Duck is known for its faintly gamy flavor that complements the tang of citrus, the sharpness of pineapples, and the pungency of soy sauce. It is often cooked with basil, rosemary, tarragon, or sage to improve its flavor. Young duck tends to roast and fry perfectly. But, older ones produce a more developed flavor in casseroles. Some professional and home cooks remove the oil sacs, no matter the cooking method. Read on to know some ways to prepare and cook duck:
Confit
This is one of the most famous techniques that involve a naturally fatty duck. Duck legs confit requires cooking and preserving the meat in its own fat. The meat is salted and seasoned with herbs like thyme. Then, the meat is covered and refrigerated for up to 36 hours. Before cooking, you have to rinse the spices from the meat and pat it dry. When cooking the meat, you must put in a cooking dish deep enough to contain the meat and the rendered fat.
Roasting
If you want to roast duck, you must single, clean, wash, and dry it. Season the inside with salt and stuff it. Use lemon to rub the inside and season it. In general, ducks are roasted uncovered and often don’t need to be basted with fats. Cook the duck for 20-30 minutes to brown in the oven preheated to 200 degrees C. When the meat is brown, reduce the heat to 190°C until it is cooked properly. During the last thirty minutes of cooking, baste it with honey or soy sauce.
If the duck is very fatty, prick its surface lightly after roasting it for 45-50 minutes to allow the excess fat to drain off. Then, remove the fat from the pan.
Carving the Duck
If you want to get the meat from a duck, you need to pull the flesh from the carcass before you slice it for serving. You can do this by laying the duck on its back. After this, slice the skin at the thigh and turn the duck on its side. Using a fork, pull the thigh and leg joints from the carcass. Do the same with the other thigh. Then, loosen the skin around the wing and pull the joint from the carcass using a fork. Next, slice the breast along the breastbone and pull the breast back from the carcass with a fork. Then, dissect the thigh joint from the drumstick and the wing section.
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