sweet & sour sauce, bordelaise sauce and air fried (yes air fried!) potatoes in duck fat. A rich dish indeed, we licked our plates clean.
The bonus was dessert; rosemary panna cotta with poached peach and crumble. Needless to say we had some very light meals the next day.
What a food education it was! There is no doubt that duck will be on the family menu for this coming holiday season. Many thanks to Chef Daniel for his patient, entertaining evening on cooking duck and running a business in Bordeaux.
The Gatronome is owned and operated by Chef Daniel Bowers in Bordeaux. His company does catering events, team building classes and various cooking classes ( private classes are available as well). www.thegastronome.fr
