A couple of weeks ago, I revisited an old recipe from a food writer I have loved. Over the Christmas break, I’d been telling my son about Amanda Hesser’s ginger duck recipe from her book, Cooking for Mr. Latte.
I was hoping to make the duck while Louis was visiting, but we ran out of time to cook all of the recipes on our list. While Hesser’s duck didn’t make it to the table while Louis was here, I’ve been craving it. On a recent shopping trip, the local farm stand had duck on sale. It was a three-day weekend and I had free time. The culinary stars were aligned.
I first learned about this duck recipe from my coworker and friend, Rebecca, many years ago. She mentioned that she was making Hesser’s duck on the weekend. I’d never heard of Cooking for Mr. Latte. I purchased a copy of the book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Soon after, I made the duck and cooked rice with the duck broth, as Hesser recommends. It was delicious!
Cooking for Mr. Latte (Bookshop.org) is buried in a box of books in my garage. But a quick online search located the New York Times article, in which Hesser wrote about the duck. I had the pleasure of reading her article, Food Diary; Amateur Night, about dinner at Mr. Latte’s parents’ house, when his mother made the duck. Reading Hesser’s description of the visit, her future mother-in-law’s kitchen, and the duck dinner was like visiting an old friend.
After purchasing the duck on sale, the rest of my weekend was easily sketched out. On Sunday, shop for parsnips and tarragon for the side dish and watercress to garnish the duck platter. Simmer the duck on Sunday afternoon. On Monday night, put the duck in the oven to roast. Try to recreate Mr. Latte’s mother’s side dish by steaming shredded carrots and parsnips in butter, then garnishing them with a little chopped tarragon. Cook rice with the leftover duck broth.
When the duck was ready, we lit a fire in the fireplace, poured ourselves a nice glass of wine and loaded our plates to eat in front of the fire. It was delicious!
Hesser’s article also included an almond cake. Why question a meal so good that Amanda Hesser felt it worth writing about? I made the cake too.
Related Posts
You might enjoy these posts.
- A Gabrielle Hamilton Dinner
- New Cookbooks for Fall and Winter 2019
- New Cookbooks for Fall and Winter 2017
Great share! Thank you:)
Thanks Kathy. I hope that you enjoy Hesser’s article from the Times and that you give her recipe a try. So good!
Happy 2023!
This is one of our favorite recipes! I probably make it once a year.
It is a great recipe and I have you to thank for telling me about it.