If It Quacks Like A Duck

Then it must be...duck fat fries.

Duck fat fries have been around a while at the fancy restaurants but while I have heard how superb they are, I haven't gotten to eat one. There are restaurants in Las Vegas that serve them but most are pricy places on the strip that are a bit beyond my budget. But for Christmas I asked for a few gourmet ingredients so that I could play with them in my own cooking. I asked for truffle oil and duck fat. My mom doesn't drive much so she just gave me cash to buy the myself. I could have ordered them online but the shipping costs would eat up most of the budget given. So I looked around town (I mean, c'mon, Vegas has to have this stuff, right?)

First I decided that perhaps I wanted truffle butter instead of truffle oil. The butter has way more truffles in it that the oil does (some of the oils contain no truffle at all). I saw the truffle butter at Whole Foods, even in the tiny location by my house, so I am fairly confident I will be able to pick it up when I want to use it.

Right before Christmas when I was shopping with Val I saw they carried duck fat too, in the deli case. So last week, when I read a recipe in Cooking Light (yes, Cooking Light) for a dish called "Poutine" - a pile of duck fat fries covered in a sausage gravy and topped with cheese curds - I knew I wanted, no, NEEDED to get the duck fat. So I headed to Whole Foods, where there was no duck fat left and the two rather rude employees I asked about it were either unable or unwilling to help me find out if they would get more in. Sadness descended upon me.

On Sunday we went out to breakfast and to a new grocery store in the valley, Glazier's, which is a trek from our house but, since we all wanted to go, we made an outing of it. (There is a Home Goods in the same shopping center and I found a great display platter for photographs of products for the website and Mom found a wonderful picture to hang in the living room.) It is a great market with lots of interesting things (and if you are from the East Coast they have lots of products that are hard to find out west, like Wise potato chips and Tastycakes). They had lots of 'gourmet foods' at reasonable prices (Tina, if you are reading this, they had your smoked duck readily available) but alas, no duck fat.

Finally, yesterday, since I had to head over to Kelly's to pick up some screeners I decided to make one last effort and try "The Butcher's Block", a small specialty butcher shop nowhere near my house. When I went in I thought I recognized the owner from when I worked at the grocery store in college. He said he did indeed work for the same grocery chain I did at the same time. After I left though, I think it was actually when I worked at Treasure Island that I remember him from. Either way, small world. He did indeed carry the duck fat and scooped me out a half pound. (Eight ounces cost me two dollars and fifty cents, less than good olive oil would cost.)

Speaking of olive oil, it turns out that duck fat, although an animal fat, has more monounsaturated fats than butter and is more like olive oil in that respect. So while it isn't perfect, it's not a bad fat to use. It's soft, even refrigerated, and very light in color. It has no smell and melts very quickly. The recipe in Cooking Light was for baked fries with just a touch of the duck fat. I made a half recipe (no gravy or cheese curds, just the fries. While Poutine sounds delicious, I really just wanted the fries. Plus, I only like really fresh cheese curds, like the ones you get at the Cache Valley outlet in Utah when you drive to Salt Lake City.) You heat a sheet pan in the oven, put on a tablespoon of duck fat to melt, toss the julienned potatoes to coat them with the fat, sprinkle with salt and roast in the oven until golden brown, about 45 minutes, turning them once.

I don't usually like home made fries. They aren't as good as when you go out. And baked fries, even less. But these fries? Oh my heck were they good. Crispy on the outside, still deliciously potato-y on the inside, salty and wonderful. And at less than 200 calories a serving, something I can include even on my healthy eating plan. The only problem? My mom said I didn't make enough. I made a half recipe and she said I need to make a full recipe next time. The Graminator even munched hers in record time.

So if you see duck fat fries on a menu, try them. Or find some duck fat and make the baked version. Ron at the Butcher Block says he carries it all of the time but suggests that you call ahead since he stores it in the freezer so he can set it out to soften so he can scoop out what you need. Since I only needed a small amount he was able to get it for me no problem even though I hadn't called ahead. They are at 7625 S. Rainbow (at Rainbow just past Warm Springs) and their phone number is 702-558-6328. I also got a really nice smoked ham steak which is going into tonight's dinner and some crab and lobster stuffed mushrooms. The meat there looked phenomenal, They had some filet mignon that was to die for. A little out of my budget this week though. They will totally help you.

If I can eat healthy and still include some delicious duck fat fries, I might just make it after all!