Duck It!

Let me just begin by telling you how dorky Mike and I are. There have been duck jokes in my house for about two weeks now, ever since I decided to do this dish. This is actually what I wanted to cook and write about last week, but, as I mentioned in last week's post, my day fell apart last week. Not this week, though! It all started when I went looking for just duck legs. I couldn't find them anywhere, so I decided to get a whole duck at that point. When I went back to Publix, however, they were all out of whole duck.

Me: "What the duck, Mike? They're all out of it."
Mike: "Looks like we'll have to go to the other Publix to get some ducking duck."


I know, I know, we're really dumb. Well, the other Publix had what I wanted, so then I just had to increase the recipe. I got this idea from Nigella Lawson's show "Nigella Kitchen", but she's doesn't write her recipes traditionally, so I will just include the link to it here. This is her recipe for Roasted Duck Legs With Potatoes.

This is such a simple recipe, anyone can do it. The only hard part I had to deal with was dismantling the bird itself. Duck is obviously very similar to chicken, as they're both poultry, but there are some distinct differences that slowed a duck-novice like me down. The biggest difference is the duck breast. Ducks are much longer-bodied than chickens and their chests are therefore much longer. I used a good pair of kitchen shears, reserved only for jobs such as this, to spatchcock (or would it be spatch-fowl in this case?) the bird, but I ended up getting a few rib bones in my thigh pieces anyway. Like I said, really long chests. The other major difference is the fat content. Since they're waterfowl, ducks are very fatty. This doesn't really bother me since I hardly ever have duck, but it is not a food for someone who is counting calories. Also, duck is rather expensive, far more so than chicken, which is even more of a reason to only have it once in a great while.

I really wish I had pictures of the dismantling process for you all, but, seeing as how I was wrist deep in duck and Mike was not home, photography was not really an option at the time. Here is a picture of my duck before I got started, though.

And here are the pieces searing up in my cast iron skillet. You need a pan that can go from stove top to oven, and I can think of no better tool. Plus, I've had this baby for a few years now, so it's really well seasoned and just wonderful to cook with.

Here you can see the duck all golden and beautiful on one side. Now, I divided my duck into six pieces. Two legs, two thighs, and two breasts. All the bones stayed in because I do not know how to de-bone anything. We found that it was really fun eating this with our hands, though, so it worked out really well.

Here is everything all cooked up after an hour and a half in a 400 degree oven. I have discovered that I only burn myself on 400 degree dishes. I have a scar on my wrist from a 400 degree pizza and my skillet burned the side of my hand after I pulled it out of the oven. Maybe if I cook things at 399 or 401 degrees, I won't get burnt anymore?



The duck was juicy and so flavorful, while the potatoes were buttery (I used delicious Yukon golds) and slightly crisp on the edges, Mike heated up some tinned green beans for us to round out the meal, which was just divine.

I know duck is not cheap and it's pretty fatty, but, if you want an easy way to treat your family to a really special dish or maybe a way to impress a date (seriously, cooking a savory meal is just as good as going out to a nice dinner), this is your golden ticket. If you can find duck legs or pre-dismantled duck portions, even better! You may be surprised just how much you like this simple, understated waterfowl. Duck yeah. :-)