Arroz de pato,unexpected ratings( avaliaçãos inesperados)

Croquetas arroz de pato, 2015

"Sex and the kitchen- Beef encounter"

  The funny thing about writing a blog is that one never knows how popular a recipes will be. Often I think I have a real winner, but resulting statistics show no one really seems to appreciate it on the same level as I do. Then I post something rather simple and everyone goes nuts about it. Strange? You can imagine then, that when I posted Arroz de pato com imprevisto (a diferença) - Duck rice with a twist I was shocked by the response it got,and continues to get. Although I was pretty confident that I had a winning recipe, I never expected the recognition it got. After checking up on it today, the post has had over 6,000 hits.It has been top of the ratings for over two years now, and is 4,500 hits ahead of its closest competitor. How naive I was not to realise that putting the word sex in a blog title would dramatically affect the search engines results. "Sex and the kitchen- Beef encounter" comes in at all time number two.What is it that grabs the reader or puts them off? Is it in the title? Is the picture aspirational? In the case of "Sugar and spice and belly pork is nice" I think the picture probably contributed to its poor rating of only 34 views in the past year.It is extremely difficult to make cooked meat look appetising in a photograph,but I thought this was an innovative blog post and I am going to give it a re-run with a new picture and see what  reaction it gets second time round.

 Imagine the joy I got last October when my

Gin and tonic jelly post got 354 hits on our facebook page in just one day and the reader who took their own initiative with the list of ingredients.I tagged lemon and lime wedges onto the bottom of the ingredients listing but omitted to tell the reader what to do with them as regards the recipe.She served the jelly up on the wedges.Not what I had originally intended but what a brilliant idea.That is the sort of feedback that makes it all worthwhile.Its three years now since I posted Arroz de pato com imprevisto (a diferença) - Duck rice with a twist. It is not a recipe I make very often to be honest, mainly because it is difficult to make in a small quantity.Anyway last weekend I decided to make it again for old times sake.As usual I was left with serious leftovers.I decided therefore to honour its third anniversary by giving you a recipe for using its leftovers.Croquetas, arroz de pato.I hope you like it? Serve these as starter portions or as part of a tapas.I served them with my own sweet and sour sauce. I haven´t included a recipe for this as some prefer more sweet than sour and others more sour than sweet.Here are some pointers..Seville oranges,mandarins, soya sauce, sweet sherry, sherry vinegar, honey,tomato sauce or ketchup,chilli flakes and don´t forget the corn starch.

Croquetas, arroz de pato
1 quantity of left over risotto
plain flour for dusting
2 eggs beaten
breadcrumbs for coating
sunflower oil for deep frying

Take a little of the duck rice and form it into a ball, roughly the same size as a golf ball.You will find it easier if you wet your hands with cold water. Dust with a little flour,then coat with beaten egg and finally coat in the breadcrumbs.Repeat the process for each ball.

Heat some oil in a large deep saucepan or in a deep fat fryer.Add the duck rice balls balls a few at a time and fry for 2-3 minutes until golden brown.Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot or cold.