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Holdens Recipe
Phony DUCK FILLET
For those who like teen angst with meat. This famous recipe is to create the perfect glazed
Holden Caulfield duck filet. If you want your holiday season to be filled with confusion, no
filters and vulgarity, you have found the perfect recipe. Fair warning: one might find themselves
contemplating the concept of mortality up to two weeks after consumption. For an even paler and
lankier the quantity may be doubled or tripled to reach the full 6.4 inches necessary for a full
serving of Holden. Ponder the dish obsessively for a least 5 days before preparation.
Please read about Holden in The Catcher in the Rye beforehand.
Preheat oven to 469.
Hunt duck during migration season in the North East.
Pick, clean and singe if necessary:
A 140-150 oz. duck
Dry with a paper towel and rub with:
Ash from 3 half smoked cigarettes (lightly inhaled) for best results leave ashes out in
the cold.
(Aggressively) with 1 cup of whipped melted butter and 1 cup of societal resentment
oils (0rganic, 355, or Garlic, 387, or Lemon, 392)
or bask in:
17oz of lukewarm essence of isolation and rosemary water
or bread by:
toss 6 pounds of rye flour dough and 4 eggs in a red hat
Once sticky, toss into a closed bag with the duck and shake until entire bird is
covered with the crumbs
Place it on a rack in a roasting pan. If stuffing is used, try:
Steak Dressing with Negativity Spices, 214, or
Orange and Temptation Juice Dressing, 221, or
Honey Walnut Dressing for Game 231
Put your bird, section by section, uncovered, into the oven and reduce the heat at once to 350
(the immaturity needs to end at one point in order to not get cooked into the duck). Cook until
tender and vulnerable, allowing about 20 to the 50 pounds for an unstuffed bird, longer for a
stuffed one, see above.
COMING OF AGE GLAZED DUCK
Preheat oven to 469.
Prepare and cook:
Roast Ducking, above
Remove from oven just before done.
Make a thick glaze to pour over the duck. Combine and mix until even color:
4 cups of confusion preserves
a pound of sexual frustration
crush up three horny leaves

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Add a tablespoon of respect liqueur
Add a teaspoon of romance honey
three dashes of societal resentment
Stir while contemplating the concept of sex (no foundational understanding for best results ask
the closest male virgin for assistance)
Coat the duck with this glaze and return it to the oven 10 to 15 minutes until glaze caramelizes
into a thick dark negativity film over the duck.
Add short uneven stubble and rosemary as a decorative accent.

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Talia Stringfellow
November 23rd, 2016
Professor Speiser
Reflective Essay
I chose to compare The Catcher in the Rye and make Holden into a recipe. The book is
about Holdens coming of age and his adventures through New York. The book is literary realism
following a fictional character through realistic experiences. The Catcher in the Rye is full of
symbols, irony, metaphors and the main character is unreliable. The discourse community related
to the book would be authors that want to reflect on teenage experiences, thoughts and anxieties.
Moreover, anyone who analyses these books becomes part of the discourse community because
they are included in the process of identifying the literary devices that create the message of the
book. For instance, by identifying the reoccurring theme of the ducks, one can understand
Holdens fascination with mortality.
Cooking books and recipes are part of a genre that goes into detail about techniques on
how to cook and prepare food. They give instructions and advice with precise measurements and
ingredients. I used The Joy of Cooking recipe book as my example recipe book, an American
classic, because it includes copious amounts of information from how to skin a rabbit to how to
make a fruit cake. They include broad ranges of information all related to cooking. This can
include information about the ingredients, or what season to present the meal, or even why the
cooks like the recipe. The recipe genre is very straight forward in that it is a series of instructions
and physical ingredients put together in order to create a meal. The characteristics of a recipe are
quick measurements and directions. This includes cooking time, temperature, exact
measurements of each ingredient, ingredients listed in order, occasionally size of equipment

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(large mixing bowl, small spoon), and the title of the recipe. Moreover, at the beguiling of
every recipe there are little snippets of information written in a conversational tone which would
allow me to have space to further describe Holden.
A recipe is the perfect genre transformation for Holden Caulfield. Hes such a complex
character but when you pick out the elements that drive his thoughts, emotions and actions you
can deduce them into typical hormonal boyhood. He is quite the character and well captured
through subtleties and metaphors. I chose duck as the meal due to his obsession with mortality
manifested in his relentless questioning about the migration of ducks in New York. He asks
questions like You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little
lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen
over? Do you happen to know, by ay chance? (Salinger, 79). Making a duck recipe allowed me
to have a physical foundation for the transformation rather than just conceptual ideas. This is
because much of Holden is just a melting pot of different emotions: like depression, anxiety,
sexual frustration and confusion.
This was the perfect transformation because it allowed me to isolate different components
of Holden while identifying how they all come together to address bigger themes of the book.
For instance, the Coming of Age Glazed Duck allowed me to create a glaze that identified all
the different components of the book that made The Catcher in the Rye a coming of age novel
and have them all equal this theme. The mix of three dashes of societal resentment with a
pound of sexual frustration coming together to represent puberty and him growing up.
I chose to use The Joy of Cookings Duck recipe as my format for the transformation,
keeping as much of the original text while just replacing the ingredients and introduction. This is
because I was worried my changes would be too far fetched and not solid enough for a recipe

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transformation. Although some of the ingredients are purely conceptual, some are also founded
on real foods. For instance, confusion preserves, horny leaves, respect liqueur, romance
honey in order to make the ingredients a little more tangible. Moreover, the amount of each
quality are all chosen based on how much they influence his character. Each personality trait is
calculated and measured against each other when he makes decisions, like calling Sunny, a
hooker, (sexual drive) versus how he interacts with her (romance and respect). Another detail I
added was the temperature to be put to 469 because it is immature and then later I say reduce
the heat at once to 350 (the immaturity needs to end at one point in order to not get cooked into
the duck). This is because the novel is a coming of age story and he becomes more mature
throughout his travels to and in New York, he realizes he needs to grow up thanks to his little
sister. The size of the bird is 6.4 inches and 140-150 ounces because Holden is 6 feet 4 inches
and approximately 140-150 pounds.
I have learned elementary details about recipes. I love to cook but rarely have the
opportunity to read recipes. I realized that they give many options on how to go further with your
cooking or make it basic. For instance, in the recipe you can choose to make the duck by basking
it, breading it, or rubbing it in my transformation. This was based off the original texts options
that are presented to the chef when deciding to cook a duck. I have read The Catcher in the Rye
many times because it is my favorite book and every time I learn something new about the
character or notice a detail I had not beforehand. This writing project also gave me that
opportunity because I needed to read into a physical theme in the novel, the ducks. Salinger has a
talent for having many layers to his characters and many different significances in every theme
and motifs. I appreciated having a platform to go further with my analysis of the novel.

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Work Cited
Salinger,J.D.The Catcher in the Rye. Boston:Little,Brown,1951.Print.
? The Joy of Cooking
This is excellent, creative, and unique but, how about challenging
your ideas and this genre transformation concept further. Why
would The Catcher in the Rye not work as a book of recipes? You
already touch on indirectly why, conversely, a recipe book could not
work as a novel (the reader needs quantitative , precise instructions
for efficiency and accuracy).
So, why doesnt efficiency and accuracy work for novels and their
characters.
You say Holden, in a way, can be distilled into a recipe.
Perhaps but, then how is he such a memorable character and
perhaps special character in 20th century American literature?
What makes novels, good (round) characters, and plots more
memorable, impressionable or profound than cookbook recipes?
Why isnt all reading functional, efficient, and utilitarian?
Sometimes it is
I think you could add more analysis in these areas, Talia, to make
this essay stronger.

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