Duck 101

My BIL Alex enlightened me with his Smoked Pork recipe. So I thought I would return the favor by sharing my duck cooking method. While I don’t do it enough to have it perfected, we do enjoy the fowl when we can get our hands on one.

Cut the duck into four main pieces, the breast and the leg/thigh. Score the breast skin so the fat has escape channels.

The remaining pieces go into the pot to make stock. I throw in some mustard seeds, peppercorn, salt, bay leaf and thyme. Cook that slowly, do not let it boil. Fish out the duck parts and throw ’em into the trash. Next lay the two leg/thigh pieces in the stock, adjust your flame to low and walk away for 90 mins.

Remove the leg/thigh pieces and throw them under the broiler to crisp up the skin. Brown yours evenly, not like mine.

Season  and cook the breasts in an iron skillet. After the skin is crisp, flip em over and throw em into the oven to finish off. Cook to medium, just like red meat. I cooked mine a bit too well as you can see below. Have all of this ready by 6:30 when the princess arrives and it’s a guaranteed back-rub in the evening.

Traditionally, the legs are cooked in duck fat but I’m too lazy to thaw my big tub-o-fat.