Duck!

[syntheticjesso]

The other day I saw that Aldi had whole ducks on sale, and decided that since I've never cooked duck before, I'd get one and try it. I bought him Wednesday night and named him Huey. I'm kind of excited! I love trying to cook new things, it's like an adventure

Comments

[quasisonic]

Used to live in an apartment with a sensitive smoke detector too, low & slow should be fine. Although, my husband always preferred a frequent (maybe 1/2 hours) check of the pan, where he would drain any collected fat to prevent it from burning/smoking. Plus then you get it all into a bowl/jar cooling that much faster and any sediment sinks to the bottom. :D

[syntheticjesso]

That's a good idea. How did you get it out? Just with a baster?

[quasisonic]

Usually yeah, seemed to work pretty well!

Sometimes the hubby would lift the rack the duck was roasting on, set it in a second pan, and tip the pan out into the jar/bowl, but that method always made me nervous. O_o plus you have to remember that there's juices/fat in the cavity as well that you should tip out.

[oxymoron02]

Duck is on the list of foodstuffs I need to get more proficient with. I've never actually roasted one.

The last time we got a whole duck, my husband dissected it into pieces, the same way one would dissect a chicken in to pieces. Then we grilled it. Oh Em Gee! Divine!

Wish I could be of more help. :P

Maybe a rice side?

[syntheticjesso]

I saw a couple of recipes that involved grilling, and I would love to try them! I just don't have a grill. Ahh, apartment living...

But a rice side does sound great! I'll have to see what I see at the store :)

[randomstasis]

Ooh, there's a chinese salt-roasted method I've always wanted to try, but not with the smoke detector.
Don't forget to season the inside, and/or under the skin, to let it self baste a little. I don't approve of the kettle method, since I prefer delicious crackly skin- I can hardly bear to baste later in the roasting:)
personally, I'd roast vegetables in the drippings, which might cut down on smoke- sweet onions and parsnips, carrots, squash...
How about sweet potatoes or cauliflower? They go well with the orange flavor, too.
But this time of year, peas and asparagus are a good choice too!

[syntheticjesso]

I thought the kettle thing was supposed to encourage crackly skin! Huh. Okay, no kettle of water, then.

[randomstasis]

Well, anything but pure hot grease on the skin means crackling skin will soften and get limp. So unless you're blanching it and then putting the dry bird in a different pan, you'll have water in your pan, meaning steam, so I don't see how it could?

[syntheticjesso]

Yeah, that's what I meant! Pour the water over the bird before putting it in the pan.

[a_boleyn]

I've made duck half a dozen times and usually just ended up cutting out the backbone (spatch-cocking), pricking through the breast to help the fat drain out, salt and peppering on both sides and then roasting it, skin side up, in the oven. Instead of the orange sauce (duck a l'orange) I've served it with the sour cherry gastrique below.

To avoid the fat burning during roasting, I put the duck on a roasting rack with 1/2-1 cup of water beneath. Drain off all the liquid at the end into a measuring cup, refrigerate and after the layer of fat on top has solidified, remove it in one piece and use it for roasting potatoes.

Sour Cherry Gastrique

1 cup sour cherries in light syrup, with liquid
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2-4 tbsp orange juice

In a small saucepan, bring all ingredients to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cook until only a few tbsp of liquid remain (45 min to 1 hr). By the time that the liquid is reduced the cherries have fallen apart. Tasty with roasted duck.

[syntheticjesso]

Ooooh, cherries. I like this idea! Where does one usually find sour cherries? Are they usually in the canned fruit section of the grocery store, or are they ~specialty items~?

[a_boleyn]

Sometimes large jars of the cherries can be found in the "international" aisle of your grocery store. I'm in Canada and Food Basics, a pretty affordable grocery chain, carries a lot of imported goods like these. I don't know if you can buy them canned.

[syntheticjesso]

For the record: I was only able to find jars of maraschino cherries or cans of "tart cherries" in water. I snagged the tart cherries and I'll just add a little more sugar to pretend it's in syrup.

[yipeeskipp]

Just take the battery out of your smoke detector while you're cooking. As long as you're in the kitchen you'll be plenty aware of any fire hazard... I usually leave the chair sitting right under it as a reminder to fix it afterward.

[syntheticjesso]

I don't think I can even get mine off the wall! I've tried taking it down before and couldn't. I'll look more closely today.

In my last apartment, I had to cook something smokey (I don't remember what...) so I just took my smoke detector down, threw it on my bed, and closed the bedroom door. Super handy!

[yipeeskipp]

It should open without coming off the wall.. at least all the ones I've had did that :)

[bringthenoise]

hope you get comments emailed cos i'm super late...
but ours is super sensitive too! putting a shower cap over it works really well. my boyfriend found this out because his mom used to work in a hotel and people used to do it so they would get away with smoking in the rooms without setting off the smoke detector haha. but ours used to go off when we were preheating the oven (wtf??) and now it's totally fine.