Welcome back to The Weedeater, Racket’s column exploring the exciting world of cooking with cannabis. Each month, I walk you through a tasty new cannabis-based recipe with foolproof instructions to make it yourself. Some are fast and easy. Others, elaborate and oh so very dumb. But all are delicious and leave you feeling real nice. With that, let’s get cooked!
Duck Fat Orange Bars
It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating decorative gourd season (...motherfuckers), and now—just one fascist government occupation and yet another Middle East war with catastrophic potential later—here we are in citrus season. Time really flies when you’re living through all the horrors!
In the last Weedeater, we made an entire infused duck feast of duck confit (or conqui’d), a duck- fat caesar salad, deviled duck eggs, and crispy duck-fat fried potatoes.
The whole meal was delicious and really packed a punch, but the standout dish of the night was dessert. Using some of the duck fat, I made orange bars with an insanely tasty infused shortbread crust. As promised last time, this Weedeater is all about how to make them. And trust me, you’re going to want to make them. One of the two Jims in attendance for the duck feast has brought up how good they were every time I’ve seen him since. Anytime someone who smokes a ton of weed remembers something for that long, it must really be worth remembering.
Besides the weed, what really sets this recipe off is the addition of orange zest and a little bit of rosemary in the crust. Duck, orange, and rosemary is one of those perfect flavor trios that should be all the proof you need to believe in evolution. If you’re actually making these orange bars during citrus season, don’t be afraid to get a little weird with it. Why use only navels when you can throw some bloods, tangelos, and sumos into the mix? I even bought something called a “mango orange” the other day that tasted like an orange creamsicle. With so many scien-citric breakthroughs at our fingertips, we’d be fools not to make weeded up orange bars with them.
Let’s get into it!
Here’s what you’re gonna need.
For the crust:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1/2 cup cold infused duck fat (to lower the dosage, replace some duck fat with cold butter), cubed (PRO TIP: Pop your duck fat in the freezer for 15–20 minutes to get nice and cold)
For the filling:
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs (or 3 duck eggs if you’re sticking with the theme)
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 2/3 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice (about 2–3 oranges)
Here’s what you’re gonna do.
- Make the crust. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line an 11x17-inch baking dish with parchment paper. The paper should hang over each edge by about two inches. This will allow us to more easily lift the bars out of the dish and will generally save us a lot of headaches down the line. Combine all the crust ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the mixture begins to clump. You’re looking for a “damp sand” consistency. Dump your deconstructed sandcastle into your prepared pan and gently spread the crumbs evenly across the bottom. Bake at 350 degrees for 18–20 minutes or until it’s nicely golden brown.
- Prepare the filling. When the crust is almost as baked as we’re about to be, begin preparing the filling. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and flour to combine. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each egg. After all the eggs are thoroughly incorporated, add the orange zest and juice and whisk yet again.
- Put it all together. Pour the filling over the hot crust and bake for another 20 minutes, or until the filling no longer jiggles and the edges just begin to brown. Now comes the hard part: Let the bars cool completely in the pan for about an hour. Then, pop the pan in the fridge to fully chill for at least two hours, but preferably longer. Overnight is best if you have the patience.
- Scarf! Finally, the moment you’ve been waiting for. Using those handy parchment paper overhangs, lift the bars out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Cut into your preferred size square, dust with powdered sugar, and scarf!
Or, you can take the easy way out.
Since the crux of this recipe is the infused duck fat, this is another one that doesn’t really have a great easy way out. I suppose you could always skip out on making an entire infused duck dinner for your stoner friends, but you’ll still need to infuse some duck fat to make the bars.
To do that, melt some duck fat in an oven-safe pot. Add 4–7 grams of decarbed herb along with a couple cloves of garlic, a knob of ginger, and a sprig each of rosemary and thyme. Cover and put the pot in a 240 degree oven for 4–5 hours. Realize that you basically just made duck confit without the duck and probably should’ve just thrown some duck legs in there to make the full recipe. Strain out the weed and other solids and proceed to make the best orange bars of your life. I promise they’re super easy to make and will get you real high!
Well, that’s all for this one. See you next time!
