The obsession for something wonderful

This is about a duck. A very dead and tasty duck that I had at a restaurant called “Social” in Ottawa. It was to celebrate something with Jeff or a simple catching up. Originally, we promised each other to get straight A in a semester and go to “Social” as a reward, but we never made it in 4 years of our college life. I don’t remember the details and circumstances of why we decided to meet there that day, after a few years of separation. My memory focuses only on the important part of that day. Meeting Jeff and eating that duck.

Duck meat are tough. Since they are usually not bred in captivity, their muscles are also hard. Harder than wild chicken in most cases. I know cause I used to eat “Alcohool Duck” with my aunts and uncles during those special Chinese holidays. So I expected some tough meat to be on my plate when I was at “Social”. What went into my mouth was something completely different and something I had not thought possible before. No, denial of possibility was not even considered, it was a total ignorance of something’s existence. Like not being able to see ghosts.

The skin was crispy crunchy and coated with various herbs to add an accent, which is easily done by coating the duck leg with supermarket bought coating. However, the meat underneath melted in my mouth like butter. I had no idea how meat can melt like this, let alone fathom what needs to be done in order to give two complete different properties to the same piece of meat. I am not talking about the type of contrast you get in chicken nuggets. No, it’s like a thin hardened shell that protects the vulnerable liquid inside. Liquid meat.

I remember that I shed a few tears while still biting into my first morsel of duck. The realization of the thoughtfulness made me all warm and fuzzy. Since then, I have gone on a quest to figure out what needs to be done to create this contrast so that I can show my friends the same kind of joy.

Today, with 8 years of cooking experience under my belt, I finally figured it out. Took me 2 days, 4 chicken legs and lots of planning before hand about how to systematically rule out possibilities (Food isn’t free). I am going to add this as the second of my secret dishes. The first being “Creamy ham and fettuccini”. I’ll name this one: “Social duck”