I've always enjoyed roast duck in restaurants, but had never tried it at home till last night. It turned out very well. Delicious and succulent, in fact. All of it was great, but I was particularly surprised at how delicious and succulent the leg and thigh were.



The method: Poke about twenty holes in the skin over the breast. Salt the entire duck. Put it (6.75 lb duck) in the oven for three hours, breast down, at 250 degrees (no, that temp is not a typo). Then turn it breast up, and 45 more minutes at 350 degrees.

During that last phase, you can make the sauce, which is (in my case) a red wine, butter, and cherry, reduction. Just put the pitted cherries in a sauce pan, add enough wine to cover them, along with a half stick of butter, and boil on low for a half hour uncovered. Add a tablespoon of red wine vinegar and cook the same way for another ten minutes.

That duck looks delicious.

It was. Had about half of it for dinner last night, and a quarter for lunch today. I figure I'll finish it off for dinner tonight. Reheats just fine, as does the sauce. I will definitely be making roast duck a regular item on my home menu from now on.

Surprisingly easy to make. Just have to do it low and slow for the first three hours, but no supervision is required during that time, so it's not particularly time consuming.

I've roasted duck a couple times and not in quite a few years. Cooked home-raised ducks.

The thigh and drumstick of fowl are almost always juicy and succulently tasty, IME. It's amazing the amount of fat that water fowl accumulate compared to terrestrial fowl.

P.S. looks good!

Nice! I did one recently.

Ain't that the truth.

Better shot.

Nice job Hawk!

I tried it once and damn near burned down the house. From then on it was House of Mandarin crispy duck for me!!

Every time I see anything about duck I think of something Chris Capell said to me.

Chris: Do you know why the French cook with duck fat?

Me: No, why?

Chris: Because it's foo king delicious!

I do cook what we had in his backyard. But no more whole ducks!

No sir!!

Wonder if that's what burned down his first house?

LOL. Love Peking Duck, too. There's a place near me that makes it great. Uncle Hon's, or some such.

LOL. It is that.

You have to do it low and slow for most of it. Just raise the heat to 350 degrees for the last 45 minutes or so to crisp the skin.

Speaking of duck !!!

David, have you eaten here ? The duck as well as the rest of the menu is fabulous !!!!!Wish I traveled to the area more often as it's been awhile.

http://www.pekinggourmet.com

No Sir but I'll be back up in NOVA late next week and give this one a try. Menu looks great!! Peking Duck carved table side!! Oh yeah!

Thanks for the suggestion Denny!!

David

The PK is so good it really should be illegal.

Not a chance in hell of getting a bad meal there. Speaking from having eaten there many times.

Please enjoy and dine responsibly.

I cooked one on Christmas eve. Used a orange juice and balsamic baste and then added honey to that baste the last time I basted it. Legs and thigs were succulent , breast wasnt bad but not as good as the leg and thighs. I feel I over cooked by about a half hour.
Nextvtime I think I will try lemon juice instead of orange.

Thanks Hawkeye, gonna give this one a try.

Wonder how similar preparations would turn out on a Canada goose...?

Gonna have to try that and maybe add some aromatics to the cavity during roasting.

Just did the same recently and basted it with balsamic vinegar. Wild duck gets brested and marinated in Italian dressing and grilled. Will do roasted duck again.

Is this a wild duck? What kind?

Looks fantastic!

Grocery store duck. It was delicious.

Did you put any liquid in or did you cover it . Tom

Nope, and it was succulent and tender. Ducks have a lot of fat that just gets naturally basted into the meat as it slow cooks.

tagged for the duck recipe

nothing works for a Canuck goose...:)

Make sure to cover it loosely with tinfoil after fully cooked, and allow to sit on the counter top for fifteen minutes before carving. I forgot to include that in post number one. This allows the juices to be gradually pulled back into the center as it cools. Cut it too soon, and all the moisture in the meat will quickly drain out onto your carving plate where it does nobody any good. This procedure also allows you to handle it without burning yourself while carving.

Only handle it with kitchen tongs till time to carve, so you make no deep holes in it through which juices can escape.

Thanks.

the pinholes & the salt are to retain moisture, correct?

I believe the superficial holes on the breast are to allow the excess fat (of which there is a lot in a duck) to drip away during the low heat phase of cooking. Only puncture the skin, not the meat.

Salt, I believe, assists in crisping the skin.

Roger

Think that recipe will work with swan...:)

No clue.

Took a bucket of grain up to the pond to feed my ducks and they're starting to look mighty tasty. YUM !!!

Dare I ????

Nah,... better not. They're my little buddies

Chikken on sale at the sto'

wrong

Turkey lifter . Cat's meow when handled from the bottom.

https://www.amazon.com/RSVP-Endurance-Stainless-Turkey-Lifter/dp/B000F7JXLA

Darn good when lifting a big ol' pork butt out of the smoker as well.

I wouldn't use those till it cooled down for fifteen minutes. Then they would be a big help in carving.