[DaveW]

Ok so I'm inviting a few bodys over or a mid winter pot luck dinner tomorrow, And just for the hell of it I'm going to do a roast duck.

Anyone have a fave roast duck recipe they'd care to share?

or any tip or hints for cooking duck??

 

[narlus]

here's a tip...make sure there's plenty of dish soap around for the roasting pan.

 

[Nobody]

Slow roasting a duck in a low oven makes for a crispy skin with less fat and meat that is moist and juicy

1) Preheat oven to 250 degrees F, and place a rack in the center of the oven.

2) Remove the neck and giblets from the duck.

3) Rinse, and pat dry duck.

4) Remove large deposits of fat from the openings of the body and neck cavities.

5) Rub the body cavity and sprinkle the skin of the duck with Kosher salt and cracked pepper.

6) Pierce the skin of the duck all over in 20 to 30 places with a sharp metal skewer. Hold the skewer almost parallel to the duck while piercing it to avoid puncturing the duck meat. You only want to pierce the skin. This is so the fat can bubble out.

7) Place the duck breast-side down on a rack in a roasting pan.

8) Roast duck for 3 hours, re-pricking the skin every so often a few times with the skewer.

9 ) Drain the fat out of the roasting pan after the 3 hours, and then turn the duck breast-side up.

10) Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and roast for 45 minutes more.

11) Remove the duck to a platter, and let stand 10 minutes.

12) Serve.

Tips:

a) Buy the heaviest duck you can because much of the weight is skin, fat and bones.
b) Keep in mind that at restaurants a half a duck is usually used for one serving. If serving 2 people, cut the duck in half through the breastbone and back.
c) If serving 4 people, cut off the legs, and divide at the thigh-drumstick joint. Cut off the wings, and divide in half. Cut off the breast halves, and divide them in half. The servings will be quite modest.
d) Don't discard the fat - The duck fat rendered in the cooking process can be used to fry or roast vegetables. It is delicious.

 

[OGRipper]

Go to Chinatown. Buy roast duck. While you are there, get some barbequed pork, fresh egg noodles, and a bottle of chinese rice wine. Go home, open beer. Warm the duck, make pork chow mein. Open another beer and dig in.

Maybe not very helpful but sooo tasty.

 

[narlus]

i recall i made a tasty sauce w/ cointreau and reduced orange juice, w/ some thyme.

 

[DaveW]

Slow roasting a duck in a low oven makes for a crispy skin with less fat and meat that is moist and juicy <snip hyper tasty stuff>

Once again Nobody you are the man!! :love:

 

[Nobody]

Go to Chinatown. Buy roast duck. While you are there, get some barbequed pork, fresh egg noodles, and a bottle of chinese rice wine. Go home, open beer. Warm the duck, make pork chow mein. Open another beer and dig in.

Maybe not very helpful but sooo tasty.

There is some Deja Vu going on here... I think...

Anyway, yes, i concur, if 1) you have a Chinatown in your area, and b) want to do Oriental Duck as opposed to CanAmerican/Euro Duck.

I would LOVE to try grilling Duck, but since I've moved back to Canada, everything is Gassed and Fast.

 

[Nobody]

Once again Nobody you are the man!! :love:

...So, how'd it go?

 

[DaveW]

Excellent! :love:

I was quite surprised at just how much fat comes out of 2 size 20 ducks!!!

But damn me it tasted soooooooo good!!!
I'm tempeted to get another one and experiment with a bit of citrus....

 

[Nobody]

Excellent! :love:

I was quite surprised at just how much fat comes out of 2 size 20 ducks!!!

But damn me it tasted soooooooo good!!!
I'm tempeted to get another one and experiment with a bit of citrus....

Yeah, i've had results of about 40% fat in some cases with Muscovy ducks...

Nice to hear it worked out!

 

[DaveW]

Bump for MikeD

 

[MikeD]

Thanks!

I am working with an absolute minimum of stuff here, as my shipment's still on its way to India.

We'll be using an iron skillet to roast in out of necessity. And the oven we have is microscopic.

My dilemma is the veggies...potatoes, carrots (local variety, a bit different...). Should I put them in raw under the duck in the beginning and give them the full time to roast in the fat?

Or should I parboil them, then place them in the pan when I'm draining it, baste with some of the duck fat, and set the duck back on top of them right-side up in the final 45 min?

Or should I just roast them separately in the drained-off fat? Problem here is the size of the oven--I can't fit anything but the skillet inside it, so I'm more inclined to try cooking it all in one pan.

Bear in mind, I am a complete hack with no understanding of the principles behind good cooking.


Edit: Decision made in lieu of better advice: Will parboil veggies, place in pan while turning duck over for the final 45 min, baste with some fat, then once the duck is finished roasting, pull the meat out, raise the temp on the oven to 450F, and try to get the veggies to brown a little more before everything is served. Basting with more fat as seems necessary, of course.

 

[MikeD]

Wow. Nice dinner.

Alas, the duck was a bit tough. I think it had to do with 1) the tiny, tiny, microscopic and somewhat capricious oven we have in this place and 2) the fact that this duck was probably a hair's breadth away from being a wild animal. Honestly, very little fat on it for a duck, and I think it was just old and well-exercised before becoming dinner.

However, it still tasted great and the golden-brown skin was crispy and delicious.

The vegetables, on the other hand...holy orgasmic roasted duckfat veggies. And the rice didn't come out too badly, either...used chicken stock and tossed in a handful of cumin.

Looks like we'll try making stock out of the bones. Maybe some gluten-free dumplings in the soup for the wife.