Serves 6
This is an utterly insane dish, and I never would have created it if it weren’t for some diners who shared my demented thinking. A group from a Chicago online food forum called LTH Forum came in one night. One person from the group handed me a container of still-warm raccoon meat and told me it was just killed. She begged me to do something with it. So I came up with a dish that looks like road kill but tastes delicious, with the appropriate flavors to complement and enhance the raccoon meat.
In this recipe, we substitute duck for the raccoon meat, for obvious reasons. Duck leg confit braised in brown butter and juniper is succulent and meaty. A yellow curry sauce and a celery root puree illustrate the lines in the road. Red beet puree adds an appropriately violent visual. Puffed rice represents the maggots that have come to feast on the carnage. Black lava salt resembles gravel, and the dish is finished with an edible representation of a dead duck and a squealing tire track.
Humans are so violent. Have you ever counted how many things we kill every day and don’t eat? This dish was an ode to that thought.
500 grams duck legs
30 grams sea salt
10 grams juniper berries
500 grams unsalted butter, diced
20 grams garlic, sliced
170 grams corn syrup
115 grams sugar
66 grams egg whites
3 grams juniper berries, ground
25 grams duck fat, diced
50 grams duck scraps, diced
30 grams onions, diced
20 grams golden raisins
20 grams ginger, sliced
15 grams dried apricots, diced
10 grams garlic, smashed
3 grams juniper berries
4 grams green cardamom pods
3 grams yellow sweet curry powder
3 grams yellow hot curry powder
3 grams coriander seeds
3 grams star anise
3 grams black peppercorns
3 grams mustard seeds
3 grams turmeric
2 grams cumin seeds
2 grams red pepper flakes
200 grams vegetable stock
50 grams unsalted butter, diced
Salt for seasoning
200 grams red beets
10 grams canola oil
Salt for seasoning
200 grams vegetable stock
25 grams unsalted butter, cubed
10 grams balsamic vinegar
200 grams celery root
100 grams buttermilk
25 grams unsalted butter
Canola oil for frying
100 grams uncooked converted rice (such as Uncle Ben’s)
5 grams black lava salt (see Sources, here)
Edible paper for printing (see Sources, here)
Printer and ink for edible printing (see Sources, here)
Put the duck legs, sea salt, and juniper berries in a large bowl and mix to blend. Transfer to a covered container and refrigerate for 24 hours to cure.
Put the butter and garlic in a saucepan large enough to hold the duck legs in one layer. Set over medium heat and bring to 200°F. Take the duck legs out of the cure, rinse them under cold water, and pat them dry. Place the duck legs in the pan and cook over low heat, covered, for 4 hours, until the meat is tender and falling from the bones. Remove the duck legs from the butter and put on a large plate, reserving the butter. Let them cool completely before picking the meat from the bones and discarding the bones. Put the meat in a small saucepot, pouring some of the leftover butter from the frying pan over the meat to keep it from drying out. Season with salt to taste and keep warm until ready to serve.
Put the corn syrup and sugar in a medium saucepot set over medium heat and bring the mixture up to 240°F, stirring gently until it comes to a boil. Remove from the heat. Put the egg whites in a stand mixer and whip with the whisk attachment to soft peaks. Reduce the speed to medium and slowly drizzle in the hot sugar syrup. Once the sugar is absorbed into the meringue, increase the speed to high and whip until it triples in size and is completely cool. Reduce the speed to low and sprinkle in the ground juniper. Transfer the Juniper Fluff to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip and reserve until ready to serve.
Put the duck fat in a medium saucepot set over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat melts, 10 to 15 minutes. Increase the heat to medium and when the fat is hot, add the duck scraps. Cook the scraps for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until they are well browned. Add the onions, raisins, ginger, apricots, and garlic and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the cardamom pods, curry powders, coriander, star anise, black pepper, mustard seeds, turmeric, cumin, red pepper flakes, and vegetable stock to the pot and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to maintain a low simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a blender. Puree for 1 minute and then, with the blender running on low speed, add the cold butter 1 cube at a time to emulsify the curry. Season with salt to taste, and strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Transfer the Yellow Curry to a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip and keep warm.
Preheat the oven to 300°F.
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Peel and dice the beets into ½-inch cubes. Put the beets and canola oil in a medium bowl and season with salt. Toss lightly to coat the beets with the oil and salt. Transfer the seasoned beets to the prepared pan and roast in the oven for 30 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and tender. Remove the beets from the oven and transfer to a blender. Add the vegetable stock and puree on high for 1 minute, until smooth. With the blender running on low, add the butter 1 cube at a time until it has emulsified into the puree. Add the balsamic vinegar. Keep the Beet Puree warm in a small saucepot until ready to serve.
Peel the celery root and then dice it into 1-inch pieces. Put the celery root, buttermilk, and butter in a medium saucepot set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, and cook the celery root until tender, about 30 minutes. Transfer the cooked celery root to a blender and puree for 1 minute, until smooth. Add some liquid from the pot if needed to make a smooth puree. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large plain tip.
Preheat a deep fat fryer or pot of oil on the stove to 400°F. If using a pot, fill no more than one-third of the way to the top to leave room for the rice to puff.
Line a sheet pan with paper towels. Put 15 grams raw rice in a medium strainer and slowly lower the rice into the hot oil. The rice will puff and triple in size after about 30 seconds. Remove the rice from the oil and transfer it to the prepared sheet pan. Season lightly with salt. Repeat in batches with the remaining rice until it has all been puffed. Once the puffed rice is completely cool, transfer it to a 1-quart container and leave it uncovered at room temperature until ready to serve.
Print 6 images of a duck onto edible paper and cut them out. Print 6 images of tire tracks onto edible paper and cut them out. (The paper will not be flavored.) Reserve in an airtight container until ready to serve.
Use a large white or black plate as the canvas. Create a stencil out of a silicone mat or piece of parchment paper by cutting several 1-by-‰-inch dashes in a straight line out of the center of the stencil, to resemble the dotted lines on a road. Lay the stencil down on 1 plate and fill the dashes with Yellow Curry Sauce. Remove the stencil and repeat the process on the 5 remaining plates. Pipe two straight lines of Celery Root Puree on either side of the dotted line to resemble the road. Use a small spoon to splatter some of the Beet Puree on each plate. Pipe 10 grams of Juniper Fluff on each plate. Put 40 grams of Duck Confit on each plate and top it with the image of the duck. Add Edible Tire Tracks to each plate. Sprinkle with Puffed Rice and black lava salt and serve immediately.