Recipe Requested Whole duck

[MrHiggins]

I organized my chest freezer this morning and found a whole duck. Any suggestions on how I should prepare it? I've never cooked a whole duck before. Thanks!

 

[daveb]

I would only do a duck whole if I was looking for presentation. A simple roast will work well.

Were it mine I would breast it and reserve legs/thighs for confit.. use the carcass and wings for stock if you're so inclined.

Important to render much fat off breast. While doing so you'll brown the breast and pretty much cook it through. Save the rendered fat - it's liquid gold. Finish the breast with SV at 130ish or short roast in oven.

I like to confit the legs/thighs SV though the oven works fine. Great app with some bread.

Saute some new potatoes and/or brussells with the duck fat.

 

[MrHiggins]

Thanks, Dave. That's exactly what I'm going to do. I've done both duck breasts and sous vide confit. I'll make a duck stock with the carcass.

 

[DavidPF]

it's liquid gold

Is duck fat so prized because it cooks things technically better somehow, or is it the taste and texture that make the difference?

 

[Michi]

Duck fat adds nice flavor. Try roasting some potatoes with it. You’ll be an instant convert

 

[add]

Once thawed, that lovely would be going / hanging in my pit barrel cooker.

 

[MrHiggins]

Thanks again for the tip about not doing the whole duck, Dave. Here's what I have so far: two quarts of duck stock, quacklings from the rendered fat, about a cup of fat, two breasts in a dry brine, two sous vide confit legs, one hungry dog.

 

[DavidPF]

You might be relieved to know that I got all the way home with my frozen duck, without throwing it at people and shouting "Duck!"

Still wondering what word ducks use for the bending-your-head-down move.

 

[Noodle Soup]

We do duck once a year at Christmas per the method my Danish cousins thought me. Stuff with prunes and apple chunks, salt and pepper the outside, put in a roasting pan with a little water and set the oven to 350. Very simple and I have never had any complaints from family.

 

[daveb]

Ha! Dog looks like he's ready to herd the whole mess over to his place.

 

[DavidPF]

Ha! Dog looks like he's ready to herd the whole mess over to his place.

Look where his eyes are facing, though... He's trying to come up with a way to get the human to go to a different room, so he can spend some quality doggie time in the kitchen. (Or at least he's wishing that was allowed. He looks smart enough to not actually go through with it.)

 

[Rangen]

Last time I made a duck, and started mixing the duck fat with the dog's food (I don't use the duck fat, sue me), the dog got more interested in his meals than he has ever been.

 

[MrHiggins]

Ha! Dog looks like he's ready to herd the whole mess over to his place.

That's my new border collie, Finnegan. He's 7 months old now. He's insanely smart (his dad is currently ranked in the top 10 in the nation in herding trials and his mom is working sheep on a 10,000 acre ranch up in Colorado. His maternal granddad won the international trials in Ireland). I've been in love with the border collie breed for years but this is the first one I've owned. It's a challenge for sure, but the rewards are worth it.

 

[MrHiggins]

Here's a meal made from some of that duck: duck fat potatoes, kale and bacon braised in duck stock; pork chop with a port, capers, and duck stock pan sauce.

 

[banzai_burrito]

That looks amazingly delicious