In the Chinese version, the duck is spatchcocked and then flattened. Sometimes called “steamrollered duck”, you can see them hanging up in Hong Kong food stores. Nothing like the French version, which is amazingly complicated.
:eek:
I’m not even sure that’s legal here.
What the hell does “spatchcocked” mean?
That just means butterflied. The breastbone is removed and you flatten that sucker out.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/05/24/FDGEQIU78N1.DTL&o=3&type=printable
The dish eaten by Charles Ryder and Rex Mottram is in fact caneton a la presse (pressed duckling) where the unfortunate bird is likely to be about 6 to 8 weeks old.
Waugh himself claimed the book traces the workings of the divine purpose in a pagan world but it’s really all about food. There are at least three major set pieces - Paris, the meal in Sebastian’s rooms at Oxford, and Ryder’s dinner with Anthony Blanche at a restaurant near Thame. The last two especially are described in such rich and seductive terms that I reckon Waugh was hallucinating on army rations when he wrote this work.
Speaking of spatchcocks, that’s “The Spread Eagle”, which used to be owned by my French teacher and her husband.
I did wonder about the model for that restaurant.
No name is given in the book, whereas the meal referred to in the OP takes place at Ciro’s. There certainly was such an establishment in Paris at the time of the story and a restaurant of that name still exists.
Nitpick:
I’ve just checked the text and the venue is actually an hotel.
Useless nitpick - you cut out the & remove the backbone. You also take the keelbone out, but the breasts are still attached to each other. And “spatchcocked” is a lot more fun to say than “butterflied”
I’ve had pressed duck at a couple of Chinese restaurants before. At one of them it was exceptional. I had no idea what it took to make it, and I’m having trouble believing that what I tasted was really the result of all that. It melted in your mouth, I know that.
The Spread Eagle is an hotel. I am now doubting my memory, though, as I was sure the name was mentioned in the book. I found this and a couple of other mentions via Google:
I expect they clean it. It wouldn’t be as much blood loss as actually bleeding the duck out the way you would after killing it normally. They remove the liver, so they’re already opening it up anyways. Taking out the stomach and intestines is easy.
There used to be a Polynesian place here in town many moons ago that served it. It came cut up in little squares, with the skin on one side.
Absolutely delicious.
The bar had an odd habit, however. They served a very potent Zombie, but the limit was two. After that, you could drink anything else that you wanted, but not another Zombie.
“That’s your second Zombie. You can’t have another.”
“Could I get a Kamikaze, or a triple Screwdriver?”
“Sure! Do you want them both at the same time?”