Chao Vit Recipe (Vietnamese Duck Rice Soup)

The weather in the Bay Area wasn't all that great over the weekend. It's been rainy and very windy. Making rice soup seemed the appropriate recipe for this type of climate. If you’ve never had it, rice soup is a one-dish meal that is both filling and satisfying. You can add many different ingredients to your basic rice soup, but I made this particular version with my favorite meat: duck. It's called cháo vịt in Vietnamese. I find duck meat to be a lot more flavorful than regular chicken.

Traditionally, it would be served with gơi vịt (Vietnamese duck salad using the remaining meat from the duck stock) and chopped bánh giò cháo quảy, which are Vietnamese savory beignets. I skipped the fried food to keep the meal healthy; I even took the time to strain and remove the extra fat floating at the top of the duck stock!

Duck Noodle Soup Recipe

Roasted duck soup combines succulent roast duck with an incredibly flavorful broth. I cook the roasted duck remnants with beef bones and let them simmer for hours until the broth is sweet and delicious. I then complete the soup phở-style. By that, I mean, egg noodles are quickly boiled, then covered with the broth. The soup is finished with pieces of roasted duck, steamed bok choy and bean sprouts for extra crunch.

To me, the key to making great soup is to focus on the broth. It takes a lot of patience to get the flavor of the broth just right, but I think it's so worth it.

Duck Magret Salad Recipe

Duck prosciutto (thin cuts of smoked duck breast) is one of my favorite cured meats. It makes the most ordinary of salads extraordinary. The combination of saltiness and flavor from the high fat content is irresistible. When I prepared this dish in Paris, for every slice of duck that went into the salad, one went into my mouth as well. I found a supplier on Amazon and I'm going to try them out because I cannot wait until my next trip to France to satisfy my duck prosciutto craving. This would make a perfect first course for a romantic Valentine's Day dinner.

Dieters, avert your gaze! What started as a few innocent pieces of duck prosciutto turned into full-scale gorging of foie gras, oysters, veal and other French delicacies that left me 10 pounds heavier than I was when I arrived. You could say that duck prosciutto was my "gateway" meat .