Duck Potatoes..YUM!

Sunday night I roasted a duck for dinner. Just a straight-up roasted duck without all the funky sauces (orange, et. al). Just some salt, pepper, paprika (and the inside stuffed with some apple slices, onion and garlic...oh, and some thyme). The duck came out fantastic (a real keeper), and it vanished in one serving. However, as good as the duck was, it's not the point of this story / recipe.

Duck renders off a lot of fat when roasted (particularly when you score the skin like I did). I was planning on roasting the duck in the Le Creuset dutch oven, but I didn't want the duck to roast down in its own fat (too greasy), and a regular baking rack won't fit inside the Le Creuset. So, to get it the duck up off the bottom of the dutch oven I decided to cut up a bunch of Yukon Gold potatoes and use that as a trivet/rack. With my plan, the potatoes were just sacrificial and I was going to toss them afterwards (I had steamed fresh beans and rice to go with the duck).

Well, as I noted, the duck came out perfectly. Cleaning up, I just decided to save the duck fat soaked roasted taters..."just in case". I thought I might use them for something. Fast forward to yesterday morning; I popped open the fridge hungry for something, but not knowing what. Those taters kept calling me from the shelf. So I grabbed them and thought, what the heck, right?

Popped a few of those taters onto a paper plate and stuck them in the nuke box for about a minute and a half, got them nice and steamy. Added some salt and black pepper, and...OH MAN!! Are those potatoes GOOD!!! The duck fat, spices from the bird, and some of the onion from inside, flavored those potatoes like nobody's business! Absolutely out-of-this-world!! Best breakfast I could have ever imagined!

Had some of the rest of them this morning for breakfast also. Doesn't even need any eggs (or anything else for that matter) to go with them, just straight-up potatoes. Next time you roast a duck I highly recommend this easy little trick!

Enjoy!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk


Potatoes cooked in duck fat are one of the greatest things ever invented.

I often parboil some potatoes, cut them in wedges, toss them with a litte bit of cornmeal, flour, salt and pepper and then fry them in duck fat until they are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Absolutely, ALWAYS save the duck fat!! It's like solid gold!

I just wasn't sure about the potatoes which had been cooked directly in the duck fat.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Can't beat duck potatoes.

I hunt my own ducks so have plenty in the freezer.

I get two uncooked duck breasts and throw them in a frying pan browning both sides first (1 minute each side).

Boil some potatoes, cut them up and place them in a tin dish and add a pinch of pepper and salt.

Place the duck breasts on the potatoes with the skin on the top and add a couple of sprinkles of Cayenne pepper and a fresh sprig of thyme.

Chuck tin dish in a pre-heated oven and cook for about 20 to 25 minutes (making sure that the meat stays pink inside).

Nom nom nom...

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originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
Sunday night I roasted a duck for dinner. Just a straight-up roasted duck without all the funky sauces (orange, et. al). Just some salt, pepper, paprika (and the inside stuffed with some apple slices, onion and garlic...oh, and some thyme). The duck came out fantastic (a real keeper), and it vanished in one serving. However, as good as the duck was, it's not the point of this story / recipe.

Duck renders off a lot of fat when roasted (particularly when you score the skin like I did). I was planning on roasting the duck in the Le Creuset dutch oven, but I didn't want the duck to roast down in its own fat (too greasy), and a regular baking rack won't fit inside the Le Creuset. So, to get it the duck up off the bottom of the dutch oven I decided to cut up a bunch of Yukon Gold potatoes and use that as a trivet/rack. With my plan, the potatoes were just sacrificial and I was going to toss them afterwards (I had steamed fresh beans and rice to go with the duck).

Well, as I noted, the duck came out perfectly. Cleaning up, I just decided to save the duck fat soaked roasted taters..."just in case". I thought I might use them for something. Fast forward to yesterday morning; I popped open the fridge hungry for something, but not knowing what. Those taters kept calling me from the shelf. So I grabbed them and thought, what the heck, right?

Popped a few of those taters onto a paper plate and stuck them in the nuke box for about a minute and a half, got them nice and steamy. Added some salt and black pepper, and...OH MAN!! Are those potatoes GOOD!!! The duck fat, spices from the bird, and some of the onion from inside, flavored those potatoes like nobody's business! Absolutely out-of-this-world!! Best breakfast I could have ever imagined!

Had some of the rest of them this morning for breakfast also. Doesn't even need any eggs (or anything else for that matter) to go with them, just straight-up potatoes. Next time you roast a duck I highly recommend this easy little trick!

Enjoy!

Recently had roast duck and potatoes...in a closed roasting pan so 'taters were roasted in the fat juices...awesome!

PS: Was thinking about putting them in a crock...glad I didn't!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Dude that sounds really good! Store bought Duck or fresh kill?
Also when you scored the duck how deep did ya go? I’ve never cooked duck but was planning on it for thanksgiving.
Unfortunately living just outside Vegas there is not really and duck to hunt so I’ll have to go to the store. And another bad thing is they like to pre stuff those here

I may have to go to a place I know of to get a good one but the price is more than double. But should be worth it.

Another thing please throw us some more of your recipes. I know you do it often but I need more!!! I have all your past ones saved in a folder.

a reply to: Allaroundyou

It was just a store bought duck. I don't duck hunt too much anymore, and not a lot of duck hunting around here either (highly restricted season, so the rare times when the season is open there's too many hunters, which is no fun). Anyway, just a store bought one.

Regarding the scoring of the skin, you just cut through it enough to cut through the skin and a bit of fat, but not the underlying meat. I use about a 1" wide cross-hatch pattern.

A good source for (unstuffed) ducks, believe it or not, is the Asian markets. I'm pretty sure there's probably a ton of those in Vegas.

ETA - Regarding your Thanksgiving, remember the yield on a duck isn't very much because of the fat and bone size so even a six pound bird is barely enough for two (when cooked). You might consider getting 2-3 ducks depending on how many you're feeding.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
A good source for (unstuffed) ducks, believe it or not, is the Asian markets.

And if someone doesn't have one of those call D'Artagnan. They deliver restaurant quality meats across the US>

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

My family LOVES duck potatoes but every once in a while like during the holidays, when roasting a duck Ill put carrots under it (it helps to keep it from sticking to my 100 year old pans) anyway everyone always raves about the carrots cause they come out almost like a dessert


My hubby thinks duck fat is good for pancakes too but i prefer bacon fat or pork fat to grease the pan for pancakes- really both are good depending on mood

on a side note with a question- when i roast several ducks at once I am left with a ton of duck fat. Yet it doesn't seem to keep as well as other cooking fats/lards. any preservation ideas? I hate to waste anything this far into the woods.