Hey guys.
As promised to a few members, I'll be posting some duck recipes for your culinary enjoyment and also to satisfy @devdev's obsession!
Here's the first one on making a basic slow cooked duck and reserving the fat to make confits, roast potatoes, toppings for pate and a wonderful substitute for margarine and butter!
Hope so!
You basically wanna get 3 or 4 ducks (a lot I know... Use 1 if you can wait for your fat reserves to build up unlike Ohm Johan who needs to make a confit of legend)
Once you've taken out the giblets, rinse the ducks out to remove any excess blood. (Reserve the livers if you want to make a pate.)
Boil the kettle and pour boiling water over the surface of the ducks to tighten up the skin. Hang them for about 30 minutes to dry. At this point you can marinade them if you want to for about 24 - 48 hours in your marinade of choice. Don't forget that the flavour of the marinade will infuse the fat that gets rendered out and will ultimately affect the flavour of the confit that you will use the fat for. Personally, I would just cook them plain rubbed with some olive oil, salt and a lot of cracked black pepper.
Stuff them with a half onion each and some roughly chopped leeks, carrots, roughly chopped celery, thyme, parsley and smashed garlic cloves. Don't forget to season the stuffing with salt and pepper!
Slow cook the duck/s at about 140c. You want to render the fat out slowly so that the flavour from the stuffing infuses the fat but the fat itself doesn't burn. This can take up to 3 hours depending on your oven.
Once the fat has all rendered out, pour it out into a pot. Remove the stuffing from inside the duck and put it into the pot with the liquid fat. Add the same amount of ingredients that comprised the stuffing into the fat, along with a couple of bay leaves. Fresh is better. Boil the fat on a very low heat for as long as you want. The longer the better! Once you're happy with the aroma and flavour, season the fat to your liking and then put the fat into a jar or whatever you're going to store it in, strained through a coffee/oil filter. A fine mesh sieve will also suffice.
I like to reserve the stuffing (mire poix) and put it into the liquid fat as the flavour will continue to permeate the fat even in a cold state. Let the fat solidify down to room temp by itself. Seal it and put it in the fridge. You'll use this later for the confit, roast potatoes or anything else that might take your fancy! The fat will keep forever really and can be reused again and again for different applications as mentioned above as long as you strain it after each use to remove any solid impurities.
No duck meal would be right without a crispy skin! My secret when I want to use the fat for confit and I slow cook the duck is to use a heat gun to get the skin nice and crispy! Just turn the heat gun on and blast the skin really close. If you make even passes over the surface you'll end up with an amazing crispy surface and juicy moist flesh!
Enjoy your duck!
As promised to a few members, I'll be posting some duck recipes for your culinary enjoyment and also to satisfy @devdev's obsession!
Here's the first one on making a basic slow cooked duck and reserving the fat to make confits, roast potatoes, toppings for pate and a wonderful substitute for margarine and butter!
Hope so!
You basically wanna get 3 or 4 ducks (a lot I know... Use 1 if you can wait for your fat reserves to build up unlike Ohm Johan who needs to make a confit of legend)
Once you've taken out the giblets, rinse the ducks out to remove any excess blood. (Reserve the livers if you want to make a pate.)
Boil the kettle and pour boiling water over the surface of the ducks to tighten up the skin. Hang them for about 30 minutes to dry. At this point you can marinade them if you want to for about 24 - 48 hours in your marinade of choice. Don't forget that the flavour of the marinade will infuse the fat that gets rendered out and will ultimately affect the flavour of the confit that you will use the fat for. Personally, I would just cook them plain rubbed with some olive oil, salt and a lot of cracked black pepper.
Stuff them with a half onion each and some roughly chopped leeks, carrots, roughly chopped celery, thyme, parsley and smashed garlic cloves. Don't forget to season the stuffing with salt and pepper!
Slow cook the duck/s at about 140c. You want to render the fat out slowly so that the flavour from the stuffing infuses the fat but the fat itself doesn't burn. This can take up to 3 hours depending on your oven.
Once the fat has all rendered out, pour it out into a pot. Remove the stuffing from inside the duck and put it into the pot with the liquid fat. Add the same amount of ingredients that comprised the stuffing into the fat, along with a couple of bay leaves. Fresh is better. Boil the fat on a very low heat for as long as you want. The longer the better! Once you're happy with the aroma and flavour, season the fat to your liking and then put the fat into a jar or whatever you're going to store it in, strained through a coffee/oil filter. A fine mesh sieve will also suffice.
I like to reserve the stuffing (mire poix) and put it into the liquid fat as the flavour will continue to permeate the fat even in a cold state. Let the fat solidify down to room temp by itself. Seal it and put it in the fridge. You'll use this later for the confit, roast potatoes or anything else that might take your fancy! The fat will keep forever really and can be reused again and again for different applications as mentioned above as long as you strain it after each use to remove any solid impurities.
No duck meal would be right without a crispy skin! My secret when I want to use the fat for confit and I slow cook the duck is to use a heat gun to get the skin nice and crispy! Just turn the heat gun on and blast the skin really close. If you make even passes over the surface you'll end up with an amazing crispy surface and juicy moist flesh!
Enjoy your duck!
