I request your favorite recipe for duck

Cafe Society
1

I’ve only eaten duck once, and I didn’t care for it. However, my husband quite likes it (and I’m willing to give it another go; he pointed out, quite rightly, that maybe the one time I had it, it was badly prepared).

But yesterday, I found such a good deal on a frozen duckling, that I bought it. It is a 5lb duckling, and my aim is to prepare it for him (and who knows? maybe for me, too) next weekend (today being Monday).

So, give with your favorite duck recipes.

I know he likes it in orange sauce, but don’t know how to make a proper orange sauce. My cooking skills aren’t extraordinary, nor is my equipment. But I can turn out a pretty decent meal, and have all the basics in my kitchen, including a range, a slow cooker, a microwave and good knives (oh, and a mini food processor, but not a full-size one).

If your recipe needs to marinate for a couple of days, that’s fine, I have plenty of refrigerator room for it.

Thanks!

2

We made Alton Brown’s Mighty Duckfor Christmas. It was a bit salty, as Mr Brown’s recipes tend to be (IMHO), but I really liked it. I hope to try it again in the coming weeks.
The duck l’orange recipe in Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook is quite good. I had to rotate the duck while baking because my oven has hotspots, but it was tasty. Looks like some helpful blogger has posted the recipe.

3

Did Mr Norinew like your duck? Or is Duckling waiting in the freezer to be a valentine’s day surprise?

4

I’ve heard they are quite fond of stir fried insects, with a side-salad of water lily and cress…
oh, you mean you want to eat the duck!? :frowning:

5

My husband does the duck at our house. He follows the directions on the packaging for roasting time and temperature. What makes his duck so good is he stuffs it with oranges and prunes, and a few minutes before taking it out of the oven, he sprinkles sugar on the breast and turns on the broiler. The skin gets crispy-crusty and it’s so sweet! The rest of the bird is good too.

6

Bone the duck. (!)

Cut the meat into strips. Dredge the strips in a high-quality cocoa powder.

Caramelize some sugar in a heavy pot. When it’s melted and beginning to darken, cook the duck by tossing it in the hot sugar.

Serve with pureed, strained fresh raspberries.

7

After shooting from blind, boat over to duck and retrieve. After field dressing, drop in a pot of bayou water and boil until done. Wash down with warm beer.

8

Wow, lissener, that sounds great. Do you think it would work with smoked duck, rather than fresh?

9

I’ve tried Alton Brown’s duck recipe and just roasting the thing in the oven. Still TONS of grease, which smoked, filled the house with smoke, and set off the smoke detectors! So any duck I eat in the future will have to be cooked elsewhere. Darn shame, I love duck!

10

Hmm. That sounds edible, but I think it would be different; the duck actually cooks from the heat of the melted sugar, and is ideally still a little juicy.

11

I guess I’ll just have to try it both ways! Thanks for the opinion, lissener.

Salinqmind, did you steam it, or just roast it? We didn’t have any trouble with smoking grease when we did it. (Which is amazing, really, I’m always setting off the smoke alarm.)

12

Seriously, this is the only recipe you need. It sounds (and is) extremely plain. Basically just dousing in boiling water then roasting salt-and-peppered on a raised rack, both in order to keep the skin crispy. It comes out perfectly cooked and crisp– no prep work, no marinades, no basting.
You can figure out what sort of sauce to make while it is roasting.

13

Is it duck season already?

14

Wabbit season.

15

We’re actually having it for dinner tonight. Here is the recipe I finally decided on:

Ingredients:

* 1 frozen duckling, thawed
* 2 oranges, peeled
* salt and pepper
* 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
* 3 tablespoons champagne
* 3 egg yolks
* 2 cups heavy cream
* salt and pepper
* orange segments for garnish

Preparation:
Wash duck and pat dry inside and out. Stuff with peeled oranges. Prick skin all over with fork. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Place on rack in roasting pan. Roast in a preheated 350° oven for 30 to 35 minutes per pound.

Remove and cut into 4 sections; discard orange pulp. Arrange on a hot serving platter and keep warm while preparing sauce.

Place cream and egg yolks in a shallow pan; heat gently. Add orange juice and champagne a little at a time. Add a little salt to taste. Allow sauce to come to a simmer; continue to heat for 15 seconds. Do not boil. Pour sauce over duck and garnish with fresh orange sections.
Serves 2.

As stated before, I didn’t care for duck the one time I had it, but I figure if a combo of champagne, heavy cream and fresh oranges can’t make something taste good, it’s hopeless!

I’ll post about results tonight or tomorrow.

16

If you ever have duck again, might I suggest peking duck? It’s, IMHO, the ultimate labor of love (at least as far as duck dishes go ;)).

Here’s the recipe I use, the harder-to-find ingredients can all be found at your local Asian grocery, or perhaps even in a larger supermarket:

Clean the thawed duck and rinse it thoroughly, inside and out, pat dry, then let it hang someplace cool and dry for four hours, where there is a decent breeze. The hanging isn’t necessary if you are really worried about sanitation (I’ve yet to die from it, though), but it will make for a nicer skin.

While doing this, you can make the broth:

1: **Broth **(if you want to cut a step, you can use chicken broth, but this tastes better and gives you something to do with the neck meat)

Bone the neck previously cleaned from the duck and put the meat and bones into a pot with 300ml of water and with a little green onions and fresh ginger to taste. Boil gently (medium low heat or so), skimming as necessary, until the water is reduced by about half and you have a good stock.

2: You can also make the **miso sauce **(some people just buy hoisin sauce, but, again, this tastes a lot better)

Here you will need:

40g of red (赤/aka) miso
3 tablespoons of the stock just made (or of chicken stock)
1 teaspoon freshly grated garlic
1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger
6 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1.5 teaspoons of toubanjan (豆板醬) (Any Asian grocery should have this, it is also called doubanjiang)
1 tablespoon of vinegar
1.5 teaspoons of sesame oil
star anise to taste (optional)

Stick all of these guys in a sauce pan and stir together over low heat until mixed into a consistent paste.

3:The duck

Using kitchen twine, stitch the poor duck’s tumtum shut and tie his legs.

Fill a large pot with 6-8 cups of water, more green onions, ginger, honey or sugar (3 tbsp), and a tablespoon of vinegar. Bring this to a boil.

Hang the uncooked, dried duck above the sink (or place it in a strainer above the sink) and slowly ladle at least half of this boiling mixture all over the bird for about 10 minutes.

Roast him in an oven at 250C (475F) for 30 minutes, make sure to have a pan ready to collect the drippings, you can save them for soups, gravies, or frying [you can even use it to make the pancakes in the next step if you like].

Pull out the duck and brush it down with a mixture of 50ml water and 1 tbsp of sugar. Throw it back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so. Repeat this one more time, removing the duck, brushing it down with sugar water, and cooking it for another 10 minutes. After this, it should be ready.

Once it cools down you can remove the strings.

4:The **pancakes **(you might be able to buy these at an asian grocery [or even substitute them with really thin flour tortillas], but if you go through the trouble of making Peking Duck, you might as well go all the way, and you can do this ahead of time while the bird is drying)

In a mixing bowl, mix 200g of white flour with a teaspoon of salt. With chopsticks or a fork, mix in about 130 ml of boiling water. Throw the board onto a kneading surface and knead it for a couple minutes then cover it with a towel and let it set for 15 minutes, knead again, and let it set covered for another 15 minutes.

Roll the dough into a long cylinder about 3 centimeters wide in diameter throughout, then cut into about 20 equal parts. Turn each chunk of dough so that the cut end is up and flatten it with the palm of your hand until it is a flat circle about 15 cm in diameter.

You need to cook these two-ply, so, to ensure they will separate after cooking, brush each with a little sesame oil before sticking them together. Then, gently and quickly cook them in a pan with just a little vegetable oil. You aren’t deep-frying here, just lightly toasting on each side for 10 seconds. After they have cooked and are firm, you can separate them into individual pancakes. Let them cool and fold them gently before sealing them in tupperware with a slightly damp paper towel.

5: Eating

Slice the meat with the skin into pieces small enough to be wrapped in the pancakes. Serve with the pancakes, miso sauce, sliced raw green onions, raw bean sprouts, raw carrots, etc. Spread a bit of the sauce onto a pancake, add some duck, and one or more of the veggies. Wrap and enjoy!

Admittedly, this is a huge amount of work, but the result is absolutely fantastic.

17

Sorry, no recipe norinew, but duck a l’orange is excellent. I made it once about 20 years ago.

IIRC duck is about half fat and if you’re entertaining, it’s standard to have one duck per person. By the time the fat drains off, minus the bones etc. what’s left? I think in Chinese restaurants they’re actually cutting up the duck raw, frying it, and much of what you’re eating is fat. salinqmind the recipe I used stipulated that you have a pan with a rack above, put a little water in the pan, then let the duck drip as it cooks. I’ve heard that some people toothpick a duck to their turkey, knowing that the fat will drip and baste it as it cooks.

Fat, fat, fat. Not that I’m complaining…

18

Well, some years ago, I bought a duckling (frozen) for mr. norinew, and it came complete with a packet of orange sauce mix! All I had to do was thin it out with a little water (though I probably used chicken stock instead; I’m a big fan of stock in place of water) in a saucepan, heat it up when the duck was almost done, and pour it on. I took it to him at work for lunch, and he loved it.

As far as servings, yes, ducks are a high percentage of bones and fat. Even so, the one I made last night was plenty for the two of us, with some leftovers for the cat. :wink:

The sauce was a qualified success. It wasn’t “orange-y” enough, and we’ve decided if I ever make that sauce again, I’ll double the amount of orange juice it calls for. Also, the hubby likes thick sauces, so I ended up making a little slurry with some corn starch and chicken stock and thickening it.

I thought the duck was OK, though the skin was a thing of crispy beauty and I ate most of it! Hubby liked the duck very well, and thought the sauce would be good on other poultry, too, or maybe over pork chops. Pricey, though. Heavy cream don’t come cheap.

seodoa, your recipe sounds good. Problem: this is Cumberland, MD, we’re talking about. We don’t have an Asian grocery! I could search the local large-ish supermarket and see if they have the stuff you mention.

19

My goodness, this is almost unbearably sad.

</spoiled in Seattle>

:wink:

20

My recipe:

Go to Chinese barbecue duck and pork restaurant. Order BBQ duck on rice.

They always do duck perfectly - it’s always slow-roasted and juicy and served with a delectable sweet/tart duck sauce.