Roasting The Duck

            Everyone I talk to that tries duck seems to love it but few people cook it for themselves. I don't know why since it is a relatively easy bird to cook and the rewards are tremendous.

            You can keep the oil from the roasting process, trust me there will be lots, and use it in cooking other dishes. It is packed full of flavour and can be stored in a resealable bottle in the fridge for months. Just pull it out and run under some warm water to liquify what you need.

            The stock made from the carcass is also quite spectacular. I started mine off by boiling the neck of the duck with some onions and carrots in a pot while roasting the duck. When the duck was carved I placed that liquid into a larger pot with the carcass and added a few more onions and topping up the water.

Roasting the Duck

Make sure your bird is completely thawed before attempting to roast it.



Ingredients:

1 Duck (usually available frozen from your supermarket)

1 Lime

1 Head of Garlic

Pinch of Kosher Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper

1. Start by removing your duck from the bag and pull out the neck. Set aside the neck for starting your stock. Set your oven to 375F

2. Rince the bird thoroughly and pat dry with some paper towel and place the bird in a roasting pan with a rack so the bird does not touch the bottom of the pan.

3. Using a sharp knife, cut slits along the breast of the bird, being careful not to cut into the flesh. This well allow the fat under the skin to cook out and leave it nice and crispy.

4. Cut your lemon in half and squeeze the juice over the bird, then shove them inside along with the head of garlic. Sprinkle some kosher salt and pepper over the bird and shove it in the oven.

5. Depending on the size of the bird you are looking for 2-3 hours of cooking. Once you notice the skin starting to crisp up you can lower the temperature to 325F and cook slowly for a more tender meat.

6. Once done, remove from the oven and let rest for about 15 minutes before carving.

Stock

1 Duck Neck

1 Roast Duck Carcass

4 Onions - Chopped

2 Carrots - Chopped

1 Roasted Head of Garlic

Kosher Salt to Taste

Pepper to Taste

Water to cover

Making the stock is quite simple. Once you are done eating your delicious bird you can make a good amount of stock from it. Just place all the ingredients in a large stock pot and fill with water to cover everything. Set it on low heat and let simmer for 4 - 6 hours, even longer if you desire. Check the flavour every few hours until it suits your taste. Remove it from the heat and strain the liquid into a few large tupperware containers. Cover them and place in the fridge.

Once the liquid cools the fat left in it will float to the top and congeal. You can then skim it off before freezing it.

Oil

The last thing you want to save is the duck oil from the cooking process. It is quite delicious when used to saute vegetables and other meats.

Using your baster, suck up all the fat that has dripped into the bottom of your roasting pan and slowly transfer it to a large glass container.

Let it sit for about 30 minutes to allow the solid and brown gunk to settle to the bottom of the container. You dont want to eat that stuff.

You can then slowly transfer the oil into a resealable container using the baster again, careful not to suck up any of the gunk from the bottom.

Just store it in the fridge for later. Don't worry that it will congeal into a lard like substance. Just run the container under some warm water to re-liquify the amount you need.

So there you have it folks. The wonderful world of roasating duck.