Anyone got some good tips on duck?

So I'm hosting a friendsgiving. Round' these parts, everyone has a few Thanksgiving, and friendsgivings. So I figured everyone will be tired of the standard, so I'm doing a spin on mine.

Duck instead of turkey, cubed pork belly smoked burnt ends instead of ham.

The latter I'm confident in... I've had duck, I love duck, but I've never cooked duck. I had to go frozen, and she's thawing... That's as far as I've gotten. I pride myself in being a good cook, and also having the confidence to execute, but as all of the regulars here know, I'm a delusional human man child.

I'm gonna throw it back and watch some Alton Brown's Good Eats on duck to get a base.

Anyone have any killer tips? I'm all ears.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

I’ve made duck a la orange a few times in the very distant past. Stuffed the bird with quartered oranges (Valencia’s I think, the tart ones), quartered lemons and fresh herbs.

Used orange zest, orange juice concentrate, honey, and cognac for the glaze.

Duck is greasy, use a rack in your roaster.

i make a sweet raspberry walnut duck with white truffles.


use fresh raspberries, fresh walnuts, raspberry jam, a bottle of raspberry walnut vinagrette dressing rub skin with oil and herb mix then pop in the oven covered.

take off the cover for the last 45 minutes and baste every 7-10 for crispy skin

a reply to: Bhadhidar

Definitely noted on the on the pan.

When it goes in the oven, it will definitely be on a roasting rack.

a reply to: dashen

I'm seating fruit reductions as a large theme with duck.

I'll make sure I do something of the sorts.... Gotts be a reason Eh?

a reply to: CriticalStinker

yea, but its good with savories as well.

rosemary and whatnot.

a good trick is also to pour very hot duck fat on the skin to like fry it

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Use your best pan. I find if I use a scuffed older stainless pan the skin eventually wants to adhere to the pan even with all the oil from the fat.

One of the downsides of having kids do chores is finding your nice pans scuffed up from using spoons to flake off the burn.

Like all whole birds, start breast down, tented with foil or a cover for at least the first hour.

Never a dry, tasteless bird that way.
Duck is a little wet, but you don't want to lose that flavor.

Oh, and definitely save all drippings. There is nothing like duck fat braised potatoes.

YOU'RE GONNA WHAT?

Listen to the cows... EAT MOR CHIKIN!




(I like them brined, then slow roasted... but, they don't know that... shhhhh...)

EDIT TO ADD: She is now a full grown mallard. Her name is "Doc". She is not a food duck... she is a security duck.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Yeah,,,
take some stale bread clumps
and toss it out to them in the pond.
Can you say Quack Quack?

a reply to: CriticalStinker

You’ve got the duck, this time of year turkey and chicken are cheap. Do a Turducken. Blows everyone away.

I believe in recent threads, you have a smoker. Smoke that deliciousness up and you’ll have a meal to remember!

I have had good roast duck, but never have made it. I did cook a goose back in the early eighties though. My goose was cooked perfectly, it gave all that ate it severe smelly gas though. I made it on Easter and we drove around town looking unsuccessfully for an open bar to drink in...dead bunnies all over the city, what a cruel joke someone pulled. All four of us guys had our heads stuck out the window because we could not breath inside the car.

Gosh, I have a lot of comments about duck, but I really have to go to bed.

Ducks are awesome!

G'night all!

a reply to: CriticalStinker

I can give you some suggestions for a good roast duck but I'll be honest and tell you that I prefer to breakdown the duck and cook the parts separately; confit legs, pan-seared breast, as I find they cook best this way. Duck breast meat is more like beef than poultry and can be eaten medium rare. The trick with cooking a whole duck, for me anyway, is to start it breast side down for about 60% of the cooking time and then flip it. The fat from the legs bastes the duck while it cooks and then once it's nearly the correct temperature you flip it and get crispy skin and medium-cooked breast.

If you want an actual recipe or two I can give you some.

a reply to: KKLOCO

I believe in recent threads, you have a smoker. Smoke that deliciousness up and you’ll have a meal to remember!

You are correct sir! Good eye.

I'm about 90% on board with at least smoking it for like an hour just to give it a light smoke. I don't want to overdue it with smoke since I'll have the burnt ends.

Save the drippings and giblets for gravy.
Duck gravy is awesome on everything.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Hi CS. A nicely roasted duck is delicious! I find the flesh of duck to be very rich with kind of a velvety texture on the tongue. A little goes a long way! For me I think turducken would just be too much of a good thing.

If you want the skin crispy it's best to pierce the duck with the tip of a sharp knife all over the fatty parts (breasts, legs). This will help a lot of that thick fat under the skin to drain away.

Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy.

originally posted by: Homefree
Save the drippings and giblets for gravy.
Duck gravy is awesome on everything.

I don't ever throw out good fat. Ground beef will be about the only fat I'll discard, and even that is rare.

a reply to: Caroline13456

Thank you for the tip! I believe I'm going to do the diamond scoring method, ensuring I don't go too deep into the fat layer.

And it's going to be one duck for about 7-8 people, as rich as it is, I'm not trying to make it the only focus. Thinking on it, maybe duck and pork belly is a bet ambitious and possibly aggressive in the savory area.

Turkeys are cheap, so I may just pick one up and throw it on the smoker since it will be rolling anyways. It will offer some relief to palate fatigue... I'll have a friendsgiving the next day as well that I won't be hosting. I can bring good quality leftovers there

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: Caroline13456

Thank you for the tip! I believe I'm going to do the diamond scoring method, ensuring I don't go too deep into the fat layer.

^^^^This is critical!^^^^

You don't want to cut into the meat, but you definitely want to make sure you get all the way through the skin and into the fat layer. The fat layer is a lot thicker than most people think, so don't worry too much about going a little deeper.

And it's going to be one duck for about 7-8 people, as rich as it is, I'm not trying to make it the only focus. Thinking on it, maybe duck and pork belly is a bet ambitious and possibly aggressive in the savory area.

One duck will not be enough for 7-8 people to have anything more than a taste. Ducks look big, but there's surprisingly little meat on a duck when you get right down to it. A single duck will have your guests chasing you around with forks! Unfortunately, if you're shooting for tomorrow, you may not have enough time to get a second duck and get it thawed in time because almost all duck is frozen.

Turkeys are cheap, so I may just pick one up and throw it on the smoker since it will be rolling anyways. It will offer some relief to palate fatigue... I'll have a friendsgiving the next day as well that I won't be hosting. I can bring good quality leftovers there

This would be wise, especially if only a single duck. Find a fresh one with less than 5% solution injection, then brine it. Better hurry though, you need to be brining now for tomorrow.