Roasting my first duck.
I swore to myself this year was THE year. It's 2015. It's the year of bettering myself- finally getting in shape and sticking to a diet. It was the year to finish my book and self publish and then to decide what I really want to do with my life. Well.... I've managed to do one of those things, perhaps the biggest challenge of them all. The rest... I'll get there. I also challenged myself to cook new things this year, and so far I have done really well with that. I've tackled carrot cake with cream cheese icing, lemon pound cake, banana cupcakes with banana cream filling and cinnamon honey icing, banana bread (I may have had a slight kick of 'where the heck is spring already?!' with some of these flavors), fresh French bread with garlic, home made from scratch cinnamon rolls, hog jowls, fried catfish (though admittedly my first time tackling this feat was last year), and as of last night, I attempted the ever feared, all mighty protein known as duck.
I was terrified. I had high expectations of myself while wondering if I could deliver them all from the first bite. This is the ever-discussed highly controversial DUCK we are talking about...but I tackled it.
It was heavenly. The skin was perfectly crispy. The meat had a wonderful flavor similar to the dark meat of a turkey, only better in that it was a little more "gamey", as my mother would say. It may have been just a hair over done, but it was still plenty tender and juicy and I'm proud to say I didn't follow anyone else's recipe, I just winged it.... get it? Winged it? For a duck!? Okay I'm done.. moving right along now.
 |
| Duck as it rested. |
It wasn't an easy choice to decide to just follow my gut, but I'm very glad I did. J and I are living the low carb lifestyle and so many of the recipes called for things like orange juice and sugars that we aren't indulging in right now. Once I decided duck was one of the new challenges I was going to take on this year I started searching for recipes. I spent hours upon hours pouring over options and weighing the ingredients in my head searching for the right balance of low carb and high deliciousness. It wasn't a simple task and each time I thought "that's the one" I'd find a reason it wasn't the one and I'd keep looking until eventually I couldn't remember which ingredients and cooking techniques went with each recipe. So I scrapped them all and started my own recipe. Be forewarned that I have an aversion to pink poultry, as it is so engraved into my soul that pink poultry = salmonella or any other variety of ick, so for the first go around I wanted to cook my duck well done. Next time I might adjust and cook one in a different manner, in which case there will be, of course another posting with the recipe.
So for last night's winged duck recipe.
I started with a Long Island Duck (also a Peking Duck) that I picked up at a local international market. It was roughly five and a half pounds in all the packaging and with all the giblets included. I turned my oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit to preheat and then I cut the packaging open from the side with the drumsticks and pulled the duck from the packaging.
I pulled the included organ meats and neck from the body cavity and discarded them as I wasn't making a gravy or needing them for anything. Then I rinsed the outside of the duck and the inside until the water ran clear and everything looked un-goopy. This took a little longer than the chickens and turkeys I've done the same way.
Once the water ran clear from the body cavity I pat it dry with paper towels inside and out. This helps crisp the skin and helps the seasonings to stick and set in. Duck is a fattier meat than chicken or turkey so I recommend not rubbing it down with butter as a lot of people do with a roasted turkey. Instead, just season it up. I started my seasoning with salt and pepper as the very basics, then I added paprika, garlic and onion; if you have poultry seasoning or sage both of these would work well, too. I rubbed both the top and bottom of the bird and then set to stuffing the body.
 |
| Mmmm seasoned just right. |
Since like I said earlier J and I are not eating all the carby-deliciousness that is stuffing or fruits, I stuck to things that wouldn't add sugars or high amounts of carbs to the duck. I put in a few cloves of garlic, half an onion, dried rosemary and celery. I just kept stuffing bits in until i couldn't stuff anything else in. You could use anything here from oranges and apples to an actual cornbread stuffing, so feel free to get creative.
 |
| Stuff it as far in as you can. |
Once it's all stuffed and you're satisfied with it, fold the skin back around the hole and, if you want, pin with a poultry pin. I don't have them, so I just folded it and had faith it would stay where I put it. I cut a few slits into the skin to help let the fat drip out, but if you have a sharp fork i would recommend just pricking it in a few places instead. Be careful to not stick the meat though, as this will increase the chances of it being dry.
 |
| I cut a little deep on the cut farthest to the right. |
From here I put the duck on a rack sprayed with a little non-stick spray in a large roasting pan. I put roughly one cup of water into the pan with the other half of the onion not stuffed into the duck and put the duck into the oven, breast side up. I set my timer for two and a half hours, but I'd wager setting it at two hours flat would have maybe made a less-done bird while still actually being completely cooked through.
 |
| RACK TIME |
 |
| Chicken stock and brush for basting |
Every thirty minutes I would pull the rack just far enough out of the oven to baste it, then return it to the oven and try to not peek too often at how it was looking. I didn't rotate the duck over, but next time I certainly will. I'd recommend about forty-five minutes in giving it a good flip so the underside also gets to crisp up some, then flip it over again--I will certainly be doing this next time. If the body cavity looks to have a whole mess of fluid building up in it you can tip the duck to let the juices flow into the bottom of the pan, just be sure to flip towards the small hole so you don't lose all your stuffing inside.
 |
| First Baste |
 |
| Second Baste |
 |
| Third Baste |
Once I was satisfied the duck was done and the skin was crispy enough I pulled the pan from the oven and let it sit on the counter to rest for about fifteen to twenty minutes while I finished up the sides, which aren't pictured, but were just mashed cauliflower and pan cooked asparagus. Then we sat down, carved the duck and indulged in crispy skin ducky deliciousness.
Cliff-notes version
You will need:
3 celery stalks, cut to 2-3 inches
1 onion, quartered or smaller
4 garlic cloves
rosemary
sage
garlic powder
onion powder
paprika
salt
pepper
1 duck 5-6 pounds
1 cup chicken stock, bullion or basting liquid
basting brush/pastry brush
1 roasting pan
1 roasting rack
How to:
Preheat oven to 350.
Set rack into pan and spray lightly with non-stick spray
Remove giblets and wash the duck inside and out.
Pat the duck dry inside and out with paper towels.
Score little cuts into the skin of the duck or prick with a sharp fork, minding not to pierce the meat. Rub the duck down with seasonings (except rosemary) to taste.
Stuff duck with cut up onion, garlic cloves, celery stalks and rosemary.
Place duck onto roasting rack breast side up and put into oven.
Set timer for 2-2.5 hours.
Every 30 minutes baste duck with chicken stock or basting liquid.
Rotate duck to breast-side-down roughly 45 minutes to an hour in to allow bottom skin to crisp.
Rotate again to finish crisping breast skin.
Continue basting until done.
Pull duck from oven and allow to rest for 10-20 minutes.
Carve and enjoy.
Hope you all enjoy the duck and get creative with your own stuffings and spices!
Happy eating!
No comments:
Post a Comment