Our Roast Duck

I have no idea why Pat and I have avoided roasting duck in the past. Well maybe.

Over the years I have ordered duck in restaurants from New York to Shanghai… and of course ordered Peking Duck in Beijing. Always loved the meals.

Many years ago we tried to roast a duck but using the same baking routine as a chicken. Not a great result with the bird sitting in a pool of fat and the meat was at best stringy or tough. So for 40 years we did not try duck again at home. Wonderful to have at restaurants, but not something you experiment at home just in case it does not work out.

We just received our monthly Fine Cooking magazine and it included several Duck recipes. Now as my role as the wild and crazy guy in our relationship on cooking, I proposed we buy a duck and roast it according to one of the recipes. So we did.

The secret is to have a roasting pan with a grill that raises the duck above the drippings. The even greater secret is a low and slow roasting. 3 hours at 300 F.

We had a duck dinner tonight to dream of. Crispy skin with meat flavoured with Rosemary and Orange. We will have lots of leftover duck so we can have P F Chang’s lettuce wraps tomorrow and a variety of duck flavoured meals in the next week. With the additional benefit of a cup of duck drippings that we can use for other dishes.

DO NOT BE AFRAID OF DUCK. I will send anyone the recipe if you want…………