Duck with yam puree, pomegranate emulsion and ramps (Jamie R. Liu)

Dish of the Week: Duck
Where: Proof, Dino

The best season to eat duck is drawing to a close. Since it is much fattier than chicken and other forms of poultry, it tends to be particularly appropriate for building up your own winter insulation. And with all that extra fat that makes preparing a whole bird at home particularly difficult, most chefs recommend first breaking it down.

The recipe for Peking duck in Mai Leung’s The Classic Chinese Cook Book that I read when I was eight, sparked my somewhat undignified interest in food and defined for me what good food writing is. She talks about how the primary interest in Peking duck was for the crispy skin, and the laborious process of preparing it. How chefs spent three months learning how to kill and dress the creature properly. Holes are made under wings to keep the skin whole during the cooking process, and air is blown down to the throat to separate skin from meat. Her writing not only made my mouth water; I also learned something new.

Peking duck is no longer my favorite duck dish, since the wonderful gamey flavor of the meat is often not augmented through insufficient seasoning or is masked by the addition of plum sauce and a thick flour pancake. But there are plenty of other great ways to eat duck. One of my upscale favorites is the honey-glazed duck breast at Proof cooked to a perfect medium rare atop pureed yams, seasonal red fruit emulsion, and seasonal green. The acidic notes from the fruit emulsion play well off the richness of the duck, as well as the sweetness of the yams.

And in what is probably one of the best deals in town, Dino serves a duck confit salad featuring a crisp-skinned leg quarter with a slightly sweet glaze and ginger mostarda, along a lovely pile of arugula. The sweet-and-sour combo is a steal at $12, and after you’ve cleaned off most of the meat with your fork and knife, don’t be afraid to go at it with your fingers to get at the last tender little bits.

What was the first food or dish that stuck with you?

Small Bites
Pearly Whites
Hank’s Oyster Bar is hosting their fifth annual oyster fest. The $80 ticket gets you all-you-can-eat oysters, draft beer and door prizes. It kicks off April 21, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at both Dupont and Alexandria locations.

And if you can’t make it to Hank’s, Restaurant 3 in Clarendon will host oyster happy hours from 5 to 9 p.m. on Sundays until May 3. It will feature $7 oyster shooters, raw oysters with bacon jam for $15/dozen or $8/six, $8 oysters Rockefeller, $9 oyster sliders and $6 oyster stew.

Orange Gatorade and Salmon
Giada DeLaurentiis will be at Sixth and I Historic Synagogue with interim Post food editor Bonnie Benwick on March 31 at 8 p.m. She’ll be discussing and signing her new cookbook, Weeknights with Giada: Quick and Simple Recipes to Revamp Dinner. A ticket and book is $35; two tickets and one book is $45. If you can’t make it, she will be at the Arlington Sur La Table at noon the same day.

Artful and Dirty
On March 31 from 8 p.m. to midnight, the Corcoran will host Artini, a cocktail competition inspired by works in their collection. Twelve bartenders will square off to make the best drink. Tickets are $95 for 1869 Society members, and $115 for non-members. Pay a little more for earlier access and cocktail demonstrations. If the ticket price is a little too steep for you, visit the bars around town on the nights they are featuring their entries and vote for your favorite on Washingtonian’s website.