sad dirty duck

"Live it up!" they say.  "Life is too short!"  Well I'd say sometimes life feels too entirely long.  It's funny how one day can grab you by the heart and squeeze and pulverize 'til you can't breath (not the funny thing quite yet).  Time some how slows down.  Everything seems dull and uninteresting.  The person you were supposed to spend your life with decides their going to do it with someone else instead.  Life just seems like an endless pot of shit stew.  All full and steamy just for me.  How could this be happening to me?  How could I be so forgotten in the eyes of whomever is in charge of this messy place?  And then after hours of trying to sleep and finally succeeding (if you can call it that), a funny thing happens.........

I wake up!  Another day has come and work will not wait for me or my heart to pick itself up.  The real funny thing, and by funny I mean:  peculiar, remarkable etc....  I start my daily routine:  brush teeth, take care of the dogs, drive to work, and begin my Monday new menu prep;   And I start to feel good!  Not like happy everythings going to be ok good, but GOOD!  The food is healing me.  Thats one of many reasons I love cooking and food.  It can, at times, transport me to a whole new place where I can just concentrate on my own self expression as it applies to food of course.  And to be more particular out of the many things I have served up today for this instance I would say.............

the duck muffaletta.

Yes it's just a sandwich, and no, I do not work at a sandwich shop.  But there wouldn't be anything wrong with that if I did.  Anyways,  most likely you know what a muffaletta sandwich is.  This is just a twist on something of course has been done many times before (are you getting the theme here).  It's not just the sandwich itself, but the process of getting to the final finished product.  Thats the healing.  And it started days ago.  I take the legs, thighs, and don't forget the duck necks i have left after saving the breasts for another use and put them on a dry salt and sugar brine (you're thinking cure but trust me not exactly the same thing) for a few hours up to a whole day.  I then rinse and place submerged in previously rendered duck fat (kitchen gold).  Toss it in the oven slow and low for up to 3-4 hours.  I then let it rest over night in the fat to cool down.  Duck confit is favorite of course.  This gets stacked on house made siciliano bread with mangelitsa capicola.  Who doesn't love pig?  And personally I find nothing wrong with buying in pre made products if they are of the highest quality.  Which mangelitsa pigs are (google them if you don't know what I'm talking about).  I then take giardeniera, which is a standard, pickled hot vegetable mix I made the week prior (it takes a good week to make proper g-niera),  and tempura it and toss on the confit.  I then drizzle it with a duck fat aioli made using some of the excess rendered fat. Top it with mozzarella and give the top bun a good smoosh.  Thats healing, thats comfort.  That is my freedom. Sure the headcheese I made last week and am trying to serve this week equally makes me feel good.   I thought I'd just choose one thing and go with it for the sake of the explanation.  Seriously though you want to have a good time get yourself a pig's head and make yourself some headcheese.  Thats just good old delicious fun.  Don't believe me, ask your grandmother!

Sorry no pics my camera is busted.  Working on that for future posts that no one will probably read anyways.  "Yoor jast sooow negateevvvva!  Stoppit alredeee!"