help - i've got a duck!

[crisgal]

i was about to by my once-a-month-treat- free range chicken, when I saw a lovely free range duck on offer.
I don't know what to do with it!
I've had it with orange sauce in restaurants, and the kids love crispy duck from the chinese.
What's the best way to cook and serve it, do you think?
Thank you!

[sara3]

I thought you'd bought a pet!

I like mine with apple sauce.. yum :o)

[Muppetto]

I'd say crispy aromatic duck all the way! Google some recipes - it's not tooo hard to do at home, but there's a lot of marinading, but well worth it imho. Might have to buy some pancakes to go with though :)

Be sure to follow instructions though - Duck is very fatty, so you'll need to put it on a grid so the fat drips through and you can pour it off (keep it - it's great for roasting potatoes).

[Im a BusyBee]

Ive left a frozen one in the slow cooker today. I was given 2 a few months ago and they went straight into freezer as i was unsure of what to do with them(also in a way that the kids would enjoy too). The first one i put frozen into slow cooker a few weeks ago. When cooked I pulled all the meat off and added it to a stir fry with noodles and other things and sharwoods plum and hoi sin sauce and every one thought it was the best ever stir fry i have made - i didnt tell them until afterwards that i had used the duck. If you are interested i can give you more info on what i added and how i done it. By the way although i expected it to be fatty it actaully was not.

[theonlyone]

I roast duck on a rack ..the fat makes
lovely roasties ..the skin goes crisp..
we just have it as a roast ..lovely ..
enjoy ..

[lollyone]

ooooh...i want a duck! Hmmm crispy duck..hmmm.

[crisgal]

well, thank you everyone for your replies.
Your slow cooker recipe would be very handy Im a busybee - as I am intending to buy one soon.

In the end, I found a nigella lawson recipe.
Well, i say recipe:

1.put duck on rack on tray
2. bung in oven
3. cook for 5 (yes 5!) hours
4. shred and eat!

How easy is that?! We had pancakes; sliced onion, cucumber and leeks; a shop bought hoi sin sauce and it was delish! The skin was so crispy, and not the merest hint of greasiness!

[Brooksy]

For "ordinary" roast duck, like trad chicken or turkey, you will need 2 ducks for 4 people as they are mostly carcase & fat with little breast meat. Unless you can get hold of a huge Aylesbury! Place the duck(s) on a rack over a roasting tin (deep enough to hold the probably 1-2 tins worth of fat coming out), rub plain flour with salt & pepper over the brast & legs, & press small pieces of butter or fat over the skin. Give it 20 mins @ 200/400/gas mk6, remove & prick (only the skin, not the flesh underneath) all over. Pop back in oven & reduce heat to 165/325/gm 3. After another 20 mins remove & lightly prick all over again. If the breast is turning too dark, put a pice of foil over it. Give it another 20 mins. So, it should take just over an hour. I`d be interested to know the oven setting for that 5 hour duck. I know that some top chefs recommend very long timings at low temps for large beef, say or pork joints. I would guess the duck would be "swimming" in fat in a slow cooker!

[karmgirl]

You can't eat a duck ! They are my favourite bird!

[crisgal]

hi brooksy, thanks for the recipe.
The five hour duck was at gas 3 for 4 and a half hours and then 6/7 for last half hour. x

[Brooksy]

I recall a travel writer some years back who said that although it was quite common to encounter Chinese people eating a duck takeaway on a bus or train, he never once saw one alive in thousands of miles travelling the country!