Carefree Cooking

Duck is one of the meats that I don't normally touch. All the duck recipes that I've seen are too elaborate/complicated so I end up just giving up. Besides, a quick trip to my local asian grocery store (T&T in my case) and I'll be eating duck in no time. But just like fear, I find that I have to conquer this meat, so here are my trials and tribulations.

The first time I made duck, I just followed how chinese barbequed duck are normally made. First thing to do is apply a dry rub of 5 spice powder (五香) on the entire duck and let it sit there for a few hours. I then rinsed the rub in warm water and let dry. I applied some honey on the skin and let it dry even more for up to 6 hours. I popped the bird in the oven for an hour at 400F and that was the end of the cooking. It only took me the entire day to prep and cook the bird. The result was not as good as I hoped however. Although I could taste the flavour from the 5 spice powder, and the sweetness from the honey, it needed salt and the meat was very hard. So that's strike 1.

The second time I made duck, I altered the cooking process a little bit. I took a page out of my ribs cooking technique (also saw Ina Garten do it this way) by boiling the entire duck in water first. I cooked the duck for half an hour (and followed the same technique as the first time. The result was pretty much the same. Needed more flavour and the meat was hard. That's strike 2.

Today, I decided to give it another try. This time, I made a few changes. I rubbed 5 spice powder on the entire duck, added kocher salt, and applied honey. A quick tip when applying honey, microwave it for 10-15 second so that the liquid is not too thick. I covered the entire duck in aluminum foil so that the skin doesn't turn dark too quickly during the long cooking process. Without waiting for the honey to dry, I popped the duck into the oven for 1 hour at 250F. After an hour, I basted the duck with more honey and cooked it for another 1 hour at 300F (keep the duck covered with aluminum foil). Baste the duck with more honey and cook at 350F for 45 minutes. The duck should be fully cooked at this point. Continue cooking for 15 minutes but this time without the aluminum foil. This will give the skin the nice brown roasted color.

Make sure the duck is rested well (around 15 minutes will do fine). The end result from the low temperature cooking is that the meat was very tender and fell off the bone. Now this is good eats. And since there's no waiting for drying or marinating, it was less time consuming than the first time I cooked duck.

I used a chicken roasting rack to cook the duck. It allowed all the fat to come off and evenly roasted the skin. I think this is the best way to roast any poultry (except for turkey since it's too big). It's also a good idea to put a big plate underneath the roaster to catch any splatter.

I always like to serve duck with plum sauce. Give it a try and I'm sure you'll like it. There's nothing more gratifying that being able to conquer your fear and have a full stomach while you're at it. Enjoy!