Cookie, I love roasted duck.

I'm at work so I can't access my files, so I'm linking to two older threads with Duck recipes.

You can't go wrong with Ina Garten's Roast Duck.

Roast Duck

Let's Talk Duck

cookie, I raised 30+ ducks a few years ago, so I got lots of practice roasting duck. My favorite was an Ina Garten recipe, boiling the duck first, then roasting with high heat.

I'll try to link, but I'm having some issues posting properly as I fell yesterday and broke my arm in two places. Makes the keyboard more difficult...

Here is a link that might be useful: duck

Oh, how terrible Annie! I hope it's not too painful and you have some help.

This post was edited by Bumblebeez on Sun, Jan 20, 13 at 17:25

Oh, I wish I would have asked this early in the day or yesterday as I just threw it in the oven hoping someone would have a sauce or roasting plan. I will get another one and try again. We went to Quebec City in the early new year and there was so much duck in the grocery stores I figured that I would make one when we got home.
Wow, Annie, sorry about your arm - you should have went to the hospital after you broke it at the first place you were at (groan), sorry, probably not a time for humour unless it was your humerus? Ack, must stop. Take care. thanks for the links ladies.

+1 cookie8's joke

Ina's recipe/method all the way - and save the duck fat for french fries!

Annie, there is software out there for dictating speech to text....that might get dangerous....what have I unleashed? NVM.

Jessica I used to have Dragon at work due to my carpal tunnel. Didn't work worth a darn, I talk too fast, LOL, it couldn't understand me. I think it keeps improving but the doc says 3-6 weeks in a splint, so it won't be that long.

Very funny, cookie! Not so funny yesterday, but funnier today...

BB, Elery is here,good thing, he drove me to the emergency room!

Annie

I was so "how to cook the duck, don't burn the duck" I forgot to pull out the little pouch of innerds (liver, I think). Well, I pulled it out because I saw the bag because the duck shrunk a bit. Does anyone use the little bits enclosed? It doesn't look like there are any kidneys. Maybe just give it to the dog?
Good idea about the duck fat although when I bought the duck, I didn't think about how much fat will come off of it and bought a container of duck fat with it (for french fries, of course). Next duck.

"I'm having some issues posting properly as I fell yesterday and broke my arm in two places."

Oh, no!!!!

Cookie, my favorite way of roasting duck is to coat it with a mixture of honey and curry powder prior to roasting. Got the idea from the James Beard Cookbook.

It's good to put a rack under the duck so it doesn't sit in the fat which drips off the duck. Ducks have lots of fat.

My other tip is to allow one duck for every two people. Ducks tend to have substantially less meat than a roasting chicken, as I discovered the first time I served it to guests.

Jim

"-----I am guessing it cooks differently than chicken because each time I made it, I did the exact same way as chicken. -----"

Cooking duck and chicken are very different. Duck is more difficult.

For a duck, How do you get the skin crispy, the fat rendered out and without overcooking the meat? Especially if you like your duck meat medium rare.

I am still practicing.

dcarch

No duck help from me....just came to see what happened to Annie's arm. Oh Annie...GEEZ...3-6 weeks? I hope time flies, then. Cookie8, someone took a funny pill!

Cookie, sorry for taking over your duck thread... but no help from me either on the duck. I always pot roast them.

Annie, Geeze girl! You don't have time for that! Six weeks and then it's almost spring and you have alot of stuff to do. Get better soon!

Prick the duck all over with a fork and slow roast it. You will have tender duck with crispy skin that is not too greasy.
To make orange sauce, slice the zest of an orange, finely slice and blanch in boiling water for a minute. Add the juice and the zest to some jus de roti.i
I think pink duck is good for magret but not so good for a whole duck, imho.

The only ducks I've ever seen in a market are frozen Long Island ducklings. (Technically, that's a White Pekin duck, same variety as the one in the AFLAC commercials.) The following recipe is for that sort of duck, not for a wild duck. Purists will insist that you cook the duck breast and the duck legs separately, cooking the legs medium well and the breast rosy-pink rare. This recipe from The Joy of Cooking is simpler than that, and will produce juicy breast meat with crispy skin. Ducks have an enormous amount of fat under the skin. This recipe allows most of that fat to escape. Don't discard the fat! Store it in a clean jar in the freezer. It's great for making roux and frying potatoes. --The hardest part of this recipe is waiting for the duck to thaw. Take it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge, still in its plastic wrapper, about 3 or 4 days prior to cooking. If it's still frozen, put it in a pot in the sink and run cold water over it for a while. Not much meat on a duck; one duck feeds two adults. You can cook as many ducks as your pocketbook allows and freeze the cooked ducks in individual Ziplock plastic bags, to be nuked as you need them later.. I'll often cook a few ducks at Christmas and have it available for people to sample, in addition to a turkey or other bird. Duck is sweet and rich. It's most definitely a splurge, but a worthwhile one. This takes about 4 hours to cook, but you're not doing anything most of the time--it's a very easy recipe, and the results are spectacular.

Crispy Roast Duck ( from The Joy of Cooking)

1 duckling, 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 lbs, thawed
Salt
Preheat the oven to 250˚ and place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Remove the duck from its plastic wrapper and rinse under cold water, then pat dry with paper towels. Rub a little salt in the cavity, and sprinkle a little on the skin. Remove any excessive fat from around the opening and the neck. With a sharp paring knife or a skewer, make 20 or 30 small incisions in the skin into the fat. Hold the knife parallel to the skin so you penetrate the skin into the fatty layer, but you don't want to penetrate the flesh.
If you have a v-rack for a roasting pan, place the rack in the pan and place the duck, breast side down, on the rack. (But if you don't have a v-rack, don't worry. Just place the duck breast side down in the pan.) Place the pan in the oven and roast for 3 hours. Yes, three hours. Every hour check the duck and prick the skin a little more to let more fat escape. After three hours, drain the fat out of the pan (don't discard it; it's great to cook with) and turn the oven up to 350˚, and turn the duck breast side up. Roast for another 45 minutes. Remove to a platter and let the duck sit for 10 minutes before carving. You can make a gravy out of the juices and bits in the pan if you want.
If you don't have a v-rack, you can cook the duck without one but the skin won't be as crispy. It'll still taste great, though.

Serve with whatever wine you like; the meat is hearty enough to stand up to a full bodied red like a Pinot Noir or Cabernet, but if you prefer a lighter red like a Zinfandel or a good white, go for it.

Off-topic, sorry.

"--The hardest part of this recipe is waiting for the duck to thaw. Take it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge, still in its plastic wrapper, about 3 or 4 days prior to cooking---"

Don't complain if this is the case. This means you have a good refrigerator. If your duck thaws the first day, immediately check your temperature setting, not a very good situation.

dcarch

I have eaten duck my entire life and it has always come out the same way. The way I like it :)

The day before I plan to serve it I take the duck out of what ever packaging it is in. Wash it and dry it. Place it in on a pan and put it in the refrigerator uncovers. This dries the duck thoroughly. I take two small apple and peel a circle around the middle ( equator ) and stuff them in the duck. I too pierce the skin all over. I place the duck in a roaster untrussed. I cook it at 350 Every 20 minutes I pour of the accumulated fate. I cook it until the breast temp is 140. Remove from oven and rest for 15 minutes. I have no idea why my parents never trussed duck they did other fowl. The apples are removed and discarded. Goose was also prepared this way.

Cookie - two big differences between duck and chicken is that a)duck has WAY more fat and 2)duck isn't usually as tender.

Either characteristic will make you cook it differently. If you just put it in the oven to roast, and you do it breast up, which always seems crazy to me, you'll end up with a whole tray of fat and the legs will be tough and stringy.

Although I'm not at all a fan of gadgets, one of those rotisserie things that turns the duck round and round is actually a useful thing to have.

The fat makes it hard to crisp the skin. So do what the Chinese do when they make Peking Duck. Separate the skin from the fat and dry the skin out. You can boil it for a minute, or marinate it first, but put it near a fan and let it get really dry for a few minutes. They hang them for a lot longer in the restaurants. And you can run your hand under the skin to separate it from the flesh. Then, when you cook it, the fat will run out and the skin will get crispy, while the duck stays moist.

Personally, I don't really like to roast the whole thing. I don't like my poultry cooked as much as some people do - I think most people really overcook their birds. And the breast meat of a duck can be delicious on its own, sauteed rare like steak. The legs will be fatty and respond to long, slow roasting or just cooking in their own fat.

As long as you don't treat it just like chicken, you'll be OK. If you do roast it in the oven, take it out every so often and flip it over, making sure that all the fat doesn't just settle in one place.

And then, do not throw away that duck fat!

It makes excellent pastry!

duck fat, buy on-line, about $24 a lb.

dcarch

Don't leave that poor bird sitting in th fat. As has been said, spoon it into a bowl every 20 mins or so ans use it to roast your tatoes.

Yeah, there was a lot of fat and unfortunately, I left the duck sitting in it while roasting. I think in the future I will just buy the breast and sear them and bake. You really don't get a lot of meat which left me surprised because it was decent sized looking.

Duck breast is fast and easy to cook. I score the skin and sear in a pan, then lower the heat and cook until rare or medium rare. I usually serve with a gastrique which is also quick and easy.

If I have a whole duck, I separate the breasts to pan cook, and confit the legs and wings. The rest of the carcass makes a nice stock. Confit is slow because of the curing which takes a week or two. I do two ducks at a time because it takes no extra effort to make a large batch of confit. You also get twice as much duck liver to make a pate.

Duck is one of my favorite foods. I don't do it often because I hate to waste any of it, so I end up doing multiple preps which takes more time than I have.

Cheryl