How to make Gound Duck

This is a primer on how to make ground duck. I'm not an expert in this field, but I couldn't find any butcher shop that would do it for me so I wanted to provide some guidance for people who want to try my Turducken Burger recipe (link). Suffice it to say that if you undertake this procedure it is at your own risk, and that I bear no legal or moral responsibility if things go horribly wrong. Always be careful with food sanitation, especially when dealing with poultry.

Before you start, you can't grind duck without some sort of machine. There are three kinds, manual, stand-alone units, and meat grinding attachments for mixers. If you don't own a grinder, you will have to buy or borrow one before you start. I read on the web that a hand mixer is best for grinding poultry, but I used a KitchenAid stand mixer with a grinding attachment.

First things first; here is a video on how to get the most meat from your duck:

Note that this video doesn't mention the gizzards (that come inside a packaged duck) or the wings -- but we won't be using those for the ground duck.

Once I deboned my duck, I removed all the fat and skin and the bones from the legs. It might sound complicated, but if I can do it so can you. Take your time and remember, you only need 7 oz. of ground duck for the recipe, so even if you don't get every last morsel you should have plenty.

Once I had all the duck meat I was going to get, I cut it into small pieces, about 1" square. I placed those on a flexible plastic cutting board, spaced out so they weren't touching.

Then I chilled the duck meat in the freezer for 15 minutes, took it out and flipped the pieces over, and put it back in the freezer for another 10 minutes. This didn't actually freeze the duck, but it chilled it enough to make the grinding a lot easier.

I set up my grinding machine and once I took out the cold duck, I used the medium to medium-high speed to grind it quickly.

That is about it... good luck with whatever you are using the ground duck for.

- Scott

Book #23: Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

The twenty-third book I read since May 2008 is:

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

***** Note: Spoiler Alert!! *****

I think Card learned a lot in the 14 years between the original publication of Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. I read Ender's Game earlier this year, and I thought it was interesting but flawed, with little explanation of why Ender was the chosen one and a sudden ending that caught the reader completely by surprise.

This novel encompasses the same time period as the earlier one, but is told from the perspective of a different character, a friend of Ender's (and comrade in arms) named Bean. And this time there are no real questions as to where Bean came from, we are given nearly a complete history and see him grow from a street kid to a key player in the war to save Earth. And given Bean's agile mind and ability to get information he shouldn't have, the reader also knows some of the behind-the-scenes discussions and the ending that was too sudden in the first book is less jarring this time.

In other words, having Bean as your narrator helps because he figures out enough to keep you in the loop but there is even more tension because you understand the stakes this time.

I also found the writing flowed better and the story came through the action and less from long monologues or talky conversations. Some of it came from the latter, but those sections worked because you could see Bean out-thinking the other person and sifting through the words for new nuggets of information.

I had my doubts about reading this so soon after the first book, but I'm glad I did. It nearly cracked my Top 5 list (at right), though I didn't like it quite as much as Oscar Wao.

Worth the read, perhaps even best read before you read Ender's Game.

- Scott

Book #22 The Host by Stephanie Meyer

The twenty-second book I read since May 2008 is:

The Host by Stephanie Meyer

****Note: spoiler alert****

I love a good story that explores what it means to be a person. The movie Blade Runner is one of the classic tales that ponders whether or not being born makes you human, or if it is something more. And this book held that possibility, with a reverse-telling of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

However, The Host didn't end up doing a very good job of fleshing out the issues it held in its hands. It's a very intriguing concept; but most characters are either well-worn stereotypes (Kyle, Jeb, even Melanie), meaningless props (all of the rest of the Souls), or window-dressing/furniture (most of the rest of the crew living in the caves).

Only Jared, Doc, Wanda/Wanderer have the kind of complexity to explore the issues at hand, and unfortunately that wasn't enough to make it an interesting discussion. The rest of it seems more like a lurid look at love triangles where there were only two bodies but three "people."

Also unfortunately, the book is over 600 pages, and you can predict how it will end about 200 pages in. By that time, I was invested enough to want to finish. Problem is that I didn't find Meyer's writing style gripping enough to hold my attention.

Meyer is an okay writer, but she has a bit of a tin ear for dialogue and has several characters who do the same thing over and over (Jamie, and even the main character spring to mind). So on the whole, the idea was great, the story was well constructed, but the characters and writing weren't enough to sustain 600 pages.

Okay, but not worth the effort unless you've read and enjoy the style of the writer.

- Scott

Book #21: Leading Geeks

The twenty-first book I read since May 2008 is:

Leading Geeks by Paul Glen

I actually saw Glen speak a few years ago, and was promised a copy of his book at the time. I never got that copy, and turns out I didn't miss much. The book is decent, but I didn't learn anything in it that he didn't cover in his presentation.

My advice; get it at the library and read about the first one-third. The rest is rehash of the initial thesis, which is that geeks are different from the rest of us and need totally new thinking by their managers. Not a ground-breaking thought, but Glen starts out doing a good job explaining why the old models don't work and then peters out as he reproves the same thing over and over.

- Scott

Book #22: The Giver

The twenty-second book I read since May 2008 is:

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Labeled juvenile fiction, The Giver is a lot deeper than most books aimed at that age group. It takes place in a world without meaningful differences, where people's obedience is their greatest strength, and where all feelings are discussed and dismissed before they get out of hand. It's a world of control that evolved out of a fear of chaos.

In some ways it's like the world in The Handmaid's Tale (by Margaret Atwood), given that the society is closed and insular but you don't really know how far it reaches and what is just beyond it. And that uncertainty helps hold it all together.

But back to The Giver; the main character is a teen named Jonas and he is chosen for the ultimate job -- to serve as the repository of all emotions of the greater society. It's important because some decisions can't be made through sheer logic, so when the elders are faced with tough choices they will call on Jonas to make the right decision.

But the new job comes with difficulties: the newly provided freedom to lie to those close to him, knowledge of his family's (and the larger society's), and understanding of the horrors of starvation and war. He is up to the task, but it is exhausting to both him and "The Giver" (the man giving him the emotions).

However, once Jonas begins experiencing the joys and sorrows of emotion, he just can't bring himself to deny them to the rest of his community. And even though he is called "The Receiver" through most of the book, at the end he sacrifices himself to become the real "Giver" -- gifting emotions to all those in his orbit in exchange for his own life.

The Christ symbolism is thick here, but the tale is one that shows the scary underbelly of conformity and ultimately shuns it for the unpredictable world of natural beauty and feeling. A quick read and a layered story that held my nephew's attention (no small feat). I'd recommend it; and given how quick a read it was, I'll probably re-read it again soon.

- Scott

Book #20: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

Twentieth book I read since May 2008:

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken

I enjoyed the book, though it didn't tell me a lot I didn't already know or suspect. Yes, the right-wing spin machine lies, bolstered by the middle-right mainstream media outlets and the conservatives who own and operate them. And yes, the lies can weaken freedoms and squelch debate here at home and support catastrophic foreign policy mistakes.

It was funny at times and informative all the time. I didn't care much for Franken's imagined comic book (Operation Chickenhawk -- starring the stars of the right wing who somehow got out of military duty); he was more pointed and funnier when he stuck to debunking the lies.

But what was missing was a solution to the problem of liars. The louder you denounce them, the more their lies are repeated by a media hungry to report on the fight. And the more you ignore them, the bolder they seem to become. All the while rationality dies a slow death at the hands of talk radio and screaming heads on television.

The solution might be to let both sides scream themselves silly and continually elect centrist politicians. And maybe someday, when the screamers realize the error of their ways, they'll join us in civil society again.

- Scott