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03 November 2009

In Respoinse to Overwhelming MeFite Response: I am live-posting the cooking of my Roast Duck Dinner with All Kinds Of Fixings. This is a big deal-all day kinda meal, so you can follow along with the planning.

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Okay what I already did:

Got the duck out of the freezer at around 10 cause I was too stupid to remember to take it out and put it in the fridge the night before (BF came home with a story about meeting Yoko Ono, who was apparently dressed as Charlie Chaplin). So I fill the sink with boiling water, drop the duck packet it (it floats a bit until I stab it a few times) Let it sit there for about an hour.

It's a big fucking duck. Almost an even 20 bucks. It's gonna take a while to defrost. While that happens, i pre-heated the oven ( i like 250-275 cause you're not *really* cooking the duck yet, you're rendering the fat) and got out my big metal tray with the big metal rack. Spray oil on the rack and add a cup of water of the tray. Make sure there is enough room for the fat to drip away from the duck during cooking. The water is there to steam the duck a bit and to keep the fat lquid, remember, you want to save as much as of that fat as you can.

Took duck out of package, pried open neck-hole to look for giblets-all the while having hot water pouring over it. No giblets (thank. god.) Okay, now begins the ENSTABBENING.

Stab the duck a few times with the fatty centers, mostly on the underside. Don't go overboard, you'll be doing this again. Again, this is a huge fucking duck, so I make a few more pokes with a fork.

Duck is now in the oven, on it's magical mystical journey. I'm going to have a beer and the go to the shops. I'll come back in about 3 hours to check.

post by: The Whelk at: 11:34 | 16 comments

I love roast duck. I did a duck for christmas last year. Thinking about making it a tradition because NOM.

posted by gaspode 03 November | 11:44

I. Love. Duck. What kind of fixings?

posted by Kangaroo 03 November | 12:46

Like a typo shark, I gotta just keep making typos or I die.

Okay, so, removed the duck from the oven, turned it over, and really went to town poking and cutting the fatty areas. This is the real fun part cause the fat just bursts out and oozes out all over the skin. now is also a good time to replace the water at the bottom of the pan. Put it back in the oven. Have another beer!

I went to the shop for the fixings. I'll be making a simple Caesar salad with dried cranberries before the meal and long-grain and wild rice on the rise, mixed with fresh peas.

If I have time, I want some kind of nutty/poppy seed treat at the end, but I can't think of one and I don't really want to buy a desert.

posted by The Whelk 03 November | 13:45

Okay, back to check on the duck after having shredded my lettuce and decided that figs are dessert enough (also that I don't have enough bread to make croutons...so now it's a dried cranberry-crushed cashew-Caesar Salad). Duck looks fine, nice pale brown, not overcooking,- the house is starting to smell like Duck but it wont be ready until 8 at least. At 6 I'll add the basting mixture and turn it again and then tidy the table for dinner, but til then I think I'm going to close my eyes for a second and wonder what kind of Betty-Draper-Alternate-Dimension I've walked into where I'm sized with the desire to cook a *roast* and bring out the nice linen and wear a tie while cooking.

Sigh.

posted by The Whelk 03 November | 16:22

"I do love a duck dinnah!" </Bugs Bunny in drag>

So.... what time can we come over? *snicker*

posted by TrishaLynn 03 November | 16:38

I think my favorites with duck are mashed potatoes and braised red cabbage.

posted by Wolfdog 03 November | 16:42

Tweaked the temp up to 3:10 cause the duck still looked fatty. God this was some massive monster duck from beyond the moon.

posted by The Whelk 03 November | 16:59

Okay, created a mix of honey and soy sauce (about 50 50). I like to use organge honey or honey with a grassy-earthy flavor, normal honey is a little too sweet. Turned the duck over and poked at it s'more, pulled out the big middle bone and ...found a small bag of giblets. Oops. It was a big duck. Oh wheel! Out they come and the duck goes back in, heat pumped up to 375. Cocktail - needed.

posted by The Whelk 03 November | 18:09

checked the duck. hard to tell how cooked it is cause the soy-honey makes it so dark. Split it down the middle and tried a piece - good - but needs something more. So it goes back in, on a lower heat, 350-325. Salads are in the fridge. Linens about to come out. Pots and water for the rice and peas going on the stove soon.

Drink list

Cocktail - Mint vodka with sparkling mineral water.

Salad - Processco

Duck/Rice - Chianti

Figs - Brandy

Music - Something from the 50s, duh.

Tie Color - Red satin and powder blue

posted by The Whelk 03 November | 19:11

BF late, duck on Hold Warm, hope it doesn't burn. SUSPENSE.

posted by The Whelk 03 November | 19:54

HOME. Duck turned back one. Cocktails out. The transformation of the work table to a dinner table has gotten a big reaction.

posted by The Whelk 03 November | 20:35

Have covered figs in roasted sesame seeds and turned them into a cocktail snack - emergency work e-mail! - and then we eat. I'll tell you later if it was any good.

posted by The Whelk 03 November | 20:43

Of course, now I need to come up with a desert while he's typing. GODS OF 1950s HOUSEWIVES ATTEND TO ME!!!

posted by The Whelk 03 November | 20:47

The Whelk, I think you need to make a video of your process and put it up on youtube, so we can see you work. I for one, would become a subscriber of your cooking series.

posted by msali 04 November | 09:44

Word.

posted by gaspode 04 November | 09:46

Video would not work. I am a *terrible* cook. lazy too. Like half of it would be me mumbling "uh, and like, stab it and, I dunno, I think it goes like this" and then me getting a drink and then I'll be off at market buying something and then I'll be back going "fucking CUCUMBERS" and smoking and wasting time trying to find a good podcast to listen to while I chop before deciding getting a pre-made packet is easier and then going out again and then the 3 hours when I put everything on hold warm and play Civ4.

posted by The Whelk 04 November | 20:18

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