Duck!

I haven't cooked a lot of ducks before. I like the taste of duck, especially the crispy skin, which is horrible for your arteries but tastes amazing.

There's a lot more fat on a duck than on a comparably-sized chicken. The recipes I've tried have always turned out deliciously crispy skin but the meat is very greasy. Until now.

Ina Garten's recipe for Roast Duck has an unusual twist to the preparation. You poach the duck before roasting. The poaching allows a lot of the fat to cook out before you roast it.(I copied the recipe in at the bottom of this post.)

I was blessed with this duck, which weighed in at about 4 1/2 lbs. Ina's recipe calls for two, so I just halved the recipe. The skin and fat on the plate is what I trimmed off.

If you plan to eat the roasted skin, you'll want to use needle nose pliers or tweezers to remove any pin feathers that are left in the skin.

Here it is, soaking in the hot tub...err, I mean in the stockpot.  I put the giblets, extra fat and skin and the neck into the poaching broth. I'll use this broth later to make soup with the duck bones. 

After I took the photo, I squashed it down so it was completely covered by broth.

Forty-five minutes later...

After just 30 minutes in a 500 degree oven the duck was golden brown and done all the way through.

It would be good to make this on a day when you can open a window for ventilation. There will be smoke while it's roasting.

There was still quite a bit of fat in the pan, but the meat wasn't greasy at all. This was the first time I made duck for G.W. and he liked it. 

This duck fed the two of us with virtually nothing leftover. I'll use the bones and the poaching broth for soup. 

Raising ducks for meat is supposed to be easier than raising chickens for the same purpose. Ducks grow faster and are ready for slaughter in just 7 weeks. I'm giving serious thought to raising a few in the spring to see how it goes.

Roast Duck

Ingredients

·         2 (5 to 5 1/2 pounds each) ducks, innards and wing tips removed

·         6 quarts chicken broth

·         Kosher salt

·         1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Unwrap the ducks and allow them to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. With a fork, prick the skin without piercing the meat. This will allow the fat to drain off while the ducks cook.

Meanwhile, in a very large stock pot which can hold the 2 ducks, heat the chicken broth with 1 tablespoon of kosher salt until it boils. Add the ducks very carefully and bring the stock back to a boil. If there isn't enough stock to cover the ducks, add the hottest tap water to cover. If the ducks float to the top, place a plate on top to keep them immersed. When the stock comes back to a boil, lower the heat and simmer the ducks in the stock for 45 minutes.

When the ducks are finished simmering, skim off enough duck fat from the top of the stock to pour a film on the bottom of a 14 by 18 by 3-inch roasting pan. This will keep the ducks from sticking when theyroast. Carefully take the ducks out of the stock, holding them over the pot to drain. Place them in the roasting pan, pat the skin dry with paper towels, and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt and the pepper. If you have time, allow the ducks to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the skin to dry.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. (Be sure your oven is very clean or it will smoke!) Roast the ducks for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow them to rest, covered with aluminum foil, for 20 minutes. Serve warm