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        Life in rural France - Food - Friends - Wine - Cheese - Comments

   Welcome to French Food Focus. The name describes the intent of this blog. I'll focus on food and because I live in rural   
   France the stress will be upon French food.  There are numerous posts concerning life in France and, certainly, opinions
   about anything that strikes my fancy.
   If you have some good recipes  or if you want to rave about any great French restaurants this  is the place to do it.

 I hope you enjoy my ramblings about rural France! 

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This is our village. Our house is the white one at the top right.                      

Dodine, AKA French Haggis

This recipe is one of the ways I used the truffle I bought during my visit to the truffle farm. The reference to French Haggis comes from the fact that I served the Dodine to our wine tasting group on Burns Night. Both haggis & Dodine are dishes encased in an animal’s skin. Here goes:

Ingredients:
1 duck,
500 grams char (minced pork),
250 grams chicken livers,
250 grams mushrooms,
50 grams ground almonds,
a small bunch of parsley,
2 eggs 
25 grams of FRESH truffle. (The truffle is optional.)
Salt & pepper to taste.
A little white wine.
10 ml. Cognac & fennel seeds.

Method:

• Bone the duck being careful not to damage the skin.
  

• Remove the two breast pieces & cut them into strips. Marinate them in the cognac & fennel which has been crushed. Overnight is best.

•  Mince the chicken livers & mushrooms & mix them with the char, almonds & the parsley (finely chopped), the eggs & truffle finely chopped (if using). Salt & pepper to taste.
  Mix all of this thoroughly then take a bit out & press into a little patty, fry the patty & taste to see if the seasoning is correct. Adjust if necessary.

• Lay the duck skin out with the inside up. Spread ½ the mixture over its center. Lay the strips of marinated breast across the mixture diagonally. Place the other ½  of the mixture on top of the breast strips. Now bring the duck skin over the mixture from both sides. It should be a fairly tight fit. Using kitchen twine & a large trussing needle sew the skin around the stuffing so that it is entirely encased.

• Heat the oven to 180 degrees C. Place the whole duck (the Dodine) into a baking pan & add enough white wine to have about a ¼ inch layer of wine on the bottom of the pan.  Bake for roughly 90 minutes or until the juices run clear. Baste frequently.

• Bring the Dodine out of the oven & let cool. It is best wrapped in foil & allowed to age overnight in the fridge.

For serving cut the dodine into about 2 cm thick slices. I like to decorate it by placing finely chopped endive, tomatoes & cornichons all around the edge.
You can make a sauce (if serving the dodine hot) by reducing the pan juices & mixing in a bit of cream.

Experience tells me that it keeps well. I find that the flavor actually improves for the first 2-3 days in the fridge.