When Hank Shaw's not busy with salmon fishing or foraging for fresh produce, the award winning food writer from Orangevale is working on a new book. Shaw, whose Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook blog has twice been nominated for a James Beard award, is taking on duck in his latest tome. The working title is "Duck: The Ultimate Cookbook," which will feature a multitude of cooking techniques for preparing delicious duck and geese dishes.
Along with surveying chefs from around the country, Shaw would like your input as well. What are the best ways for preparing duck? How can I produce a duck breast cooked to a perfect medium rare? What about some duck egg recipes? If you have any other input for duck techniques you'd like to see in the book, surf on over to Shaw's blog.
"I'm intending for the book to be useful for someone who's never cooked duck to chefs who've cooked it a lot," said Shaw.
Shaw's upcoming book is planned for an October 2013 release via Ten Speed Press - just in time for next year's duck season. He got the idea for the book from traveling across the country and seeing duck's increasing presence on restaurant menus.
"Duck is the go-to bird, bordering on trendy," said Shaw. "I'm seeing chefs do some interesting things with duck. In Kansas City, I had duck tongue tacos with confit gizzard. As chefs get pigs and hogs under their belt, the next thing is duck. They're kind of like a little pig. Just about every piece is edible and represent a number of interesting opportunities and challenges that a chicken doesn't."
For more information, visit the "Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook" blog.
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