Pineapple Bacon Fried Rice with Duck Confit
It is widely known that Roy Choi is the master of all things fried rice. He has taught me all I know about the dish, which arguably isn’t much, but that’s not Roy’s fault.
Well, maybe it is, because so far he has ignored all my invitations to hang at my house to cook while drinking whiskey. (Roy - call me!!! *winks)
If you don’t have his cookbook LA Son*, get it immediately. I don’t know if you have figured this out about me, but I like a good story with my food and his stories are fucking amazing.
I adapted Roy’s pork belly fried rice recipe toward a fantastic dish I had in Minneapolis at a restaurant called Lat 14. They have a pineapple bacon fried rice that I order every single time. Every time I’m like, “No, I have to try something different, because it’s all so amazing,” but then the wait staff comes up and I’m like, “PINEAPPLE BACON FRIED RICE WITH CONFIT DUCK!…gah, fuck.”
And they’re like, “Excuse me, mam?”
I grumble, “You heard me. Get me my damn fried rice.”
I have mused over why this works so well as a dish. Have you read Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat?* Well, I guess I’m all about the cookbook recommendations today! Although this one is as much an instruction manual on food as it is a cookbook.
And it’s awesome. Buy it now.
We know about salty, sweet, sour, spicy, and umami as the flavors we, as biological engines, recognize. But food is about so much more than that. The nose - ie our olfactory system - brings us all the flavors we recognize. Spices, herbs, with their piney and floral and citrusy and smoky notes.
And beyond flavor, there’s the texture of the food, and the visual appeal.
Salt, acid, fat and heat are the physical and chemical aspects of food that bring it balance, visual and textural appeal, and carry those basic flavors and subtle notes to us. They bring food to life and make it great.
If you don’t know cassoulet, the French version of pork and beans, it contains all the cured meats. Including cured pork and duck confit. They coexist happily there, and they do here as well.
Bacon brings smokey notes. Duck brings garlic and thyme and grassy flavors. We all know fat is flavor. Well, this dish has bacon fat and duck fat bringing all those fat-soluble aromatics to our gustatory/olfactory system.
(At your next dinner party, in 2022 or so, bring up the gustatory/olfactory system and people will look at you like you are a goddamned genius).
With all this richness and salt from the meats, pineapple brings not only welcome brightness, but both acid and sweetness to the equation. Every time you hit one of those delicious golden nuggets, it’s a jackpot. Triple cherries all the way.
And we must not forget about the Flavor Holy Trinity of ginger, garlic, and scallions.
The Flavor Holy Trinity.
This is the aromatic foundation of this dish, as it is with so much of the cooking of China and southeast Asia. There’s a good reason it is, and I bet you can guess what it is. That’s right! It’s fucking delicious!
And this is Fucking Delicious Friday, so let’s make some fried rice!
*note that while I provide Amazon links, you get double-extra-secret brownie points for going to a local independent bookseller.
I’ve smashed this ginger with the flat of a knife. And yet here I am, fifteen days without a dinner stoppage injury!
Shit You Need
4 slices of thick cut bacon, cut crosswise into strips about the width of your finger.
1-2 Tbs duck fat which you have wisely saved from making duck confit. See how smart you are?
2 scallions, chopped, white and green parts separated.
The first time my son cooked all by himself he asked, “Where does the white part stop and the green begin?” I gave him an inscrutable look and said, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” then walked away. I was fucking with him, of course. In truth, it’s at 2/5 the total length, unless it’s Tuesday.
4 cloves of minced garlic
4 Tbs minced ginger.
I used to freeze, then grate my ginger. But I usually got tired of grating before I had enough ginger. So now I peel a section, cut 1/4 inch thick slices, smash them with the flat of my blade, and then mince the living crap out of them. Very efficient. You can also use a mallet or skillet to smash if you aren’t excited about possibly cutting the shit out of yourself.
Shredded duck confit from two duck legs, a little over 1 cup total.
4 cups of cooked, ideally day-old rice. While this is usually a dish meant to put leftover rice to good use, I sometimes make rice just so I can make fried rice from it. Don’t tell.
4 eggs, lightly whisked with a fork.
1/2 package of frozen peas, thawed
1 cup finely diced fresh pineapple
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
Freshly ground black pepper
Keep Calm and justeffingcook
Here’s the basic layout: you’re going to fry up your bacon, set it aside, and then get everything else chopped and portioned- what those crazy French folk call mise en place. Not just fun to say, but a good idea.
The more you know…🌈
All my mise is totally place’d.
Fry the bacon to medium doneness in a wok or skillet. Remove from pan and set aside to drain on paper towels. Leave behind 2 Tbs bacon grease for later.
Prepare all other ingredients and have at the ready.
Add duck fat to your bacon fat and heat your wok over a medium-high flame. Add ginger, garlic, and scallion whites to pan, add several grinds of black pepper, and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
Add bacon and duck meat and toss to combine.
Add rice and combine well. Let the rice get a little crispy, then move it to the sides and make a well in the center.
Add your eggs to the well, letting them firm up before tossing them into the dish. You’re basically making scrambled eggs in the center of the pan while everything else waits on the sidelines. Fold in the eggs.
Add the soy sauce and sesame oil and toss to combine.
Stir in the peas and pineapple. Heat through.
Fold in the scallion greens, and serve.
It’s 2020. Shouldn’t we have scratch n’ sniff monitors by now?