Last night, Friday, what a feast we had! It will live in my memory for years to come. Margaret, my dear British friend whose son Greg is my son Jackson's best friend, asked if she could try out a new recipe on us, and we happily acquiesced, because she is an awesome cook. The Great Experiment was Beer Can Crispy Duck, and may I say it was a resounding success. I don't have the recipe, except for the fact that you shove a can of beer into the backside of the duck and stand it up on the grill for a couple of hours. That duck was tender, moist, delicious, with perfectly crisped skin and not a hint of greasiness.
We served it with mu shu pancakes, slivered green onions, sliced cucumber sticks, and a homemade Asian barbecue sauce lovingly simmered for an hour to a perfect consistency and flavor. I made fried rice as an accompaniment, and pear cake.
The pear cake recipe came from epicurious.com: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Marie-Helenes-Apple-Cake-361150. Oh, okay, so it was an apple cake on Epicurious, but I didn't have any apples, and no dark rum (scandalous!). HOWEVER, Margaret's the friend with the two prolific pear trees. These are hard cooking pears, so their consistency is similar to that of a crisp apple, and the flavor is delicately sweet. Instead of rum, I used Frangelico, which was absolutely perfect. We served the cake warm with whipped creme fraiche, and it was so good I had some for breakfast this morning. Definitely a keeper!
As for the duck, I want more!
Nina, this sounds absolutely delicious and I can't wait to try it.You guys are very smart and adventurous!
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