Roast Duck

I served duck, ham, and lamb at my Easter dinner.  A couple of my guests asked how I prepare my duck so it's not greasy.  That's a question I often get, so I thought I'd share it with all of you.  Here's how you get a perfectly roasted, non-greasy duck(or goose, for that matter.)

Start by removing the neck, giblets, and whatever else might be inside your duck.  Put those things in a large stock pot of water and bring it up to a simmer.

Wrangle the wing tips behind the bird, and with the point of a knife, stab it all over.  Go nuts.  Make sure to flip the duck over and stab the backside, too.  Really get all serial killery on the bird.  This will help to render the fat out on the next step.

 Drop your stabbed bird in the simmering pot neck down.  Fat floats.  It'll want to float.  Just push it down and put the lid on.  Let it simmer for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, pull the bird out of the water and let it sit for 45 minutes.  This'll give it's skin time to tighten up.

In the meantime I preheated the oven to 450 and prepared the glaze.  I heated up 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1/4 cup champagne vinegar, 1/2 cup apricot mango preserves, 1 tbsp San-J gluten-free soy sauce, and 1 1/2 tbsps red pepper flakes.  For a more traditional orange duck, use marmalade instead of the preserves.  Reserve half the sauce for serving with the bird. 

Brush the sauce all over the duck.  I like to start the bird roasting back side up for 25 minutes, then flip it over breast side up for another 25-30 minutes, basting again when I pull it out of the oven to flip it.  A goose would take slightly longer with slightly more glaze.  Perfectly roasted water fowl every time.

The thing about water fowl, is that they're naturally so fatty and juicy that you really can't overcook them.  It would take effort to dry one out.  I took a cleaver to what was left after Easter dinner, and heated up in a 425 toaster oven for 10 minutes, those bits are better than any $13 chinese take-out duck.

Thanks for popping in and cooking with me.  I'm linking this up to Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Prairie Story's Recipe Swap Thursday, Just a Girl's Show and Share Day, and Life as Mom's Ultimate Recipe Swap.