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Delicious Duck
An-D
EnthusiastAshevilleRegistered User regular
EnthusiastAshevilleRegistered User regular
So, I'm on my own for the first time ever on Thanksgiving (no family) but I have some friends that are in the same situation, so we're getting together. Recently, the grocery store started carrying whole ducks, so in a moment of excited fervor, I purchased one with plans to cook it on the big day.
I fancy myself a pretty decent cook, but I have never prepared duck before.
I'm sure there are recipes online that I could find, but I have also never had duck outside of a restaurant, so I don't have much knowledge on what is good on/with it. Cooking-wise.
So, I'm looking for interesting/awesome ways to cook a 7lb duck. Also, are there any thing I should know about cooking duck? I have actually never cooked a full-bird before, so I guess I should look into that too.
Whatcha got for me, H/A?
I fancy myself a pretty decent cook, but I have never prepared duck before.
I'm sure there are recipes online that I could find, but I have also never had duck outside of a restaurant, so I don't have much knowledge on what is good on/with it. Cooking-wise.
So, I'm looking for interesting/awesome ways to cook a 7lb duck. Also, are there any thing I should know about cooking duck? I have actually never cooked a full-bird before, so I guess I should look into that too.
Whatcha got for me, H/A?
An-D on
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Big cast iron pot, stick some garlic in it in a few places, get a good gravy going.... serve over rice. Takes at least 5 hours to get it tender though.
7 pounds is a huge fucking duck though. 7 pounds? really? The ducks I've had are like.... maybe .75 pounds. maybe.
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So, just roast it? Any kind of spices or sauce I should put on it? Marinade?
I also did a quick google search and Food Network popped up right off the bat. That's gotta be a good place to start from.
Here's the link to my search there for "roast duck":
http://www.foodnetwork.com/search/delegate.do?fnSearchString=roast+duck&fnSearchType=site
Edit: Duck has a rep for being greasy, so something I've been told is to roast it on a rack, and prick the skin near the bottom to let grease run out of it. YMMV on this, but it makes some sense to me. Probably be useful for gravy later on too.
I don't really have much to offer beyond that - I don't really prepare duck that often personally, like you, I've mostly eaten it in restaurants. If nothing else, Saveur has at least a few assorted roast duck recipes that may be worth looking through to glean information, regardless of whether or not you follow one.
Upon second look, this recipe has a bit more explanation accompanying it. If you own a copy, Joy of Cooking also has a few paragraphs about preparing duck that may be worth a look.
Oh I can't remembered who asked for the recipe for the duck but here it is.
I can't remmber who asked for it so I'll just spoiler and post it up in here. Out of politeness I will use heathen units while I can
Eight spice Rub
1oz whole star anise
1/2oz white peppercorns
1/2oz cinamon quills
1/2oz whole colves
3/4oz of salt (pink murray salt if you can get it)
1/3oz cardamon pods
pinch of saffron
Grind everything together
Toast, cool and store in an airtight container
The Duck
8.5 floz pint of grand mariner or other orange liquer
1 Tablespoons of 8 spice rub
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
8.5 floz fresh orange juice
8.5 floz chicken stock
1 tble spoon of cultured butter
Remove neck, giblets and dry throughly.
place duck on a cutting board breast side up and push down breaking the ribs to flatten it out. Stick in a pan and splash the grand mariner all over it and leave for a day.
the next day
Preheat oven to 450F
Take the duck out of the pan (save the liquid in there)
Stab the shit out of the duck with a skewer paying a lot of attention between the leg and breast then generously rub salt pepper and the eight spice powder all over the bird.
Pop the duck onto the rack and stick trays underneath to collect the fat. EMPTY THIS EVERY 15 TO 20 MINUTES, I line the trays in case it starts to smoke you can take it out and replace it rather than dying from smoke inhalation.
Cook for about 1.5 hours.
For the veggies I usually just peel some potatos and sweet potato and boil for 10 minutes, throw in with 45 minutes to go with some pumpkin and carrots
Let the duck rest for 10-15 minutes while you make the sauce.
Grab some of the duck fat you drained and throw it in a pan with the duck trimmings from yesterday and throw in the grand mariner that you soaked it in. Cook this over a medium heat until it has reduce by half, add the orange juice reduce til it halves again then add chicken stock and butter and whisk over a high heat. Strain then serve with duck.
Satans..... hints.....
http://sunflower-recipes.blogspot.com/2008/09/braised-duck-with-plum-sauce.html
Be aware that ducks have layers of fat. Prepare to get rid of a lot if you don't want the dish to be too greasy.
But it depends on your duck I guess. A corn fed farmed duck is going to have more fat on it.
If you want to go another route, duck is used in thai cuisine (and probably chinese too), and I think they fry it.
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The problem with duck is that you don't cook it correctly the layer of fat doesn't turn crispy and it becomes incredibly chewy.
That recipe I posted needs the duck fat to be drained at least five times during cooking.
Satans..... hints.....
That's one tiny duck. Duckling even. Seven pounds sounds about right to me. Have you ever seen a duck?
As for recipes, I guess you can't go wrong with a classic Crispy Peking Duck with hoisin sauce. Do the whole chinese pancake and strips of cucumber thing. I've never made one before but I believe they are relatively easy, especially if you just buy a jar of good quality hoisin suace.
I've eaten tons of duck, theyv'e always been about 10 inches long, 6-7 inches wide, and certainly less than 2 pounds after being cooked.
Some of them were mallards. I'm sure it depends on the species. But I've certainly never seen a goddamned 7 pound duck, much less one that was fatty.
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In my adventures of sourcing ducks I have yet to see one that is below 4.5 pounds.
I mean .75 pounds is a pigeon?
Satans..... hints.....
But this is a picture of about the size of ducks I am used to... there's no way that's 7 pounds.
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Jasc, you are basically arguing in direct contradiction to reality. Fat is a fundamental property of Duck. The very nature of their life requires them to be fatty.
100gm of Duck has around 39g of fat compared to 100gm of Chicken which has around 16g of fat.
As for weight, our supermarket sells whole ducks at 1kg (about 2.2lbs) up to 2.1kg (about 4.6lbs). Take that for what you will. 7lbs would sound like a bit of a monster, but there are several species of Duck, large and small and that would still be smaller than the smallest Turkeys by the looks of things.
not that this is really on topic though
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This is good advice, though you should still braise it often. Dry duck is worse than greasy duck.
I'd stay away from strong marinades and instead serve it with a pureed fruit sauce. Raspberry or Apricot usually works well.
Personally Id cut it into quarters (take the legs off at the hip and the breasts off, but leave the skin on!) and let them sit in a marinade of red wine (something you would like to drink if you do wine, but if not no worries, it will still taste delicious) sliced garlic, and rosemary sprigs. Several hours Id say, preferably overnight. You can save the bones, wrap em up and freeze em and make stock later if you want.
When it comes to cooking it, strain the marinade and save the liquid, you can make a nice sauce out of it after you cook it, you wanna slit the skin in a crosshatch kinda way so the fat can render out and then just saute them suckers. Start em skin side down in a hot dry pan and let em stay till the skin is nice and crispy then flip em over to finish cooking. Duck is best around medium - medium rare in my opinion, which is around 130-135 F. So either use a thermometer, or cook it till its a nice pink in the center (thermometer is better cause you wont have to cut into the nice pretty breast). While its cookin on the skin side you might have to drain the fat off to keep em from deep frying, try to save it, if you do much cooking duck fat can add a lot of flavor to dishes.
When the breasts and legs are done put em somewhere to keep warm, an oven on the lowest setting with the door cracked would work for a little while, and drain off the fat, saving it if you want. Then take the marinade you saved and pour it into the pan you cooked the duck in, scraping up the bits of skin and fat that have stuck to the pan. Let that simmer till it gets nice and thick. Once its thick add a little salt till it tastes great then serve it over the duck.
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But save all of the fat!
Duck fat is delicious, and absolutely worth holding onto. Fingerling potatoes roasted in duck fat are fantastic.
but i have always thought of duck as something rich people eat at restaurants.
$14 is pretty good for a big ol' bird. lol
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This can't be repeated enough. Duck fat is liquid gold.
That said, I still like a good orange duck!
PSN - sumowot
@uean: sorry about your bad experience with fresh meat man. I've never had to do that but I think it would turn me vegetarian too.
edit: I just aquired a crock pot as a gift (brand new!) and I'm hesitant about using it. Can duck cure me of my apprehension?
I love knowing where my meat comes from. my family and my wife's family we have butchered and processed in the past 4 months.
1 water bufallo - Live weight: 1100 pounds
4 sheep approx 90 pounds hanging weight each
2 pigs
a dozen rabbits or so
some chickens
My siblings, who did the sheep this past Monday actually drank the hot blood as it was squirting out of the neck after they cut the head off.
They are barbarians though.
My grandparents are hunters and I love wild/home-prepped game. There is no better meal.
It's going to be sad when they go because I'll be goddamned if I am going to clean rabbits myself.
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Rabbits are the easiest animal ever to clean. You just make an incision around each of the feet, make a starter cut near the navel and just peel the skin back. Then you slice open the stomach, empty everything in one easy swoop and rinse it in warm water.
Takes less than ten minutes, which includes walking out to the barn and disposing of the offal.
The main difference was, obviously, the fat, and that the duck took way longer to cook than a comparable chicken would have, which threw my timing off. Other than that, it was fucking delicious. I went for something really simple: garlic, a couple Spanish onions, and a mixture of soy sauce and honey. I roasted new potatoes in the pan alongside, which worked out very well, but I would have payed more attention to the basting if I'd though there would be so much excess fat and drippings.
Only other thing of note was that ducks are made different from chickens and turkeys. If you're used to carving other birds you'll have some trouble with this one. The breasts aren't the same and they have a massive ribcage or something. Even the leg joints seemed a little different.
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The trick I was taught with duck was to use a fork to pierce the skin gently. If you're careful you can pierce the outer layer of skin but not the inner one, so the fat will come out of the holes in the outer layer but not into the meat so much.
D:D:D:D:D: I don't think that's normal :shock:
PSN - sumowot
D:o_O
Hot damn, if that is'nt Metal I don't know what the fuck is.
Gross. lol