Severe "Missing Cruising" attac - a bit of countermeasurement

[MouseBerry]

Hello,

today i suffered severely from a "Missing Cruising" attac. What to do in such a bad situation?

Well the sea is far away and travelling quite limited these days. But i remembered my first Oceania Cruise

back in 2016 in late fall in Mediterranean Sea. It was a bargain because of end of October, but by big surprise

the weather was just perfect from the first to the last minute. 26 deg celcius, dry and sunny. Perfect.

 

I read a lot about Oceania in the iNet and this forum of course. Some people praised the specialty restaurants

and the Watermelon Duck salad in particular. Strange combi was my first thought, but i had to try it. What a

big surprise how all these tastes and fragrances matched. It gained immediately a front position on my alltime

favourite list. Dear wife did choose different items from the menu, but when my salad was served and she tried

she had to order one as well. All the dishes in Red Ginger matched pretty much our taste.

 

Later that evening we went for an Illy coffee and visited the beautiful library on Riviera. What a nice place. A classic

gem. Can hardly wait for our next booked trip on Sirena in April 2021. May be the library is even better.

 

Anyway, while we were relaxing in the library i noticed a big cook book on the shelf. It was a book with all the

favourite dishes served on Oceania restaurants. Not only the recipies, but even background info from Mr. Pepin

himself. I immediately looked up the Watermelon Duck Salad recipe. It was just a perfect trip, a perfect day, a perfect

moment. Did someone wise said "Travelling is for Memories"? Damn right it is. And no pandemic will ever take away

my memories.

 

Today i suffered very badly from not being on a cruise for now more than 18 month. I had to cook a Watermelon Duck

Salad on my own.

 

 

Wear a mask, respect distance, and travel as soon as possible. What's better than memories? More memories!

 

cheers

MBerry

 

[Mura]

For us, the library on the "R" ships is far superior to the library on the "O" ships.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

[RJB]

1 hour ago, Mura said:

For us, the library on the "R" ships is far superior to the library on the "O" ships.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

 

1 hour ago, Mura said:

For us, the library on the "R" ships is far superior to the library on the "O" ships.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Hands down the O ships has everything else. No questions asked

[CintiPam]

8 hours ago, MouseBerry said:

Today i suffered very badly from not being on a cruise for now more than 18 month. I had to cook a Watermelon Duck

Salad on my own.

 

 

Wear a mask, respect distance, and travel as soon as possible. What's better than memories? More memories!

 

cheers

MBerry

 

Thanks, MouseBerry, for sharing some lovely cruising memories.  Your watermelon duck salad looks delicious.  

[GeorgesGal]

Please share the recipe!

[StanandJim]

1 hour ago, GeorgesGal said:

Please share the recipe!

The "original" recipe diddles around with making a rather complex Asian vinaigrette, but this salad is basically duck fried crispy with the skin on, watermelon cubes and basil.

 

A light splash of Balsamic, adds a very similar, super easy tang.  

 

Enjoy!

[cruisingxpert]

From another CC member

 

[MouseBerry]

Hi,

the recipe is actually in Oceanias public blog (at least the one I can access in Germany)

https://de.oceaniacruises.com/oceania-experience/post/recipes/red-ginger-recipe-watermelon-duck-confit-salad#blog-navigation

 

If the link does not work then just go to the blog and scroll until 2016 Feb 2nd. And the recipe can be found in the iNet as well, but I didn't check if it is the right one.

 

But the processing is a bit tricky. To deep fry the duck confit you need a resonable amount of oil to ensure the temp will not drop to much when you put in the duck legs. The temp has to be controlled to get this crispy duck skin.

And for me in germany the sourcing of all the incredients is a bit of effort.

 

And of course the taste, even if it is made perfect, can not really match the taste when you are on sea. Its all about context.

 

cheers

MBerry

 

 

[Hawaiidan]

On 9/17/2020 at 3:14 PM, Mura said:

For us, the library on the "R" ships is far superior to the library on the "O" ships.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

You bet...it is a class act....

[Hawaiidan]

19 minutes ago, MouseBerry said:

Hi,

the recipe is actually in Oceanias public blog (at least the one I can access in Germany)

https://de.oceaniacruises.com/oceania-experience/post/recipes/red-ginger-recipe-watermelon-duck-confit-salad#blog-navigation

 

If the link does not work then just go to the blog and scroll until 2016 Feb 2nd. And the recipe can be found in the iNet as well, but I didn't check if it is the right one.

 

But the processing is a bit tricky. To deep fry the duck confit you need a resonable amount of oil to ensure the temp will not drop to much when you put in the duck legs. The temp has to be controlled to get this crispy duck skin.

And for me in germany the sourcing of all the incredients is a bit of effort.

 

And of course the taste, even if it is made perfect, can not really match the taste when you are on sea. Its all about context.

 

cheers

MBerry

 

 

But you can consul your self with  with some of the finest bier and wine on the planet....and lieberkase auch

Gut  am sea oder land essen.....

[clo]

2 hours ago, StanandJim said:

The "original" recipe diddles around with making a rather complex Asian vinaigrette, but this salad is basically duck fried crispy with the skin on, watermelon cubes and basil.

 

A light splash of Balsamic, adds a very similar, super easy tang.  

 

Enjoy!

 

[pinotlover]

Flavors people!

 

It also has palm sugar, shallots, lime leaf, galangal, fish sauce, tamarind concentrate, cashews, and hoisin sauce.

 

Also Thai basil leaves, mint leaves, cilantro leaves, and thin sliced shallots in addition to the chopped one above! Fresh flavors to excite the palate. It is absolutely not a basic dish, but one that is easy to prepare.

 

We have it regularly at home in summer when fresh ripe watermelon are in season. 

[the more ports the better]

I have a great but rather impractical idea.... Restaurants are open in FL.  Maybe O can dock one of the O ships with Red Ginger in Port Canaveral and open for lunch and dinner.  Then we can just order the watermelon duck salad!  

 

(for those of you who take everything seriously, yes, I realize this is impossible but still a nice thought!!)

[clo]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

We have it regularly at home in summer when fresh ripe watermelon are in season. 

I may try it without the melon as we're not fans. But, yes, follow the recipe. This recipe sounds delish and I can get --even in Reno - every ingredient except leaf. I'm a recipe follower because I think that's why those folks get paid the big bucks 🙂

[Hawaiidan]

2 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Flavors people!

 

It also has palm sugar, shallots, lime leaf, galangal, fish sauce, tamarind concentrate, cashews, and hoisin sauce.

 

Also Thai basil leaves, mint leaves, cilantro leaves, and thin sliced shallots in addition to the chopped one above! Fresh flavors to excite the palate. It is absolutely not a basic dish, but one that is easy to prepare.

 

We have it regularly at home in summer when fresh ripe watermelon are in season. 

Using Petaluma Duck I presume.......I'll take   my duck grilled with a black currant reduction or good demiglaze with a glass of a good Pomerol or St Ermilion  maybe a 2005 or 9

Edited September 20, 2020 by Hawaiidan

[GeorgesGal]

On 9/19/2020 at 2:51 PM, StanandJim said:

The "original" recipe diddles around with making a rather complex Asian vinaigrette, but this salad is basically duck fried crispy with the skin on, watermelon cubes and basil.

 

A light splash of Balsamic, adds a very similar, super easy tang.  

 

Enjoy!

Well this is certainly do-able!  Thanks SandJ!

[clo]

1 hour ago, Hawaiidan said:

I'll take   my duck grilled with a black currant reduction or good demiglaze

Those couldn't be more different than the recipe.

[Paulchili]

3 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

I'll take   my duck grilled with a black currant reduction or good demiglaze with a glass of a good Pomerol or St Ermilion  maybe a 2005 or 9

I'll take my duck "naked" or au natural (crispy skin) as it comes of the spit or oven. It is perfect as is - needs nothing else.

Chinese BBQ or Peking duck  are other options. Forget duck a l'orange.

[Hawaiidan]

49 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

I'll take my duck "naked" or au natural (crispy skin) as it comes of the spit or oven. It is perfect as is - needs nothing else.

Chinese BBQ or Peking duck  are other options. Forget duck a l'orange.

Yup.... don't like  duck l'orange either a sweet stickey  dish designed for American taste....    When in Europe  I eat as much Duck as possible  its on every menu much as we have  filets.....  I'll take the duck over a filet any day of the week     wine and black currant reduction, not sweet but savory and rich over rare grillled duck....

There is bistro in Paso Robles  run by a french guy Laurent  who used to cook at Mich ***. turns out stunning chow.    

 

 Not a fan of the cute watermelon duck. or the miso soaked bass.... I will take Thai  over Chinese BBQ    

[clo]

1 hour ago, Hawaiidan said:

I will take Thai  over Chinese BBQ

How about this?

 

[Paulchili]

5 minutes ago, clo said:

How about this?

 

Fung Zhao - This is one of the few Dim Sum dishes that I will pass on 😀

Edited September 21, 2020 by Paulchili

[clo]

3 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Fung Zhao - This is one of the few Dim Sum dishes that I will pass on 😀

Have you ever tried it? I didn't eat it for many years but once I did (and Bob too) we were hooked. It's the first dish we ask for 🙂

[Hawaiidan]

5 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Fung Zhao - This is one of the few Dim Sum dishes that I will pass on 😀

 

5 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Fung Zhao - This is one of the few Dim Sum dishes that I will pass on 😀

do they serve them with little sox ?   Ill pass on the feet and  jellyfish too  The Chinese eat about everything that crawls, flys  swims or attempts to any of the aforementioned.... Been to a few real Chinese banquets with like 20-30 dishes,  in So San Fran area with  friends and was shocked by what they were serving.   Not a fan after that.

[clo]

Just now, Hawaiidan said:

 Not a fan after that.

Talk about chicken 🙂

 

1 minute ago, Hawaiidan said:

The Chinese eat about everything that crawls, flys  swims or attempts to any of the aforementioned..

We're not Chinese but that's pretty much us. Rat in Thailand, guinea pig (cuy) in Peru. I've not tried balut or durian. Yet.

[Silver Sweethearts]

2 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

There is bistro in Paso Robles  run by a french guy Laurent  who used to cook at Mich ***. turns out stunning chow.       

 

Wonder if that would be Laurent Grangien at what is currently called BL Brasserie?