Duck & Sausage Chili
D’Artagnan has these great duck legs confit and smoked duck breasts, which you can now find at most supermarkets. And if not, order them online. They are already cooked, so all you have to do is warm them up and you’ve saved some time. I started this chili by scoring the skin of the breasts and cooking those over high heat in a large pot and then cooked the duck legs over lower heat. Shred/chop all the meat, set aside, and reserve bones for a stock.
The fat rendered from warming the duck provides an ideal base for the chili. Create a paste out of 3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste, 3-4 tablespoons of chili powder, garam masala, and whatever other spices you have on hand and like in chili (cumin, nutmeg, etc). Cook this paste in the duck fat until the mixture becomes slightly rusty in color. Add a large can of whole peeled tomatoes, about 3/4 cup of bbq sauce, 1 or 2 canned chipotles, and a head of roasted garlic. Cook for 20 minutes or so and puree with hand held blender.
Separately, saute the sausage over high heat, remove and add a mixture of chopped onions/shallots and peppers (we used poblano, jalepeno, and habanero this time) to the saute pan.
Add everything to the pot with a few cups of stock and simmer for a few hours (adjusting with stock and spice as necessary).
Garnish with some cheese and serve with a pickleback shot of Jameson.
Mr. Lucas Giokas prepares the picklebacks.
