We owe our dining happiness, not only tonight, but for several very special meals to our friends on SV Flip Flops. They’re a fun-filled South African family who clued us in to the joys of “Confit de Canard”, something I think they discovered while hanging out in Martinique or some other French territory. What an amazing treat this stuff is! Confit de Canard, as we can purchase it, is a great big can of slow cooked duck thigh and leg portions in a bunch of duck fat. Already cooked, ready to “heat ‘n eat”, it’s kind of like Shake ‘n Bake! And I helped!
We’re talking about an insanely delicious meal for four folks, and it was the meal of choice for Pat’s recent birthday while he and Celine were with us. Isabel is awfully clever with her menu planning and single can yields 3 killer meals. At about $28 a pop, that’s great value in French Polynesia. We bought ours at Larson’s Mazagin at Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva. As good as the duck flesh is, the lucky chef also ends up with a large amount of duck fat which enhances all kinds of dishes. Fried taters? Use duck fat! Pot of beans? Enhance with duck fat! There is almost nothing that duck fat won’t improve. I grew up in South of the Mason-Dixon line in North Carolina. No self-respecting Southerner would cook up a mess of beans without some pork lard or other source of flavor. Or eat instant grits, for that matter. . .
Tonight we needed only one of the thigh/leg portions for Isabel’s first attempt at chow mein, a very popular dish in the local “snacks” here in French Polynesia – generally costs around $12 US for a plate that’ll feed 2 hungry JollyDogs crew. I crisped up the duck on the grill while Isabel got everything else going, then reported back with the duck ready to mix into the veggie and noodle combo already in the pot. In a flash the best chow mein either of us has ever eaten was on the table. This was such a momentous occasion that we busted out a bottle of “tastes better with food” red wine. We behaved ourselves so there is still half a bottle available for the next round of duck, hopefully tonight! It must be said that greasy foods like duck and steak allow dry Bordeaux reds to be at their finest, enhancing the flavor of the food while kind of cutting the greasy feel and flavor.
Food and good provisions are a source of real pleasure for many of us cruisers. Personally we can’t imagine what it would be like to only view food as a source of sustenance. We’re delighted that we finally made email contact with the local shopkeeper who now has our provisioning list for the next supply ship, arriving around April 19th. Those items will keep us going along with all the stuff still in the larder. The next food order will be through Juliette, a personal shopper in Papeete who will fulfill our provisioning request and put it on the ship to us. She’ll get whatever we want, then we have to do a banking transfer to pay her bill. Even with her fee and shipping it’s still a lot less expensive than the local markets and she’ll send refrigerated items such as organic fresh leafy greens or even ice cream, stuff not generally available in the local market. Here we can get cabbage and carrots and onions and garlic and potatos – the basics.
We sure do miss the big bags of basmati rice and the Starbucks branded French Roast coffee beans we used to buy at Costco. The rice we can buy here is crap. The local coffee is like dishwater. You’d think in a French speaking country where one can purchase some great French cheeses, one would be able to purchase good coffee. Not so, kimosabe. Pat and Celine arrived with a couple bags of that good Costco coffee so we’re still in high cotton, but it will run out. Maxis in Papeete has lots of Costco items including that coffee so we’ll ask Juliette to go there. If only there was a Trader Joe’s. . .
People in hell can at least ask for ice water, can’t they?
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