Roast Duck - Video Recipe

If you can roast a chicken, then you can roast a Duck. The only difference in preparation is that a Duck has a thick fat layer under the skin, so you should pierce or slice into the skin. This will cause the fat to render and drain, resulting in less fat when you bite into the duck pieces, and the Duck skin will be crisper.

Some recipes call for pouring boiling water over the raw Duck for even more crispy skin. I haven't tried that yet. 

Cooked Duck is more intense in flavor than chicken - it's like having all dark meat.

Duck is more expensive than chicken, so I seldom buy it. I do like a change of pace, roasting Duck instead of turkey during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays when Duck prices drop a little bit.

All I do to cook a Duck is to pierce the skin, sprinkle on salt and pepper, then roast it for about an hour and a half at 350 degrees. Of course, slice into the thigh to check for doneness and no red juices. If you have a thermometer, the temperature should be around 180 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh meat, where it connects to the duck carcass.

Finally, allow the Duck to rest outside of the oven for 5 or 10 minutes. This allows the juices to redistribute into the flesh for a moist bird. 

For a delicious Duck Gravy, click here for my Chicken Giblet Gravy; it's the same recipe using the neck, heart, liver, and gizzard.

Orange Sauce packages are often included. Follow the package directions to make it. My recipe does not have an Orange Sauce. 

Check out my simple Roast Duck recipe video below. And don't forget to save the Duck fat, it is a flavorful oil for making amazing French Fries.

Roast Duck - VIDEO     Play it here, video runs 1 minutes, 43 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Ingredients

• 1 Whole Duck
• Salt and Pepper - about half a teaspoon. Add as much as you like.

Directions

Remove from the Duck cavity any giblets and a plastic orange sack.

Poke or slice the breast skin with a knife or fork.

Season the Duck all over with salt and pepper to taste. 

es. Duck will render out a lot of fat, and the fat will splatter when hot. 

Bake the Duck at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half to reach the desired doneness.  

The internal temperature should be about 180°F at the thickest part of the leg and thigh joint.

Let the Duck rest for about 5 to 10 minutes, then serve. This will give the juices time to redistribute, resulting in a moist roasted bird.

When the roasting pan has cooled, you can remove the Duck fat - it makes delicious French Fries (recipe, here).

Giblet Gravy - Video Recipe

Giblets are those extra parts of the turkey you don't roast on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day. But don't throw out the heart, gizzard, liver, and neck before you read my Giblet Gravy recipe. But the question is "Can you handle it?"

Liver, heart, and the gizzard are textures that go from mushy and chewy to tough. Organ meat is not like dark or white meat, stringy and tender. My recipe is not for the faint of palate.

I used to make my Holiday gravy with pan-roasted drippings but lately, I've added cooked giblets and neck meat for the most pungent Giblet Gravy.

Giblets come in a pouch buried in the cavity of a store-bought whole bird. The long neck is usually separated but in the cavity as well. 

I usually saute or roast the liver and eat it when I bake a turkey or chicken. It's tender when cooked. The heart and gizzard are chewy and take an hour or two of boiling to tenderize. Japanese restaurants grill giblets on skewers while in the South they are deep-fried. 

The neck appears all bone, but it holds quite a lot of meat when cooked and peeled. 

For a Giblet Gravy, I will boil the giblets and neck in water for an hour with a little salt and pepper. I then chop them up and peel off the neck meat. Finally, I make a gravy with the giblet broth and flour then add the chopped and shredded meat.

Giblet Gravy is intense in flavor and may not appeal to sensitive palates. When I make a holiday turkey I just go for it, guests can always pour in the gravy liquid and leave out the chunky giblets.

So on your next Thanksgiving or Christmas Day, you can make a plain Gravy or my meatier and pungent Giblet Gravy.

Giblet Gravy - VIDEO      Play it here, video runs 4 minutes, 23 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Ingredients

• Giblets - 1 neckbone of meat, heart, gizzard, and liver. I get the giblets from buying a whole chicken or turkey. Look for the giblets package in the cavity of the raw bird. The neckbone also comes from the bird cavity. If the neck is not included then it's okay to just use the giblets package.
• Water from boiling giblets - 3 cups. Okay to use favorite broth or a bouillon cube.
• Flour - 1/4 cup. Add an extra tablespoon if gravy is too thin for your tastes. Or add extra water to thin the gravy.
• Salt and Pepper - to taste or about half a teaspoon. I add the salt and pepper to boiling giblets. No salt to the gravy as water from boiling giblets is salty enough to me, but I do add half a teaspoon of extra pepper to the gravy.

Directions

Place giblets plus neck bone into a pot. Add 3 cups of water. 

Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a low simmer and cover the pot. Simmer giblets plus neckbone for one hour. If you do not like organ meat it's okay to strain the liquid and make a flavorful gravy.

I find that the heart and gizzard are too tough and chewy if you do not cook long enough. They will still have a bit of chew, but that's just the normal cooked texture. 

The gizzard will have a tough clear connective tissue right in the middle where the two sides meet. You can slice this away when cooled as it will be rubbery. But, it's okay to just leave it as that is what giblets are all about, a chewier texture.

When giblets are done, remove them and allow them to cool down so you can roughly slice them. It's up to you how chunky the giblets are chopped. The liver is extra soft and may crumble a bit.

The neckbone takes the most work. I find a fork is the best way to scrape off the meat. You may need to get your fingers dirty because some of the meat will cling to crevices in the neckbone.

You should get a cup or so of neck meat and chopped giblets. Now it's time to make the gravy. Heat a pan or pot with medium heat.

Add a quarter cup of flour to the pan. Allow the flour to heat, and stir for a couple of minutes. This will take out some of the raw flour taste and make fewer lumps in the gravy.

Pour in the giblets broth, about 3 cups. If less than 3 cups it's okay to add some water. 

Stir water and flour making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to release all the flour that may stick and clump. Heated flour should dissolve in the water. Look for clumps of flour to break up and stir. It may take a minute or two to dissolve all the flour. 

The gravy will thicken the longer it cooks. You can serve this as your Giblet Gravy, but to make my intense version you have to add the meat.

Add the cooked giblets and neck meat. Stir to blend. I like extra black pepper in Giblet Gravy, but it's okay to leave it out. I add about half a teaspoon of extra black pepper.

As Giblet Gravy thickens taste to see if you like more salt. I leave it out as the Giblet broth is salty enough for me.

Giblet Gravy will thicken as it heats up to a simmer or low boil, it may take two or three minutes. Keep stirring from time to time. The longer you simmer the gravy the thicker it will get. 

I like Giblet Gravy poured over sliced turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes, how about you?