Mmm... Duck...
So, last week was Jimmas and, on Jimmas Eve, my brother came down. He brought with him a duck and had the intention of cooking it for the three of us. The vagaries of fate being what they are, he did not get the opportunity to do so, which meant that today - being the first official day of the week-long vacation Emily and I got from work - I cooked the duck.
Now duck, for those of you unfamiliar with this most tasty of waterfowl, is a fatty bird, much like goose. The reasoning for this is twofold: First, the duck needs it avail itself of the fat's insulating properties, much like a goose. Second, fat is - as my illustrious Varsity Water Polo career in High School demonstrated - infinitely more buoyant than muscle. The trick with cooking duck, then, is rendering the fat while keeping the meat juicy. A tricky proposition at best. However, thanks to some poking around on the Internets, I have found a mighty tasty way to make a roasted duck (or roasted breast of duck) with crispy skin and moist flesh. Read on, gentle audience member, read on.
Ingredients:
1 trimmed Duck (excess fat removed from the neck and cavity, innards cleaned out)
Salt
Pepper
Boiling Water
Potatoes
Take your trimmed duck, pat it dry and pour boiling water over it so as to flash-melt some of the subcutaneous fat and shrink the skin against the meat. Let the duck cool and dry. Rub salt and pepper liberally into the skin of the duck, both top and bottom, as well as inside.
Preheat oven and roast it, breast side up, for 45 minutes at 475 Fahrenheit, on a rack above a roasting pan so the fat drains out of the bird. After 45 minutes, flipped the duck breast-down and roast for a further 45 minutes, then flip breast-up for another 45. At this point, add the potatoes into the drippings underneath. By the time the final 45 minutes has ended, the potatoes should beginning to crisp. Turn the oven off and let the duck and potatoes stay inside for a further 15 minutes, remove the duck, carve it and enjoy.
Now duck, for those of you unfamiliar with this most tasty of waterfowl, is a fatty bird, much like goose. The reasoning for this is twofold: First, the duck needs it avail itself of the fat's insulating properties, much like a goose. Second, fat is - as my illustrious Varsity Water Polo career in High School demonstrated - infinitely more buoyant than muscle. The trick with cooking duck, then, is rendering the fat while keeping the meat juicy. A tricky proposition at best. However, thanks to some poking around on the Internets, I have found a mighty tasty way to make a roasted duck (or roasted breast of duck) with crispy skin and moist flesh. Read on, gentle audience member, read on.
Ingredients:
1 trimmed Duck (excess fat removed from the neck and cavity, innards cleaned out)
Salt
Pepper
Boiling Water
Potatoes
Take your trimmed duck, pat it dry and pour boiling water over it so as to flash-melt some of the subcutaneous fat and shrink the skin against the meat. Let the duck cool and dry. Rub salt and pepper liberally into the skin of the duck, both top and bottom, as well as inside.
Preheat oven and roast it, breast side up, for 45 minutes at 475 Fahrenheit, on a rack above a roasting pan so the fat drains out of the bird. After 45 minutes, flipped the duck breast-down and roast for a further 45 minutes, then flip breast-up for another 45. At this point, add the potatoes into the drippings underneath. By the time the final 45 minutes has ended, the potatoes should beginning to crisp. Turn the oven off and let the duck and potatoes stay inside for a further 15 minutes, remove the duck, carve it and enjoy.