duck, duck, goose

Well, really just duck. I did something I've never done before...roasted a whole duck. And since I can never seem to find the recipe I used to make some previously perfect dish I thought this would be a good place to put all those things. So below is the Amazing 5 Hour Duck:

1 Pekin (Long Island) duck, wing tips cut off
(not necessary, but more elegant)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 small handful of thyme sprigs

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and set a rack in the middle level.

Remove the giblets from the duck; save the giblets and wing tips for stock, if you like. Dry the duck well with paper towels. Remove any loose globs of yellow fat from the two cavities. Rub the large cavity with salt and pepper and the garlic and put the thyme in it. With a small sharp paring knife, make dozens of slits all over the duck, piercing the skin and fat but being careful not to pierce the flesh. The easiest way to do this is to insert the knife on the diagonal, not straight in.

Put the duck breast side up on a rack (a cake cooling rack is fine) set on a jelly-roll pan and put it in the oven. Every hour for 4 hours, take the pan out of the oven, pierce the duck all over with the knife, and turn it over. Each time, pour off the fat in the pan.

After 4 hours, increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees (see note). Sprinkle the duck with salt and pepper and cook for about 1 hour longer, or until the skin is crisp and browned. Let rest for 20 minutes before serving.

Instead of carving the duck in the usual way, try sectioning it with heavy kitchen shears: cut it in half along the backbone and then cut each half into 2 pieces. Or use a cleaver and hack it into small pieces, bones and all, to serve Chinese style.

Courtesy of GlobalGourmet.com

But the best parts aren't even the duck meat so far.

I also made duck fat fries, which were pretty good, but I would make smaller ones next time. After I was done with the fries I also fried up some onion strings and they were out of this world. Just slice and fry until crispy.

And for lunch the next day, duck liver sandwiches. Out of this world. Rinse, then pan fry the duck liver in butter. Boil an egg and make a rough chopped egg salad. Pan fry the slices of bread, slice the liver, add a few reheated duck fat fried onions and a layer of egg salad. Eat! Supremely rich and decadent.

Working on the duck broth now. Will report back on how that turns out.