Crescent Duck Parts, clockwise from upper left: breasts, legs/thighs for comfit, duck fat, backbone for stock, packaged bits including liver for breakfast omelet (mmm..).
My Crescent Long Island Duck as it came home from the market.
For a brief moment, my local upscale market had frozen Pekin ducks for 6.99 a pound. My previous experience with frozen ducks was not satisfactory; the Maple Leaf Farms product at Hannaford was “just” $4.99/lb but included a pound of orange sauce whose primary purpose is to get discarded, bringing the net cost to $6.99ish with an extra smattering of aggravation. This time, I carefully scrutinized the package and also looked up the supplier to confirm it was a legit product containing only actual duck.
Breaking down a duck is not unlike breaking down a chicken except that you want to be careful to snag the “oyster” at the top of the leg joint and to debone the breasts while losing as little as possible of the precious flesh. This video describes the process better than I could. Pekin duck is long-breasted with rather puny legs so you’re going to end up with smaller portions of duck comfit and breast filets that weigh well over 8 oz each and will probably be cut in half for service.
I rendered the fat in a very low oven and ended up with a full pint… putting me ahead of the game since duck fat in that same market is $13/pt or so. The carcass went into a stock, the legs were salt-cured overnight then went into the rendered fat where they slow cooked with just a bit of Herbes de Provence to toothsome perfection, and the breasts into the freezer for a future project.
There’s some debate about the best way to cook duck breast. You’re starting with a near perfect piece of meat that deserves as little modification as possible, though it can’t hurt to salt-cure it overnight (which we did, along with the legs) to draw out excess liquid and tighten the flesh. Then wipe off the salt and dry with a paper towel before proceeding. We like this cooking technique from Serious Eats: score the skin with several crosswise cuts to draw out the fat (cut just through the skin and fat, not into the meat) and start skin side down in a COLD nonstick pan at very low heat. The heat will draw out the fat and when you have rendered a good amount you can crank up the heat to crisp the skin, then flip to the flesh side to finish (our preference is medium rare).
How to serve? I have some wood parched wild rice and am thinking of making a sour cherry sauce, then serving with the duck over rice for a sort of midwestern huntsman’s dinner.
The first time I cooked a duck I roasted it in a covered roaster that I used to cook a turkey. I lifted the lift to see how it was cooking and a blast of steam escaped burning my hand. I didn’t expect that. I slept that night with my hand dangling over the bed in a bucket of ice. Whenever I lifted my hand from the ice I felt the same intense burning that occurred when the steam hit my hand. By morning the pain had subsided and instead of a second degree burn I had only a mild burn. The ice did the trick. I never covered a duck again even though roasting a duck splattered the oven. Nowadays whenever I cook a duck I cover it inside and out with a chicken inside and a turkey covering the bird, it’s called Turducken. Turducken cooks at 195 degrees for 14 hours. Under 212 degrees there is no steam and the duck fat renders and passes through the turkey and the chicken, it is self-basting. All the duck fat is gone leaving a tasty skin (not crispy) and flesh cooked to perfection. I usually reserve 16 hours to prepare this meal which is sufficient for 40 people.
Thank you. Anyone who is looking for Philip Henderson’s turducken technique, just do a search; I put it up as a guest post last Thanksgiving.
Unless you are doing a tea-smoked duck Chinese style, I think cooking a whole duck is a waste. The breasts, legs and carcass each deserve their own special treatment. Hopefully you use the bones from your turducken duck to make a stock…