Duck meat is considered to be 'white' meat, although it is darker than any other poultry like chicken or turkey. Ducks are more active than chickens, they need and use much more oxygen. Extra oxygen in their body gives their meat darker red colour. Due to that duck meat is much reacher in flavours and aromas than any other poultry. This also means, duck meat goes really well with any fruits, sweet or spicy ingredients. This is why you have so many oriental duck recipes and all of them are delicious.
Ducks and geese have a layer of fat just beneath their skin to keep them warm. Before and during cooking this layer of fat must be removed or drained as it is not ideal to eat the meat with the fat. A perfectly prepared and cooked duck will have very little if any fat remaining and a nice, thin and crispy skin.
It takes a few hours to prepare this recipe but I consider it a special one and definitely worth all the time spent on preparations. Just try and you will not regret any moment spent on preparing your duck dish.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 whole duck
- 2 big oranges cut into quarters
- 1/2 cup of melted butter
- sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- 3-4 bay leaves
- 1 tsp cloves
- 5-6 pimientos
Method:
1. First cut off the wing tips (the last bony segment) as there's no meat on them and they will boost the flavour of the giblet stock.
2. Remove any obvious spare fat from inside the cavity. You can, if you like, turn the duck breast-side down and press hard on the middle of the backbone until you hear a crack, it means that when you turn the bird breast-side up again it sits flatter in the pan, which helps it to cook more evenly.
3. Put the bird in a pre-heated with melted butter heavy skillet and roast for 10 minutes on the back and then breast of duck so the fat starts to run and duck skin turns yellow-gold.
4. Now, using a knife, cut the skin all over the fatty parts at the breast and where the breast joins the leg. Don't cut deeper than is necessary just to cut the skin. You want the fat to run, but not the juices from the meat. By cutting or piercing the skin of the duck, this will allow the fat to drain out during roasting. Season the skin lightly with salt and pepper.
5. Now place oranges inside the duck. Add bay leaves and pimientos. Cloves insert into the skin of duck - see picture below.
6. Place the duck breast-side up in a roasting pan and place in the center rack of a 220 C degree preheated oven for 30 minutes to brown lightly.
7. Reduce the oven temperature to 180 C degrees and roast for 120 minutes. Remove accumulated fat occasionally with a bulb baster.
8. The duck is done to medium rare if the juices from the fattest part of the thigh or drumstick run faintly rosy when the duck is pricked, and when the duck is lifted and drained, the last drops of juice from the vent are pale rose. The duck is well done when the juices run pale yellow.
9. Another method of checking if duck is ready is to check meat temperature. A duck is properly cooked when the temperature of the meat at the thickest part of the thigh or breast has reached 75-80 C.
10. Remove the duck from the oven, discard trussing strings, and place on a serving platter. Let sit for 10 minutes before carving.
11. To carve the bird, slice between the legs and breast, then prise off the whole legs, carefully pulling the thighbone away from the body of the bird. Cut each leg in half at the joint between the thigh and the drumstick. Slice each whole breast from the carcass, with the crispy skin attached, then cut each breast into 5 or 6 thick slices.
12. Serve on warmed plates, with the gravy and some roast vegetables or like me with roasted zucchinis.
ENJOY!!!
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