I pulled a duck out of the freezer a few days ago and needed to cook it. The thing with duck is it normally needs a few hours of roasting, time I don't have on a week night. Who has a few hours to get dinner on the table after an hour commute, picking up the kid(s), and hustling back home? I sure don't.
But then, the duck is thawed and I have to do something with it. Crockpot! The thing is, fowl in a crockpot can be, well... foul, soggy, limp, and totally unappetizing. My challenge is how to avoid that.
Duck naturally has a lot of fat. That's why it is so good! But if we can raise the duck out of the fat, perhaps we'll be OK.
This was all going down at 5:30am so I can be on the 6:53 train. Wow, coffee and breaking down a duck. Let's start with the duck.
Using shears, remove backbone. Then using a sharp knife cut through the breast.
Cut between the thigh and the breast for 4 pieces.
But how to keep them out of the fat? I have some root vegetables. Let's use those!
I broke them down and got them in the crockpot. This basically formed a rack to lift the duck off the bottom of the crockpot.
Nestle the four duck quarters on top of the root vegetables.
Add a tbs of kosher salt, and a heavy grind of black pepper.
Add a cup of stock or water. Cover. Set on low, this cooked for 11.5 hours. It seems like too long but it was going from cold.
Surprisingly when I got home, there was some slight browning on the top!
To finish it, I heated the oven to 375F, pulled the duck quarters, the carrots and potatoes, put them on a foil lined cookie sheet and roasted until the skin was crisp, about 20 minutes.
Plate it up and enjoy! If I had the time I would have separated the fat from the broth and made a sauce, but with hungry people clamoring for dinner, I need to get it served Now!
Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!
I'm using the "scheduled at" posting function, lets see how it works!
The Gastronomic Gardener
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