Sept 6, 2008
Los Angeles, Ca
Tomorrow is the opening reception for “Wok the Dog” exhibit at the LA ArtCore. My very good friend Brian is coming home from Portland to see the show and be supportive.
In honor of Brian’s return home and of the show, I thought that I should practice what I preach in which ever way possible as an urban dweller, so I am roasting a duck. I bought a duck from Chinatown ($13 for an entire duck) and it comes with the head, beak, feet and all. I am beheading this duck myself. We played a little “Don’t Cry” (Guns n’ Roses) in honor of the duck and the life it had and down went the cleaver. I could probably find a way to hunt as Michael Polland did or raise my own chicken and kill it, but the heart of the ceremony today is more about that I am looking at this duck head on and am doing the final deed myself. That I do flinch from that final act that seperate a life from meat.
People ask me if I have a reaction to all of these markets and all the killing that I see. Of course I do. Yet somehow when I am far from here and the killing and butchering is not done as an assembly line, it bothers me a lot less. It seems a lot more humane and a lot less random, detached. While when I was down in Chinatown, I saw part of the assembly line that is behind the counter of men cleaning the poultry and it made me sad, depressed and disgusted all at the same time. Strange how even though dead is dead, the way in which the final act is performed could matter so much.
So for this meal that I am preparing today:
Roasted Duck with Spices (Jamie’s Dinners, Jamie Oliver)
Sweet Potato Brioche (Crescent City Cooking, Susan Spicer)
Orecchiette with Roasted Tomatoes (The Kitchen Diaries, Nigel Slater)
Pan Fried Kale
Summer Berries with Bay Leaf Custard (Kitchen of Light, Andreas Viestad)
Brown Butter Cookies (Fat, Jennifer McLagan)
Anyone else would like to join us today or next time?
