Smyth County, Virginia, located in the mountains of southwest Virginia, offering outdoor adventures and small town charm.

Details online at VisitSmythCountyVA.com.

[uplifting music] [Chef Missy] Everything great in life starts with a vision.

[♪♪♪♪♪] But foresight and navigational instincts are paramount to see a vision through to the end.

When I was a young girl, I was going to be a world explorer.

I studied maps for hours, read National Geographic Magazine, and was quite obsessed with anything international.

In the smallness of my southern world in the 1970s, a trip to our favorite Chinese restaurant qualified as an official international sojourn.

On one occasion, my father pre-ordered Peking Duck.

Oh, it was new and imaginative, and its tight, crispy skin and dark meat dripping with orange syrup left an indelible mark on my palate.

I never asked where the duck came from.

Perhaps I thought it was China, and that made it extra cool.

I did not become a world explorer, but I am stewarding a different vision, and I'm often learning how to navigate while navigating.

So most days, I feel like a duck, gliding calmly on the water while paddling like crazy underneath the surface.

But I wouldn't mind having both a duck's vision and foresight.

A duck can see both near and far simultaneously, and in sharp focus.

They're able to see almost 340 degrees around, can move each eye independently, and sleep with one eye open.

Their vision is only enhanced by their innate perceptivity.

Migratory ducks always leave well before the winter storm comes.

They discern their season, and take cues from rivers, mountains, even the sun, the stars, and the Earth's magnetic field.

They have a vision.

Their navigational instincts are activated.

Suddenly, they're off to Florida, or better yet, Southwest Virginia.

I might not be able to predict the weather or the hereafter, but I have discerned that friendship bonded with hunting stories, laughter, and crispy, fatty, tender duck is in my near future.

Hi, I'm Chef Missy, and I'm the French Magnolia, a true-blue southern gal with French ancestry running through my veins.

My husband Thomas is a wine expert and hospitality veteran.

Throughout our careers, we've worked for some incredible restaurants and hotels, from Atlanta to New York City to Charleston, South Carolina, to the edge of a mountain at a 5-star Relais & Châteaux.

But pretty soon, the French Magnolia, a luxury, movable feast company, was born.

We pour into your home and set an elaborate stage for a multi-course culinary and wine experience.

We settled in Bristol, Virginia, a good place to live, and when we're not working, we love connecting with local farms and Appalachian culture.

From farm, field, garden, and stream, to Chef and Somm, to the table, all in one day, this is the French Magnolia Cooks.

Today I was up at 4 a.m. to brave the cold for a duck hunt with our field and stream expert, John Gurley, his brother, JB, and our local guide, Jimmy Cheers, who owns and operates a third-generation wildlife sporting business.

We're kicking off our hunt for migratory ducks on the Holston River in Bristol, Virginia.

Okay, John, what kind of migratory ducks were you guys after this morning?

-Well, today we were after mallards.

And you'll recognize those with the green head.

And they're a beautiful duck.

They're a big duck, have orange feet.

And we were lucky, though, we got to see a lot of different types of ducks today.

We saw some Wigeons, we saw some Gadwalls, some Canvasbacks, and some Black Ducks.

So we had a pretty good cross-population of birds.

A mallard is a type of duck, and you have a drake, which is the male that has the green head, and then you have a hen, which are brown, as in most species.

The male is the better-looking because it's easier to see.

The females are camouflaged.

-So we are on the Holston River, which is so beautiful, in Southwest Virginia.

Why would we be on a river versus a lake or a pond?

-Today we're on the river because it's been so cold.

We've had an Arctic blast kind of come through, and the lakes and the ponds where the ducks usually sit are frozen.

-Tell me about this.

-Okay, so this is a duck call, and there's different calls you use to talk to the ducks.

Do you want to hear one?

-Yeah, I need to hear it.

-I kind of felt like you would want to hear it.

So, if you want to get their attention, and the way you do it is you say, "Quit, quit, quit," into the duck call.

So, ready?

-Wait, what is that again?

-If you want it to sound, you just say, "Quit, quit, quit, quit, quit, quit."

-Quit?

-Quit.

-Quit, quit, quit, and that's basically what you're saying?

[duck call] -So I'm just saying, "Quit."

-That is so cool.

-And so, that gets their attention, and then if you want to then kind of call them a little bit, you want to give them a feeding call, which as they're flying over, you say, "Hey, there's some food down here."

You say, "Tucka, tucka, tucka, tucka, tuck."

Tucka, tucka, tucka, tucka, tuck.

-Tucka, tucka, tucka, tucka, tuck.

-Right?

[duck call] So I'm just saying, "Tucka, tucka, tuck."

-That is awesome.

Okay, John, tell me about what gauge shotgun shell you used today.

-Today we used a 12-gauge shell, and that's because a 12-gauge is more powerful than a 20-gauge, which we used on dove.

A dove is a smaller bird.

A duck is much larger, so we used a larger shotgun shell.

On waterfowl, we use steel shot, not lead shot, and that's trying to be more environmentally sound.

We don't want to throw a bunch of lead out into a river or any wetlands.

This is a classic duck gun or goose gun.

It's a Model 12 Winchester.

It's a 1957, and it's a pump.

[Chef Missy] So, may I hold it?

-Certainly.

-Yeah.

-And whenever you hand a gun to somebody, -Yes.

-you always want to make sure that this is open.

-Okay.

-So that you can see that it's empty and there's no shell in it.

-Ah.

-You never want to hand anybody a loaded weapon.

[Chef Missy] Right, especially a southern woman.

-That's exactly right.

-You just never know where we are.

-That's it.

[♪♪♪♪♪] [Jimmy Cheers] All right, here we go.

[John Gurley] Here we go.

[Jimmy Cheers] John, you're already loaded up?

[John Gurley] Yes, sir, I sure am.

[♪♪♪♪♪] [Jimmy Cheers] Man, what a beautiful morning.

[John Gurley] Boy, isn't it?

[duck call] [♪♪♪♪♪] [gunshot] [John Gurley] You got one.

Nice.

[Jimmy Cheers] This is a profession that I truly believe that you can't do it long-term or successfully if you don't absolutely love it.

[♪♪♪♪♪] [gunshot] [♪♪♪♪♪] [duck call] [gunshots] [♪♪♪♪♪] [duck call] [♪♪♪♪♪] -[gunshot] -[Jimmy Cheers] Good shot.

All right, good job, man.

When herons nest, they nest as a colony like that.

It's called a rookery.

It's pretty neat.

Give those guys a few more months, and they'll be sitting on the nest all together.

[John Gurley] Come on, come on, come on.

Aah.

Can't shoot them when they're flying.

[Jimmy Cheers] Yeah.

[♪♪♪♪♪] [duck call] [gunshot] [♪♪♪♪♪] [Jimmy Cheers] Get him, get him, get him.

In front.

In front.

Get him.

Get him.

-[gunshot] [gunshots] There you go.

There you go.

-[gunshot] [♪♪♪♪♪] There you go.

Go.

[gunshot] [♪♪♪♪♪] -Jimmy, thank you so much for letting us be here.

This is gorgeous.

What a treat.

Jimmy, tell me the name of your business.

-It's Mountain Sports Limited, and it's a family business.

My grandparents started it 42 years ago, so now we're on our third generation.

We have a full guide service, and we operate 12 months a year.

-OK, Jimmy, tell me, when does the duck hunting season begin, and when does it end?

-Real meat of the season starts around Thanksgiving.

It takes a little bit of a break, but for all purposes, it goes until the end of January.

It's a lifestyle.

It's not just a job or a career.

[Chef Missy] Hey, what a day.

[JB] Good to see you.

[Chef Missy] Good to see you.

-Wasn't that awesome?

-Oh, man.

-Yeah.

[♪♪♪♪♪] John Gurley is here, along with his brother, JB, and his wife, my longtime friend, Kathryn, and their son, Ben.

We're all here for a fabulous day of food and fellowship.

-Hey, there he is.

[Thomas] Hey, sorry I'm late again.

-Yay, Tom.

-There you go, man.

[Thomas] Had to bring some goodies for everybody.

-Ooh.

-The man with the plan.

-Is it okay if we start with bubbles today?

-Yay!

-Yes, absolutely.

[Thomas] I thought today, while we're enjoying this, I would talk about how to buy champagne, what to look for on the label.

Well, cheers.

We're so glad you guys could make it here today.

[Chef Missy] Cheers.

[Kathryn] Tom, we're so thrilled to be here.

-Cheers, Ben.

-Welcome back to Southwest Virginia.

[Kathryn] Yes.

-Yes.

-Post-hunt.

-Ooh.

-Post-hunt.

-[John Gurley] There you go.

[Kathryn] Congratulations.

-Wow.

-That is pretty good.

[John Gurley] Yeah.

-Wow.

-[Kathryn] Very good.

-There are some things on the champagne bottles that don't mean anything.

A lot of times, people say, oh, this is a Grand Cru champagne.

It doesn't mean anything anymore.

All the classifications of champagne has been declassified.

Grand Cru or Premier Cru champagne, all that means is, when it was classified, that land was one of those two things.

And when it was one of those two things, it was basically a pricing cartel.

It was all about pricing and how much of the money that came from the grapes actually went back to the farmer.

So just like this, it doesn't say Grand Cru, and it's amazing.

-Tom, I've noticed a lot of champagnes at the store that I see have "Brut" on them, but they don't have dates.

-Only 4 percent of sparkling wine will have a date on it.

-But it does say "Grand Reserve".

-Which also means... love it.

[laughter] Kind of like grape.

-Oh, gosh.

To Tom.

That was a great learning.

To Tom.

[Thomas] Was that good?

-That was so good.

Hi.

-Cheers, babe.

-Hi.

I put together a little afternoon Chef Missy Pu Pu Platter.

This is a truffle gouda.

We've got a Triple Crème Saint André.

It's a little duck pâté.

This is the local goat cheese, the black pepper garlic goat cheese that is awesome.

We are back here in the French Magnolia Culinary Center, and I'm going to show you how to make make-ahead cheese souffles.

You want to put your stove on low, and we're going to build a roux.

Two tablespoons good butter.

This is just going to be a little quick roux.

Three tablespoons of good high-quality flour.

I love King Arthur, that's my favorite.

And then, just whisk the butter and the flour together.

You're basically creating kind of a little paste.

Half a teaspoon of salt.

One cup of full-fat milk.

Now, I like to just add the milk slowly.

-It's starting to look like gravy.

-It is.

Nutmeg, a generous two pinches.

Okay, now I'm going to turn the heat off.

Boom.

And slowly add in the cheese.

We are adding a pint of grated Parmesan and Gruyère.

We just want to slowly fold in the cheese.

Now we're going to transfer this wet, doughy glop into a bowl.

Three egg yolks.

And make sure that you really get those yolks evenly whisked into the dough glop.

That'll be our official word today, "dough glop".

Now, chives.

I love chives.

In our handy-dandy KitchenAid mixer, we are going to make stiff peaks, egg white peaks.

Three egg whites.

Run it on about 3 for a solid minute or two.

So, see how it's starting to get these little bubbles?

-[John Gurley] Yeah.

-[Chef Missy] Right?

That's a good sign that good things are happening.

So, I'm going to go ahead and put this on high.

You can see they're almost perfect, but just to ensure they're absolutely perfect, half a teaspoon of cream of tartar.

Most of you guys probably know this secret, but if you don't, this is the cool double dog secret.

So, I'm going to put this back on high.

I'm going to take half of the egg white peaks.

I'm going to go ahead and blend in the glop with the first batch of egg whites.

So, now, for the rest of the egg whites, I'll just gently fold these in.

I have preheated the oven to 350 degrees.

I just go around with a nice generous spoon once... and then come around with another one.

Now, these are going to cook for 30 minutes at 350, in a water bath.

Then your boiling hot water, you want to pour in right here at the edge, but do not get it in your souffle.

-[whistling] -[Kathryn] Beautiful.

-[John Gurley] Wow.

-[Kathryn] Whoa.

-These are beautiful.

They are exactly the way I want them to look.

I'm very, very pleased.

And they're nice and puffed up, but in a few minutes, they won't be.

They're going to settle a little bit, and that's totally okay.

With a towel, just simply go like this, dump it out, and you can do these the day ahead.

Let them cool at room temperature, and then wrap them and put them in the refrigerator.

I made these this morning at 6 a.m., and we're going to put them in the oven at 400 for 15 minutes.

These puffed back up, and they did get dark and crispy, and that's the way you want them to look.

[Thomas] It's worth cooking it twice because it's lighter now.

-I love how they're so fluffy.

They are so, so fluffy.

I am going to teach you guys how to make duck, and show you some of the perfect things that go with duck.

[♪♪♪♪♪] When cooking a duck breast, the first thing you want to do is get your stove flame on medium.

We want the skillet to be very hot and very dry.

The duck will almost immediately begin to release its fat, so you don't want any butter or oil in the pan.

This is a Maple Leaf Farms' Muscovy Duck as opposed to the migratory duck.

This is a very high-quality, farm-raised duck, in my opinion, the best.

If you'll notice, the Muscovy duck has a thick layer of fat between the skin and the breast meat, so the fat keeps the duck warm.

However, we need to render or burn off the fat because you don't want to eat it.

The breast meat is plentiful, easily enough for one serving, along with accoutrement.

If you cook it fast, it will be tough.

I like working on parchment paper.

It makes cleanup so easy.

I can feel the heat coming off the skillet, and you can see the smoke coming off the skillet.

This is a smoke point.

We definitely know it's ready.

With a boning knife, you're going to score the duck skin.

This will allow the skin to get crispy while the duck fat burns off or renders.

You will want to use the flat part of the blade.

You don't want to jab at the skin with the point of the blade.

Using the flat part of the blade, you will pull the blade against the skin.

Lay the blade flat and pull back.

You will make about five to six cuts.

Liberally salt the skin side of the duck.

Pepper the skins with fresh ground pepper.

Remember that the salt and pepper enhances the flavor.

Lay the duck breast in the pan, skin side down.

The majority of cooking is going to happen on the skin side.

We want to render the fat while getting the breast side nice and crispy.

I'll sprinkle my leftover salt and pepper on the meat side.

The process of cooking two breasts will take about 20 to 25 minutes, with a three- to four-minute rest on the cutting board before slicing.

So pour a glass of wine or make some iced tea and let it do its thing.

Almost immediately, the fat will begin to burn off.

After five minutes, pour off the collected fat into a container.

Duck fat is delicious and expensive, and you can store it in the fridge.

Then put the duck breast back on the stove and keep rolling.

You want to keep pouring off the duck fat so that you can get that skin crispy.

If you don't pour it off, the fat will render, but you won't get that crispy skin.

You will find yourself pouring off the duck fat about three to four times during the cooking process.

The skin should be getting brown and crispy, but it's not burning because you've kept your flame on medium.

After about 18 minutes, pour off the last round of duck fat.

Run your tongs along the skin.

If it feels crispy, great.

If it's not fully crispy, put it back down and give it another few minutes.

You're going to cook the meat side for less than five minutes.

After a minute or so, I tip the breast on its side for about a minute.

You can also lean the breast against the side of the skillet.

Turn your flame down a little.

This will keep the meat from getting tough.

Remember that the last part of the cooking happens as it rests on the board.

Do not ever eat raw or rare duck.

For medium pink, pull the duck at 130 degrees Fahrenheit and let it come up during the resting process to 140 or 145.

For well-done duck, pull at 155 and let it come up to 160, 165.

Let it rest.

For our chef's tables, we soak real pitted cherries in Tawny Port for three to six months.

Slice the duck on the bias... and put it on the plate.

Remember, if it's cooked and rested properly, it will be tender and juicy.

Serve the duck with your favorite fruit sauce.

The fruit should be both tart and sweet to enhance the game bird flavor.

Crispy skinned duck breast with cherries au poivre, sheer perfection.

Our side dishes are going to be organic whipped carrots and a wild herb potato dauphinoise.

You can do any shape that you like.

And I often create a layer of mushroom duxelles inside the dauphinoise.

And of course, the cherries.

Ready for the table.

-So I'll tell you a little bit about what we have tonight.

We have a Grand Cru from Saint-Émilion in Bordeaux, France, which is a pretty special place.

The Grand Cru is a designated system of classifying wine.

We don't have that in the United States.

But in France, in 1855, in Bordeaux, they instituted that, okay.

They instituted it only on the Left Bank, right.

So the Right Bank didn't have a classification of its own.

So Grand Cru is a classification system that starts with the Grand Cru, then Premier Cru, then village, and then region.

Saint-Émilion is on the Right Bank.

And in 1955, 100 years later, it got its own Grand Cru class system.

And it's a little different than the Left Bank.

On the Left Bank, you're going to get a Cabernet-forward blend.

On the Right Bank, it's Merlot.

This one in particular is a 72 percent Merlot.

On the Left Bank, the Crus are based on the chateau, and so, the chateaux can be a negociant.

So they can buy grapes in addition to their own to make their wine.

On the Right Bank in Saint-Émilion is land-based, okay.

So in Saint-Émilion, 65 percent of that land has been deemed worthy of Grand Cru.

And Saint-Émilion is 65 percent Grand Cru soil, which means the terroir, if that place comes into the bottle, it is Grand Cru wine.

The year was a spectacular year.

And in France, the way they make wine, it's respective to the terroir, which means if you're drinking it, it's an expression of that year because they don't over-manipulate the vines or the winemaking process.

So the year can express itself.

So cheers to today.

Everything that we've enjoyed, what we learned from Chef Missy.

-Yay!

To the ducks!

-To the ducks in southwest Virginia.

-Yay!

-Yeah.

Putting all this together, growing great things for us.

Cheers.

[♪♪♪♪♪] [Chef Missy] Palate refers to taste, and we possess two palates.

The first is the hard bone on the roof of our mouth.

The second is the muscle tissue covering it.

And muscles have memories.

So every time we eat, our mouth muscles record the memory.

[John Gurley] Father, bless this food to our use and our lives... [Chef Missy] No matter how many times I cook duck, I'll never recreate my first experience.

But the memory was recorded.

Every meal contains a hundred little snapshots capturing present moments.

-Holy mackerel!

That is really something special.

It's my new favorite of everything we've had.

[Chef Missy] Every time I cook, I offer a gift and capture snapshots of who and what is in my life that day.

Breaking bread with others is a covenant, and signifies historic influence because they are with me forever.

-This is one of the best meals I've ever had.

-I also... want to toast to my wife, Missy.

[Kathryn] Aww!

Ten years ago tomorrow... we had our first date.

And on that date, at one point, you asked me, "Do you want to have some fun?"

And then you come back with a bottle of 2000 Barolo.

We started drinking wine together, talking together, connecting.

And in ten years, we've had a lot of fun.

[Chef Missy] Maybe I don't have pristine foresight like the duck, but with every meal, I embrace and seal the present as a gift.

And that is what's truly essential.

[Kathryn] Aww!

Yeah!

[♪♪♪♪♪] [music fades out] Smyth County, Virginia, offering a business friendly environment with partnerships like Smyth Strong fostering entrepreneurship and growth.

Details at SmythCountyEconomicDevelopment.c om.