I used this recipe as a guide to roast a duck for my father and me last Sunday.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/roast-duck-with-port-garlic-sauce-4528#
I know that all the TV chefs cook their duck breasts to medium rare, I just cannot consider medium-rare poultry. So I cooked it to 165 in the breast and it was perfect for us.
I just brushed the skin with soy sauce, and salt and peppered. I skipped the rest of the rub.
We didn't care for the sauce at all - thankfully, I served it on the side. I used a mixture of dry marsala and a dry red wine instead of the port.
The skin wasn't real crispy, and I'm all about the skin. But the meat was moist, tender and delicious.
However, next time, I think I'll do it on my Weber kettle on the rotisserie again - that turned out beautifully well!
Served with a mix of wild and white rice, and home grown wax beans.
We only ate half, so I froze the bones and the leftover meat to make duck soup with the rice mixture.
Lee
Roast Duck with Port-Garlic Sauce (Epicurious)
Yield Serves 4
Ingredients
- For sauce
- 1 5-pound duck, fresh or frozen, thawed (neck, heart and gizzard reserved)
- 1 medium onion, quartered
- 1 carrot, coarsely chopped
- 1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped
- 4 1/2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
- 6 large garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 cup ruby Port
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- For duck
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 3 large garlic cloves, pressed
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
Preparation
- Make sauce:
- Cut off duck wing tips at joint. Combine neck, heart, gizzard and wing tips in large saucepan. Add onion, carrot and celery to pan. Add 4 1/2 cups water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 hour. Strain stock into medium saucepan. Boil stock until reduced to 1 cup, about 15 minutes.
- Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add sliced garlic and sauté until golden, about 2 minutes. Add Port and boil 5 minutes. Add reduced duck stock and boil until reduced to 1 cup, about 8 minutes. Mix remaining 1 tablespoon butter and flour in small bowl. Whisk into sauce and simmer until thickened, about 1 minute. Season sauce with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm before serving.)
- Make duck:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Trim excess fat from cavity of duck. Using fork, pierce duck skin in several places. Place duck, breast side up, on rack in large roasting pan. Brush soy sauce over duck. Mix mustard and pressed garlic in small bowl. Brush mustard mixture over duck. Mix salt, pepper and thyme in another small bowl. Sprinkle spice-herb mixture over duck and in cavity. Roast duck 45 minutes. Turn duck and roast, breast side down, 30 minutes. Turn duck and roast, breast side up, until duck is deep golden brown and cooked through, about 15 minutes longer. Transfer duck to platter. Serve with sauce.