From the Farm: Duck Soup both a movie and recipe classic, served and savored at YOUYU

Chicago Tribune

2 days ago

There's been much anger and lament (my own included) about this month's government budget cuts for support and funding for PBS radio and TV stations around the country.
While growing up at the farm in the 1970s and 1980s, these were the decades of a rooftop tower antennae for the rabbit-ear television connection to just three major prime time networks, CBS, NBC and ABC, along with our three South Bend 'local TV affiliate stations,' and the added blessings of WGN-Channel 9 and WFLD Channel 32, plus our bonus of PBS Channel 11. (On a clear day, we might also get some fuzzy feed from Channel 34 PBS from Elkhart and Channel 44 from Fort Wayne, despite what we called 'a snowy reception.')
Our prized public and government funded PBS channels were our true 'window to the world' because of both the children's educational programs like 'Sesame Street,' 'Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood,' 'Zoom' and 'Electric Company,' and also a full menu of cooking shows hosted by the likes of late greats 'The French Chef' Julia Child,' 'The Frugal Gourmet' Jeff Smith, 'Yan Can Cook' Chef Martin Yan, and New Orleans kitchen hospitality from Justin Wilson's 'Louisiana Cookin'.'
Just a couple channel clicks from Channel 11 was station numerical neighbor WGN Channel 9 with a late night vault of favorite old black and white movies, from the weekly 'Creature Features' scary films on Fridays, to Saturday nights of classic comedies of teamed humor icons starring a parade of favorites like W.C. Fields and Mae West, the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy and others.
My older sister Pam would occasionally let pesky little brother Phil join any late-night movie viewing fun during her weekend slumber parties and birthday party overnights with her elementary pals Robin and Melanie.
One of my favorite Marx Brothers comedy films has always been the 1933 romp featuring the four brothers Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo titled 'Duck Soup.'
The opening credits of the film have always remained emblazoned in my brain: four white live ducks bobbing carelessly in a soup kettle of hot water above a flame!
I still wonder if this film is one of the reasons I have always loved roast duck and duck soup, the latter a menu rarity these days.
Last weekend, my dad Chester celebrated his 96th birthday with our family and friends with an Elvis-themed ballroom dinner party featuring The King's favorite recipes, followed by a tribute artist concert. My sister Pam invited her school days pals Melanie and Robin to travel to the Region to celebrate Melanie's 59th birthday with duck soup, the recipe, not the movie.
Director Leo McCarey provided the title for the Marx Brothers film by lifting it from an earlier directorial project he shared with Laurel and Hardy. Paramount Studios liked this 'animal title' because it stayed in the theme of animal titles of the brothers' previous three films: 'Animal Crackers' (1930), 'Monkey Business' (1931), and 'Horse Feathers' (1932).
The term 'duck soup' is also American English slang referring to something easy to do, while conversely, 'to duck something' means to avoid it.
The only place I knew to enjoy freshly made duck soup in this area is at YOUYU Noodle Bar at Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana in Gary, which serves up a mouthwatering variety of Asian dishes as well as freshly made noodles in savory broths. The flavors are inspired by Asian street food, and guests have the advantage of enjoying these delicacies in YOUYU's sleek Hong Kong-like atmosphere in the restaurant's anchor location near the Asian gaming area at the casino at 5400 W. 29th Ave. in Gary. It is one of Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana's five restaurants.
Pam and her friends had never visited Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, which opened in May 2021 and showcases an Asian gaming landscape, including an upscale Asian gaming lounge with a variety of exciting table games, including Pai Gow and Baccarat. The Hard Rock hosts speak a variety of Asian languages, including Cantonese, Taishanese, Mandarin and Vietnamese.
Besides dining on their duck soup and other Asian delicacies, Pam's other prominent point of interest was to see the casino's new $1 million win possibility 'on a single spin' slot machines, just added last month, located in the 'high limit room,' starting at '$25 a pull.' The four 'Dragon Link' theme slot machines have a payout that winners can take home immediately. (It's $600,000 for the true winnings after taxes are taken out.) Hammond's Horseshoe Casino added the same gaming slot opportunity in March.
The duck soup recipe at YOUYU involves quite a kitchen concerted effort, many rare and aromatic spices and menu patience. After reviewing a copy of the customized recipe I was kindly provided by the chef, I decided it best to enjoy that particular recipe in the intended dining landscape at YOUYU, where it is easily ladled up and always on the menu with other desired specialties.
I have my own more basic variation clipped years ago and created by the aforementioned PBS TV kitchen claim-to-fame Jeff Smith, aka 'The Frugal Gourmet,' who died in 2004 at age 65.
Smith explained in 1996 on his show: 'In 1873, one of the famed Yankee Clipper ships delivered a cargo of nine Peking ducks to Long Island, New York, and from these nine have descended the millions and millions of domestic ducks of these same species that we know today in the U.S. Despite its rich and distinctive flavor, duck has fallen out of fashion in recent decades but remains a prized bird in China.'
2 quarts fresh or canned chicken soup stock
6 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked in 1 cup warm water, the water reserved
Pinch of ground white pepper
1 cup Chinese greens (bok choy, Napa)
Bones from 1 roast duck, meat and skin reserved
3 green onions, chopped
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 cup cooked duck meat, cut julienne
Salt to taste
1-ounce cellophane noodles (sai fun, found in Asian markets)
1 raw egg (garnish)
1 tablespoon chopped Chinese parsley (garnish)
Directions:
Bring the stock to a simmer and add the mushrooms and the water in which they were soaked.
Add the pepper, greens and bones and simmer for 1 hour.
Drain the stock and discard all solids except the mushrooms.
Cut the mushrooms julienne and return to the stockpot.
Add the green onions, sesame oil and cooked duck meat and skin, taste for salt.
Drop the noodles into the pot and simmer until they are just tender, about 5 minutes.
Place the soup in a tureen and add the raw whole egg right from shell to garnish soup. (It will cook enough in hot broth before serving.)
Add the parsley garnish, and stir the egg into the soup at the table as serving.