I’ve never cooked duck before, but I heard this recipe on NPR and it sounded so good, I was even willing to brave icky giblets not wrapped in a protective paper sack to try it.
Yesterday I simmered ol’ Donald for three hours, and today I fired up the oven and roasted him. I’m so impressed with the results! I’ve heard that the enormous amount of subcutaneous fat can cause problems with roasting, but the pre-simmering did the trick beautfully. Tonight we had delicious, tender duck breast with crispy mahogany skin.
I even made an improvement on the recipe of sorts - I found that straining the broth through paper towels removed both the impurities (I accidentally boiled it briskly for a few minutes - think that might have caused the scum to form) and most of the excess fat.
I’m just so happy I had to share!
