Recipes

[Poodlepet2]

For all of you duck lovers, Maple Leaf Farms also sells fully cooked half ducks that come complete with orange sauce. They are in the frozen food section or you can order online. They only take 15 minutes to prepare-and you can crisp them up under the broiler after heating. Poodlepet

[Vamp]

Thanks for all the help! I bought a whole Maple Leaf Farms duck and have been reading information from their website, which is extremely helpful. I'm looking forward to cooking my first duck

[Beebee2]

I know 'nussing', nussing whatever about duck, but it fascinted me, so I went looking. When I try something for the first time, I like to read what the pro's say. I found this very helpful because of all the feedback. Maybe you will, too, Vamp. You'll have to let us know what you choose to do and the results.

Alton Brown’s Mighty Duck

Brine:
1/2 cup kosher salt
1 pint pineapple orange juice
15 whole black peppercorns
1 bunch fresh thyme
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 (5 1/2 to 6 pound) frozen Long Island Duck, thawed
2 handfuls shredded chard
2 shallots, minced
Dash sherry or balsamic vinegar


Combine all brine ingredients in a plastic container with a lid. Place the lid on the container and shake to dissolve the salt.

Remove the pop-up thermometer, liver, gizzards, and heart. Cut off the wings.

Using kitchen shears, locate the spine at the base of the neck. Cut up the line of the backbone towards the neck cavity. Turn the duck and cut straight towards the rear cavity. Remove the backbone.

Turn the duck over and cut straight down the middle of the breast bone, leaving 2 equal duck halves. To separate the legs from the breast, flip your halves over so the flesh side is facing up at you. Using a knife, make a crescent shape cut between the leg and the breast. Lay your knife flat against the skin and make 3 marks in one direction and then in the other, making an X. Make sure that you are cutting through the skin and not the meat.

Line the inside of a plastic lexan or a pot with a zip-top bag. Place the duck quarters inside the bag, and pour the brine over the duck. Seal the bag, ensuring that all air is removed from the bag. Brine the duck for 2 to 2 1/2 hours in the refrigerator.

Bring 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches of water to a boil in a large pot. Place a colander into the pot and line the sides of the colander with the duck. Do not stack the duck quarters on each other. Cover and turn the heat to medium low. Steam the duck for 45 minutes. Set oven to 475 degrees F. Place a large cast iron skillet into the oven.

Remove duck pieces from steamer and place legs, skin side down, into the hot skillet. Place the skillet into the hot oven immediately and cook the leg quarters for 10 minutes. Add the breasts, skin side down, and cook for 7 more minutes or until the duck takes on a deep mahogany color and the skin is very crisp.

Remove the duck from the skillet and rest under foil. Add the chard and the shallots to the skillet. Toss the chard in the fat until it barely wilts. Season with the sherry or balsamic vinegar.

Serve the duck with the chard. 2 to 4 servings


This was my first time making duck, and my first time eating it beyond a small taste as PF Changs once. I double checked that it's safe to eat pink duck meat (and it is) and I was relieved that it wasn't blood red after cooking. I did use my meat thermometer to ensure food safety. I found it quite tasty. I was just a bit disappointed that it didn't taste more different. It was actually quite similar to chicken with the crispy skin. I did not have a cast iron skillet, so I used my large roasting pan and it worked fine. The meat was very moist and I really liked the flavor of thyme and salt. There was no discernible citrus flavor in the finished bird.

This was fantastic! First time every cooking duck and it came out succulent, incredibly moist, and extremely tender with this recipe. Raves all around the dinner table.

This is the only way I will make duck in the future!

Just tried this today, Wonderful idea of first steaming and then roasting! worked perfectly

We've made duck for Christmas dinner for several years now but after watching the episode of Good Eats where Alton uses this recipe, we decided to try it this way. This is how we'll be preparing it in the future. It was great. Tender, juicy, full of flavor. I even left in in the brine for 3.5 hours (recipe calls for 2-2.5) with no ill effects. We still had some smoke despite the steaming taking off a lot of the fat, but not enough to set off the smoke alarm. I couldn't find chard for the salad and used fresh spinach instead. It turned out great as well. Highly recommended!

Another Alton hit. I knew it would be good, since I have been using his steaming method to make the best hot wings on the planet. Too bad they have moved Good Eats to the Cooking Channel premium cable channel by me now - I really miss it!!

I first made this recipe for Christmas dinner several years ago, it was a BIG hit. Now, whenever I am polling my family for what to cook for a special meal, my son says "well, Duck always works"!! This year I'm going to follow this recipe but use a goose. I know I will need to adjust the cooking times, but am hopeful for a better result than the last goose I cooked. It was not edible.

This dish was fantastic. Follow the recipe and watch the video. It was moist and perfectly seasoned, and the skin was crispy and not over-cooked. The chard was a great fit. For anyone trying to improvise, don't use anything but a cast-iron skillet. You won't get the desired result without it. I roasted some red potatoes, carrots, and onions separately and put it all together over the chard. If you like dark meat and don't want to deep-fry to get a crispy, flavorful poultry dish, this is it.

I cooked duck years ago but it was too fatty. This was perfect. I followed the recipe exactly including the chard. My husband and son rate new recipes as do-overs or not do-overs. This was a definite do-over. Tender, juicy and not fatty. Thanks

***02/17/2013 There has been a change in the diplay of the recipe from when it first was posted. "4 cloves garlic, smashed" should be the final ingredient on the Brine list.


I think the folks who had dissapointing results didn't stick to the directions and probably used a different type of duck than specified or, as I did once, used a duck that was larger than the 5.5 to 6 pounds as directed. When it comes to cooking, Mr. Brown is more scientist than artist, and with science, when you start fudging around, the "ooops" factor tends to produce seriously undesireable things.

I've used this recipe seven times now. The only times it wasn't perfect was once when I used a nearly eight pound duck (in that case, more was NOT better!! and another time when circumstances beyond my control had me leaving the duck in the brine for nearly six hours.
Anyway, it's Thanksgiving morning and I gotta start preparing my duck!!!!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/mighty-duck-recipe.html

[Poodlepet2]

Beebee,I saw that episode, and it looked great. I want to try it, but I am not going to attempt it for Thanksgiving: I need the safety net of how I have cooked it before-with success! Poodlepet

[Beebee2]

On 11/20/2014 Poodlepet said: Beebee,I saw that episode, and it looked great. I want to try it, but I am not going to attempt it for Thanksgiving: I need the safety net of how I have cooked it before-with success! Poodlepet

That makes a lot of sense, Poodlepet. I, too, avoid 'drama' for holiday meals.

[DiAnne]

When I was buying my frozen duck yesterday at Costco a young woman also purchasing one said she pours boiling water over the duck to melt some of the fat - this doesn't really make sense to me but she said that it is recommended by Martha Stewart. What does everyone else think?

[Vamp]

Thanks, Beebee, for the recipe. I have been doing research, too, and found a basic recipe that I plan to follow. I am going to roast the duck whole, but I do like the seasonings AB uses.

DiAnne, it sounds like pouring boiling water over the bird would indeed melt off some of the fat, but so does scoring the skin and cooking it on a rack (so the duck doesn't sit in the fat). I have also learned that many people save the duck fat for cooking other things, like potatoes. When I bought my duck at my local grocer, which is something of a specialty store, they actually had rendered duck fat for sale as well. I guess there is a market for it! Who knew?

[Poodlepet2]

Duck fat is a hot commodity: some really good restaurants offer French fries fried in duck fat and topped with shaved truffles or parmesan. Believe it or not, it's one of the healthiest animal fats and has been equivocated to olive oil. It is very mild: there is no poultry type of taste. I buy mine from D'artagnon or Maple Leaf Farms because I season my duck and I don't want to overwhelm any dish I make....but I do save my rendered fat. If you are roasting duck, you will want a baster if you don't have one already: you really need to draw the fat off because you don't want a fire!! I have heard about pouring boiling water over the duck- I am not sure what that does, but I don't have Martha Stewart's expertise. It can't hurt to try it, but I think careful scoring works really well. Poodlepet

[Beebee2]

I love threads like this. We learn a lot. Thanks, Vamp, for getting it going.

[Poodlepet2]

For your snacking pleasure, I give you( drum roll) Duck Fat cHocolate Chip Cookies. Please forgive th format#### 1 1/4 cup AP flour, 1/2 tsp each baking soda and salt, 1/2 cup each brown sugar and white sugars 1/4 cup duck fat, 1/4 cup unsalted , 1large egg, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips### Combine flour, baking soda and salt in desperate bowl. In mixer, cream duck fat and butter with brown and white sugar. When combined, add egg and vanilla. Mix in flour mixture until just combined ( add chips too). Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes. Preheat oven@ 375. Line two cookie sheets with parchment and drop dough by tablespoons. Bake 10- 12minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Poodlepet