Maple Leaf Farms Duck Cooking Class at A Cut Above Catering in Indianapolis
I had the opportunity to visit the newly opened A Cut Above Catering, Indianapolis last week to watch a cooking class they gave to clients making Maple Leaf Farms duck! It was a fun to see their guests eat and prepare duck for the first time. Through a hands- on, step by step approach, the students learned how to prepare both a whole bird as well as duck breasts.
Maple Leaf representative Phil Herbruck was there to share the Maple Leaf story as well as tips on how to prepare duck and where to buy it locally. Chef’s Amy von Eiff and Kristen York, along with their talented kitchen staff, led students through a recipe that involved ‘spatchcocking’ a whole bird (one of my favorite ways to cook a whole chicken) and pan sauteing duck breasts.
The class was pretty diverse with exceptional home-cooks, occasional home-cooks, novice cooks and a star budding young chef. I had a birds-eye (pun intended) of the class and I will share it with you in pictures. Each student had a job and after the meal was collaboratively prepared, we all sat down together to enjoy it.
One of my favorite duck recipes
- Familiar appliances for those that want a home kitchen experience, a full commercial kitchen in in this facility as well.
- Work space
- Caprese duck bacon skewers
- A few of the guests chatting before class
- Ah, duck fat! Oh the possibilities!
- Chef Kristen explaining the process before we got started
- All students had the tools to go step by step with the chef
- Removing the spine to lay the duck flat to cook
- I LOVED seeing her in this class! She was so enthusiastic and really knew her stuff!
- We set the flat duck on a slotted pan so it would cook evenly AND the drippings would fall over the vegetables in the tray below.
- Chef Amy demonstrating safe knife techniques.
- Duck bacon!
- Simple sauteed broccolini for a side
- Cooked duck, a lean meat!
- Maple.Bacon.Cupcakes
- This duck breast is more lean that a chicken breast and full of healthy fats! Be sure to score the skin in a diamond pattern and be careful not to cut the skin.Saute in a hot pan, skin side down, then flip and cook to your desired degree of doneness- I suggest 5-6 min on each side on medium heat.
- I like to finish off my duck breasts in the oven- 350 for 4-5 minutes.
- Plated before sauce
- pomegranate molasses glaze
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