Only_Oli (The O_Zone) | A place for me to share Stuff

More Generative Art – Spinning

Posted on April 30, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

More computer coding … this one is trying to illustrate how some little details can change things dramatically between calm and chaos.

I started coding this following a conversation with Noe about trigonometric maths and his revisions for an exam. We talked about knowing formulas by heart to score well at exams and learning a deeper understanding of the math involved in the formula.

With the immense amount of knowledge that schools are providing to our kids, it is normal that most of it is just blasting through subjects that other people have spent their entire lives researching and understanding.

In general, I would say that my memory is not very good. In school and at university I would really struggle with subjects that would require a lot of memory storage for facts and figures. Things like names of people or historic facts would be a real pain to drill into my brain. I have forgotten everything from that time. (This includes the French standard chart of account !!!! – https://www.plancomptable.com/ my university teacher for accounting was simply terrible, he was exactly what most people would imagine an accountant would be…possibly knowledgeable but simply inept at transferring any of it to another human.) Note: It is possible to meet amazing people that are also accountants…

However, on some subjects, I did spend the time to try to understand the mechanics or the way things work a bit more. This then gave me some foundation for other knowledge or new subjects to discover. I probably can remember all of that knowledge and can use it in my everyday life. I find it unfortunate that we do not have the time to learn slowly when at school.

Below is 2 small Generative Art code using simple trigonometric. As I was trying to decide what to draw and how to draw it. I remembered how I could use trigonometry to obtain the result I wanted.

I wanted to represent the feeling of people spinning in their own loops. I wanted to have circles drawing other circles in a way that would not feel “mechanic” but would still be a “loops”. I wanted things to spin close to each other with some spinning faster than others, like people trying to help each other to prevent spiralling out of control. I wanted some sort of rhythm when sometimes the circles are moving fast together and sometimes only one is slow. I wanted one going spinning in a different direction. I did not want to have collisions, just things moving next to each other. I wanted it to be soothing to watch, calming for the mind. As I explored the parameters for the code, it was interesting that a single parameter could change the output so dramatically, that the drawing could look out of control and chaotic or allow to see the path of each circle more clearly.

Click this to see it live.

Try this for the live version.

Below is the ENTIRE code. By changing the second line of code between :

let space = 1.5;

let space = 15;

You then get this massive change in the resulting drawings.

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Brain Teaser ! – April fool

Posted on April 1, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

I have not researched yet how this works but I find it fun….and perfect for an April’s fool day….

Pick in your mind one of the following 2 words.

Brainstorm

Green Needle

then push the play button below. It will play a short sound clip, listen attentively. You will only hear the word that you have picked. Try it many times. Try it with friends or family. It works almost 100% of the time. I think it works because our brain is specialised in recognizing patterns. You expect to hear something and as soon as you hear the slightest matching pattern or sound that matches your expectation, then your brain fills the rest and ignores the actual true data. So you truly believe that you have heard a specific word when actually it was just a sound that initially matches the pattern you are thinking about.

Now for more weirdness…if you do this too many times in a row…then your brain is going to “learn” one or the other. It will become a pattern of a pattern and as such you will only hear the particular one that your brain is always associating to the sound pattern.

I love this kind of stuff. Magicians have been using this kind of trick for centuries. More recently there have been a few comics spending time swapping words in the lyrics of well-known songs. Go and check it out it is very funny. Again it is simply tricking the amazing pattern recognition machine that is your brain.

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Proud Dad

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

I could not be more proud of my son, who just participated in a Hackathon at Imperial University where he is studying Computer Science.

https://ic-hello-world.devpost.com/

I love generative art as a way of using technical skills and mathematics for the purpose of creativity. It goes against the usual view that machines are cold and science leads to a world without a soul.

I think that computers are simply modern tools like a stone for a primitive human.

Like those previous tools, they can be used as weapons or enablers for human creativity.

I feel blessed that my amazing little boy has friends that are not only very accomplished students but also creators.

Take a few minutes to read how sophisticated their Hack is…. here.

https://ic-hello-world.devpost.com/

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Pi Day ! 3.14 and what ?

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

Was Pi day today! 14th of March or 3-14 in USA style date.

It is a constant and an irrational number (its decimals goes on forever) and is defined as the number you get when you divide the circumference of a circle by its diameter.

People have tried to find the last digit of Pi for many years. There are databases on the internet with a million digits of Pi etc…and still no pattern to predict the next digit.

I have made over the years several computer codes to find the next digit of Pi. It is a great way to waste a lot of time…

I know a simple way to remember the first 15 digits.

How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lecture involving quantum mechanics…

Count the letters of each word : 3. 1 4 1 5 9 2 6 4 3 5 ….useless but fun trivia.

Try to see if your birthday is in the digits of Pi. Use the below and type your birthday the link will tell you how far down the decimals of Pi you need to go before you can find that sequence of numbers, mine is quite soon at 8434: Pi

I am always puzzled by numbers that have an infinite number of decimal points like Pi. Each time we find a new digit, the number Pi is bigger than the previous one but by a smaller amount…so it is bigger each time for an infinite amount of time but the number Pi itself will never grow to infinite.

Here are the first 1000 digits of Pi :

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510
  58209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679
  82148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128
  48111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196
  44288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091
  45648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273
  72458700660631558817488152092096282925409171536436
  78925903600113305305488204665213841469519415116094
  33057270365759591953092186117381932611793105118548
  07446237996274956735188575272489122793818301194912
  98336733624406566430860213949463952247371907021798
  60943702770539217176293176752384674818467669405132
  00056812714526356082778577134275778960917363717872
  14684409012249534301465495853710507922796892589235
  42019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960
  51870721134999999837297804995105973173281609631859
  50244594553469083026425223082533446850352619311881
  71010003137838752886587533208381420617177669147303
  59825349042875546873115956286388235378759375195778
  18577805321712268066130019278766111959092164201989

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Yakitori Chicken Skewers

Posted on March 7, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

[Update March 2021] I have made this recipe a few times now. The skewers are “fancy” when you have people around for dinner but for just a nice quick evening dinner, it is a bit overkill. So I have now simplified and I start by pan-frying the chicken cut in small cubes, then I broil them in the oven on a tray to give them the BBQ burn style. I serve with lots of spring onions and just plain rice. This can be done in 20-30 minutes and it is delicious. The more sauce the better. Sometimes I keep the skins on the tights, which make some nice crispy bit. (does not work for the skewers version)

[Initial post 2nd Dec 2018]: I want to make this one. Called Negima Yakitori.

I have been wondering of Yakitori sauce was a different sauce from soy sauce or plum of fish sauce etc….turns-out it is simple to make with the basic ingredients of Japanese cooking.

Posting on my blog just to remember to try…

Ingredients :

100ml Soy Sauce
100ml Mirin
50ml Sake + 50ml Water (or 100ml Sake if you want more humpffff !)
You can also do 1/3 Soy, 1/3 Mirin, 1/3 Sake
2 tbsp sugar
500g Chicken Tights (boneless and skinless)
Spring onions
Bamboo skewers to hold the chicken during cooking

How to make :

Put Soy, Mirin, Sugar, Water and Sake in saucepan and let cook in medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes until sauce is thick and glossy. (It will reduce)
Cut the chicken into 3cm cubes and put on the bamboo skewers spaced with a piece of Spring Onion.
Soak the skewers in water before using them to avoid burning them in the oven. (helps with moist chicken as well)
There are 2 methods: either broiler or saucepan
- Warm a frying pan to medium heat.
- Set the chicken skewers in the pan and baste with the sauce.
- Cook by turning the skewers and basting more and more until fully cooked.
Or with the broiler
- Set the broiler on high
- Put the skewers on aluminium foil over a cooking tray
- turn a couple of times and baste as you cook
keep some of the sauce for a final coating before serving

Hope I try this before Xmas, might be an easy one to make for the whole big family….

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Time Capsule

Posted on February 17, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

This is a post I will review regularly and update like a time capsule about time :

I have been interested in “Time” for a while. It is something that I find particularly troubling. It is why I have that little catchphrase at the top right of my blog. I simply want to capture here some thoughts and questions I ask myself about time.

Like many, I “feel” once in a while that “time” flies fast and others that it lingers. Is it my perception of time or actually time that dilates and contracts as we move through space at variable speed as we spin around stars in the Universe? For sure this further confinement is more taxing on all around us and collectively we are probably slowing time by moving less! In general, I think that time actually shrinks and expands under the influence of the entire world. (not just the people but the whole universe in its infinite entirety)

Science says that time and space should be considered as one thing. Essentially if I move around in space, I also move in time. Time is personal to each one of us and does not tick/flow at the same speed if I move fast through my garden compared to the motionless flowers. I like things that go fast or do things rather than sit, I struggle to read because it feels so slow to capture data. I like to make decisions and move on. I want to ski fast, ride a fast motorbike, drive a fast car, live. Maybe it is for me a disguised way to slow-down time. Unfortunately, it is not possible to “stop” moving in this time-space, you are always drifting because of the laws of physics.

Do we perceive time passing more quickly as we get older simply because our brains get slower to process things? Science has shown that our brains can only process data at a few frames per second. Our brain gives us the illusion of continuity when it actually can only capture discrete events and process them with little speed in comparison to machines. So the quicker you think, the slower the world appears to you. Which is helpful when tripping during a walk to avoid a bad fall but rarely used consciously to simply enjoy the beauty of Nature. Next time you see something beautiful try to think very fast and you will probably “really” make it last longer.

If time travel was possible, I do not think I would want to revisit the past. There are things I have done or said that I am less proud of than others and wish I had taken a different path, however, I am happy that they have happened so I could learn from them by remembering them. It is the same for good things, romantically it would be nice to relive good times but they would most certainly lose much of their magic, I prefer to remember them as a sailing tack-point in my lifetime. I believe my present to be richer because of my past. I am not so clear-cut on the possibility of travelling in the future. I would like to know it but do not want to miss out on the journey to it either. The good news is that I do not have to make a choice.

So the present is a good place and the only place I exist. I seek to simply enjoy today because soon it will be the good old days that I reminisce. I don’t like planning and it stresses me, it is creating a “certainty” in the future. With confinement, many find comfort in planning a new holiday or a future event, it simply does not work for me. I cannot change my past and arguably cannot do much about my future either as it will never exist until I act. One could be scared by all this weirdness and philosophical thinking. Although my views create a profound need for sparkles and adrenaline in my present, I still think that I am in control of where I swim in the river, just not in control of where the river is taking me. It also makes me less anxious about having made bad decisions or making mistakes in my present or even fearing my own ineluctable entropy.

This is also why I want to do things now and not wait for tomorrow. If I have to wait for tomorrow, let’s start early.

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Happy Valentine ’21

Posted on February 13, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

Happy Valentine in full confinement…although this round is a lot harder we can still try to have normal lives.

I have been playing with the “Processing” language for many years. [probably something like 2012]. The recent evolution has been towards P5.js which is a javascript library that provides very simple functions to make drawings on a webpage Canvas. I have used on occasions OpenProcessing but recently I have enjoyed the simplicity of P5.js to create quick visuals for the simple Generative Art I make.

I was inspired by some work done by Etienne Jacob after watching a youtube video of the Coding train of Daniel Shiffman…

I had to learn a lot about “easing” functions and GIF-making as well as dive back into trigonometric functions!

My preferred one is “X-plode”.

This first one is “Pi-R” :

This one is “+lse”:

This one is “X-plode”:

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Machining Aluminium

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

I made a clamping tool for holding the wheel of my bike on my workshop table.

I designed the part with Fusion360 on the computer and then started making it from a rough-cut from an aluminium bar.

Cutting such a thick piece of aluminium is not easy and takes a lot longer than one would expect. I use an electric hack-saw but still, it is hard work.

Once the rough block is cut approximately to size, it is time for proper machining with my CNC-Mill. The starting block was about 5.5cm wide in all dimensions. This is almost the maximum size for my little milling machine! I had to get a bit creative with the holding clamps etc…

I used a fly cutter (a scary piece of tool steel that appears to be “flying” over the part), it was creating so many chips of metal in the workshop that I had to build some sort of box to enclose the mill. I use my laser cutter to make the pieces and attached them to the wooden base.

This project was a classic demonstration that once you start one project it spans many other small projects.

Just to change a small ratchet on my bike, I had to build the aluminium clamp, I had to build a box for the mill, I made some helping tools such as a laser-cut protractor, I then had to modify the software on the CNC Mill to make the cutting less tedious, I had to update the raspberry pi that controls the Mill etc… This would have frustrated me to no end in the past when “only” a weekend was the time I could do any of this. now, I take the time to do everything one step at a time. If I can’t do it today, who cares…

By the way, once I had everything done.(a full day of work)..changing the ratchet only took a couple of minutes…

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Pear and Chocolate Crumble

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

Ingredients for 4 Ramequins:

80g flour
80g Sugar + some for the pears cooking.
80g Salted Butter + some for pears cooking.
4 pears
30g of Chocolate

How to make:

Mix flour and sugar
Crumble the butter into the flour and sugar mixture
Put mixture into the fridge
Peel the pears and cut in medium size cubes. (remove any seeds before).
Chop the chocolate into pieces
Warm the oven to 180 celsius.
Put the pears in a frying pan with a bit of butter for about 5 minutes. Make them nice and caramel by sprinkling some sugar on them. About a tablespoon or 2.
Sprinkle some sugar on the pears to make a bit of a caramel outside
Put the chocolate and the pears into the ramequins, then sprinkle the four mixture on top.
Cook in the oven for 40 minutes.

Best consumed slightly warm with a bit of creme fraiche!

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Tax return time….or is it ?

Posted on January 24, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

Getting to this time of year when I struggle to get myself fired up and seems that days go too fast without very much done…

We had a fun snow day today, nothing like what we used to get in the USA but something special for London and was just fun to go out in the falling snow.

When I think of how much I used to get done in a day! Soon to be 2 years.

Got to do my tax return….should be simple…but never really…

Also, this time of year his loaded with emotional things like the anniversary of the passing of good friends, Darren Hooker, Paul foster, James Marshall. As usual, I made sure I would go to see them at the CAT and have a drink for their souls to rest in peace and give me a bit of kick in the backside. Remind me how lucky I am.

Darren was the most forceful, as usual, he reminded me to just get on with it! Because of COVID the CAT was closed obviously, so I sat on a wall along the canal close to my old office. (What a dump it has become now…). Andrew called and we had a good cheer for our departed friends.

It was a long ride to get there but I was rewarded with sunshine all the way back home.

There are more anniversaries coming for recent losses in the family, Phillipe, Guy…I am going to make some plans because I know it will be another beautiful day of sunshine.

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Untitled – on purpose

Posted on January 22, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

As I sometimes, use my blog for the purpose of a life diary, I feel compelled to note the final day of Donald Trump as the president of the United States of America. (20th January 2021). I despise everything he represents. He has been a constant source of previously unreached levels of human indecency. Unfortunately, his slide down the toilet bowl of history does not appease my sense of unease with the overall system of administration, social media, press, establishment or the corporate greed which has been complicit, in my opinion, at letting him roam without proper restraint. My cynical mind assumes it was all for their own agendas, trading everybody’s good for their own. Taking a path that does not require to fight the bully or finding loopholes to appease their consciences. Just letting things happen because somebody else also did. Although I continue to be perplexed how some people can within the same time frame achieve so much when others struggle to do their tax returns, I certainly have no envy of his life. I strongly believe in Karma. As a family, we have recently been binge-watching the series “Lucifer”, it portrays the devil on earth as an angel with the mission of punishing EVIL acts with an eternity of pain in a remote place called Hell. I somehow prefer to think that there is somewhere on earth somebody bringing joy and sunshine today to more than offset the insignificant contribution of Mr Donald. Trump.

I hesitated in posting anything at all as I am, in some way, complicit of promoting his name one last time. As such, this post has no title, no photos, no formating, the smallest font to reflect his contribution to humankind.

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Monk fish and Chorizo

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

This is a simple and quick recipe for a very nice fish dish.

It has this Spanish feel with the chorizo and saffron.

Although Monkfish is usually expensive, I think you get what you paid for.

You need to be generous with the cream to have a nice sauce to dip into with freshly made bread or rice.

Preparation cannot be more than 10 minutes and cooking is 7 minutes!

Ingredients:

Depending on the number of people probably half a Monkfish tail per person. Recipe here is probably for 450g of fish or one tail.
A tablespoon of butter
20cl of single cream
5 cl of white wine
Half a spicy chorizo (nicer if it has a bit of a kick)
A Red Sweet Pepper
A bit of fresh coriander to sprinkle on top at the end
A couple of pinches of Safron (this is important, it give a nice taste to the overall dish). Buy it online if you cannot find it at the local supermarket.

How to make:

Slice the pepper in thin long pieces. (no seeds)
Chop the Chorizo in small cubes. About 1cm cube.
Remove the tailbone of the Monkfish and cut large medallions. (maybe 3 pieces per half-tail/filets).
Cook for 6 minutes (set a timer to help) in a pan the monkfish with the chorizo and the pepper and a tablespoon of butter.
Do not overcook the fish.
Add the cream and the saffron and the wine and cook for only 1 more minute!
Sprinkle some chopped coriander and serve immediately.
Goes very nicely with courgettes linguine, rice or simply a slice of bread.

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Happy birthday to my Brother !

Posted on January 10, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

I have recently started using my Sherline mini-metal lathe and mill which I purchased in the USA in 2007 or 2008. I have been learning how to machine metal very slowly over the years. I love the precision and process of machining metals. I think I would have been a good toolmaker in the past. (or there is one inside my DNA).

I would like to acquire a slightly larger lathe and a larger mill to be able to use “standard” size tools for them but for the moment the mini lathe and the mini mill are perfect for the small projects that I am doing at the moment.

There is so much to learn!

This is what I love the most about my workshop. I can simply get lost in upgrading, changing, moving, learning, cleaning, etc…it is so much more satisfying than browsing the internet or reading a book (for me) as there is always some sort of creative output at the end. Even if it is only a small cube of brass or a very flat piece of aluminium…

As I dived into the Spinning executive toys that I recently discovered. (see previous post). I decided to make a nice brass spinning top for my little brother’s birthday.

It is presented in a laser-cut bamboo box that I made for it. The box is designed to be 45mm by 45mm by 45mm. The spinning top is made out from a 22mm brass bar, and has been machined with the lathe and then polished to a high shine to remove cutting marks.

Through much web-browsing, I discovered that to make the toy spin for longer, it is best to have a nice round tip. I add a small ball from a high-quality skateboard-bearing and press-fit it on the under-side of the spin-top. (isn’t that a sentence hard to read !)

If you make sure that most of the weight is as low as possible and take very good care to have a balanced round part, the toy will spin for a very long time. The shaft is hollow to reduce the high weight. This one is about 17grams and 20mm in diameter. It can spin for 5 minutes very easily.

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Life recursion

Posted on January 8, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

As 2021 starts on a low with more confinement, it feels like we are all trapped in some sort of recursion loop…

Although recursion loops are an interesting coding approach to solve some algorithms problems, in real life it is just a bummer.

Like for the last couple of years, I have made a book of my blog.

Although there are parts of 2021 that I would just want to delete, the book is a nice reminder that there was actually a fair amount of fun and things that did not “only” relate to COVID-19.

So here is a blog post of the book of my blog…next year there will be a book with a page of the book of my blog in the book of my blog….more recursion…

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Gnocco Fritto

Posted on January 3, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

Since a trip to Italy to go and see our friends Anne and Louis-Carl, I have been wanting to make these Gnocco Fritto. We had some in a small restaurant close to a lake and it was simply amazing. I knew it was not much more than bread, but the secret is using a quality “Lard”. I use the Iberico Pork fat which comes in 190g jars. You will need 2 of these to put into the pastry and to use as cooking oil.

Ingredients:

350g Flour
1 teaspoon of Yeast
160ml of warm Water (it is possible to do it with milk as well)
A pinch of Salt
2 X 190g of Lard. 50g Lard for the pastry and the rest for the cooking

How to make:

Dilute the yeast in the 160ml of warm water, leave until it foams a little
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl making a small well in the middle
Mix until you have a nice elastic dough. Probably for 5 minutes.
Make a ball out of the dough (tuck-in), leave in the bowl covered with cling film for 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.
Melt all the remainder of fat into a deep pan and bring to 170-180 degrees C.
Roll the dough with some flour to make a thin sheet of dough about 3mm thick.
Cut the dough with a sharp knife in 5 to 6cm squares.
Dip the square pieces of dough into the frying pan and let cook until nice and golden. They will puff up nicely!
Move onto a plate with a towel paper and eat immediately with some charcuteries or Italian Coppa or soft cheese! Wine is optional but recommended.

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Brex-Shit has started

Posted on January 2, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

Day 1…must get used to full-on British food…!

Only joking, I adore living in the UK and have so many great friends that make living in the UK an amazing experience, despite being far away from the rest of our family.

We just need to move forward with the new “deal” and make the most of it.

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Tarte a la Rhubarbe

Posted on January 1, 2021 by Olivier Dehon

[This post was first done in July 2012 !]

I like Rhubarb tart, specially if I make it with the Meringue top…below the recipe and a picture of the actual thing being eaten…Enjoy.

Tarte a la Rhubarbe Meringuee facon “Mamy”.

Ingredients:

250g Farine

125g Beurre

5 oeufs

20cl creme fraiche

40g sucre normal

60g sucre glace

1 sachet sucre vanille

levure boulanger / eau tiede

1 pincee de sel

Quelques tiges de Rhubarbe

sucre pour faire degorger la rhubarbe

1- Pate comme la tarte au sucre.

250g de Farine

125g de beurre (ramolis un peu)

2 jaune d’oeuf. (garder les blancs pour meringue)

Levure (une dose, 1 cuiellere a cafe) bien diluee dans de l’eau tiede avec une cuillere de sucre

melanger a la main ou au robot

ajuster farine si necessaire pour obtenir une obule de pate non collante aux doigts.

laisser monter dans le four pour 1 heure (off)

2- Preparation de la rhubarbe

laver la rhubarbe, couper en des de 2cm. Mettre a degorger avec du sucre pendant 1 heure. (quand la pate monte)

passer la rhubarbe a la peole a feu moyen pour degorger encore un peu.

ne pas faire trop cuire. rhubarbe doit etre encore solide/croquante.

3- Preparation Tarte

rouler la pate. / poser sur platine en utilisant le rouleau.

poser la rhubarbe sur la pate.

4- Appareil / Flan

1 oeuf entier, et 2 jaune d’oeuf (garder 1 blanc pour la meringue), 20cl de creme fraiche et du sucre vanille. (une bonne dose). foueter legerement. verser sur la pate.

Mettre au four a 180. Cuire presque completement. Environ 20/25 minutes. Garder un peu de marge pour pouvoir faire la meringue.

5- Meringue

3 blanc d’oeuf. 60g sucre glace. Monter les blancs (solide / 2 minutes avec robot) avec une pincee de sel. melanger le sucre apres que les blancs soit monte. mettre sur la tarte chaude et remettre au four pour 15 minutes. bien verifie pour ne pas bruler. Reduire la temperature vers 160 degres.

Sortir tarte et laisser refroidir.

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Spinning top – Rabbit Hole

Posted on December 29, 2020 by Olivier Dehon

Just made my first Spinning top as a gift for Noe.

He is a fan of the movie inception so I thought it would be a nice gift.

As consequence, I just fell into a massive rabbit hole….

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Dry Cured Duck

Posted on December 29, 2020 by Olivier Dehon

[First post May 2017]. Just about to start curing some duck filets. Starting with 2 filets of Duck, I am salting using Kosher salt (sticks better to the meat) and lots of spices of all sorts. The rub will be mostly pickling spices (coriander/cloves/mustard pepper) a few dried herbs, black pepper and brown sugar.

[update 1] May bank holiday weekend! About 10 days that the duck is in the fridge and in the muslin. Just got my meat slicer (my Xmas present from my wife), can’t wait to try the thin slices of meat with a glass of wine.

[Jan 2021: update 3] I have made this several times but always been a bit disappointed that it is too salty once finished. So I recommend starting with filet in the salt only for 12 to 24 hours. Then rinse well ad pat dry with towel paper. Then rub with spices as you see fit. I like it “simple” with only once type of pepper or one set of herbs. The mixed spices tend to make it to overpowering versus the duck. Leave in the fridge for a few days, and then take into a well ventilated cool place. If you leave in the fridge only and for the whole curing period, the meat tends to pick-up some of the smells of the fridge. So I prefer to dry it outside in the garage in the “Garde Manger” I made.

Ingredients:

2 Duck Fillets (approx 400g)
25g Salt
25g Brown Sugar (Cassonade)
Pickling Spices (or any spices you like)
Dried Herbs
Black Pepper

How to Make:

As per the update above. Start with only salt for 24 hours in the fridge to start the curing process.
After 24 hours in the salt in the fridge, rinse well the filet and pat dry with a paper towel.
Grind all the spices and mix in a bowl.
Score the skin of the duck filets
Cover the fillets with the spice rub and put into a muslin.
Leave the Duck for a couple of days in the fridge, to accelerate the initial drying of the ducks.
Transfer to a cool and well-ventilated area to hang for a few weeks. (if you have no other option, you can keep in the fridge as well but the meat might capture a little the fridge smells. Let the meat dry until the weight is 70% of the starting weight.
I put a small tag to keep track of the “target” weight.

[UPDATE 2 Dec.2018] I have done this recipe a few times now. It is important to rince well the duck. It tends to be a bit salty if not. I also got into the habit of putting “only spices” on the meat after the salting period and into the “curing” period. For example I did this year a Pink Peppercorn only duck and a Provence Herbs one.

Cut thinly and eat as an appetiser or put onto pasta.

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Last Minute !

Posted on December 25, 2020 by Olivier Dehon

Last-minute preparations for a very strange Christmas with all the families in different locations and shopping substantially impacted by the London confinement rules.