I picked up a duck the other day and decided to roast it in my new roasting pan. I've roasted duck before, but I had to cut it in half to make it work. This time, I got to roast the entire duck, and I did not follow directions. Before I even begin telling you what I did and did not do properly, I need to tell you about the tutorial I used. It's amazing. The pictures alone are amazing. I can't even begin to come up with a tutorial that compares in any way. The tutorial is from The Hungry Mouse. In fact, the tutorial is so good, that I'm just going to direct you to that page.
http://www.thehungrymouse.com/2009/02/11/the-best-way-to-roast-a-duck-hello-crispy-skin/
Now let me tell you what I did wrong.
First of all, when you buy a packaged duck at the store, sometimes it comes with a package of orange glaze and the heart, neck, and liver still in the middle. I didn't plan ahead enough and it took over 45 minutes to thaw. When I took it out of the microwave, it was still a little frozen in the middle, but I got the packet of orange glaze out. You are supposed to tie the legs together, but I didn't have anything that could accomplish the task, so I just didn't do it. If you saw the tutorial, there is a bit in there about folding the wing in some crazy way or another... yep. Didn't do that either.
Secondly, before you stick the duck into the oven, you have to score the skin to make sure it gets super crispy. For some reason, my duck's skin was not easy to score. We have some sharp knives, but I don't know what the problem was. I raggedly managed to score the skin, and I stuck it in the oven. It sat in there for about 25 minutes before I thought, "Ya know (I am Minnesotan after all), I am pretty sure there was a heart, liver, and neck in the last duck...". So, I took the duck out of the oven and carefully (the duck was pretty warm at this point) removed the innards... which were still frozen. So, the inside of the duck was still a little frozen, but I just let it go.
I followed the rest of the tutorial pretty well. I didn't glaze the duck because the flavor of duck is so good that you don't even need to glaze it. Also, I recommend having the windows open because duck has a very rich smell, and it can be overwhelming.
Alright, that being said, my review is simple.
Review:
This is amazing. Follow this tutorial. Eat duck. Save the duck fat. Sooo tasty.
Total Score:
5