Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Eclectic Duck



I love duck and so does my son.  It’s very hard to find good duck.  Because it’s so fatty, if not prepared right, you end up chewing fat-not enjoyable. 

I also like duck prepared Asian style-as in Peking duck. 

So, the best method is to combine some Asian preparation method with the European roasting method.  This end up being a very crispy skinned and tasty duck.

Steps:

Clean and wash duck.
Cut off the extra fat (but save for later)
Poke tiny holes with a fork through the skin but NOT through the meat
Make sure you poke the tiny holes in the real fatty areas

In the meantime boil some water

Preheat oven to 425

For the marinade prepare (this is approximate)

¼ c rice vinegar
few tsp. soy sauce
½ cup virgin olive oil
Peel 3-4 garlic cloves and split
½ tsp. sugar
1-2 tsp. of marsala wine o sherry
a few dashes of sesame oil (sesame oil is not a cooking oil, it’s a seasoning oil).



Put the poked duck in a casserole and pour boiling water over duck
Turn the duck evenly around in the boiling water
Pour out the boiling water (put the duck on a plate), pour marinade into the casserole
Marinate duck for about 30-60 minutes (turn occasionally).

Set up a roasting pan with a rack (so duck doesn’t soak in its own fat)
Rub the duck with kosher salt / freshly ground pepper mixture
You can insert an onion into the cavity
Tie legs together with twine

Start roasting duck for 45 minutes
Turn duck over (so bottom faces up) for another 45 minutes
Turn duck so that the breast faces up again
For the last 45 minutes cover top with foil as necessary (but only when it looks crispy enough)-depending on the oven you may need to make this one hour….
(total roasting time for a 5 pound duck is about 2 hours (2 hours and 15 minutes is the typical time in my oven).
If the wings are roasting too fast put foil on the tip of the wings



Remove duck (make sure skin is nicely roasted)
Let sit (“rest”) for about 15 minutes before serving

Left side:  simmer fat    Right side:  pan fry duck liver  
While the duck is roasting:

Take the fat pieces and a little water and salt-simmer until the fat becomes crispy (will need to turn once in a while). 
For those who love rind…this will be a delicious crispy rind
The fat will be great for frying hash browns or mashed potatoes

Duck liver is also great pan fried (maybe 10 minutes)


Use a quality duck that is not antibioticed up-there is a difference in flavor




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