Roast Duck

Ritual --

Sunday I cooked -- really cooked -- for the first time since I moved into this new place.

After a week of TV dinners while I searched for and began organizing pots and pans, dishes and glasses, flatware and canned goods I made macaroni and cheese. But it wasn't really cooking, just something to tie body and soul together while I continued unpacking. Then last weekend I roasted pork ribs. But that wasn't really cooking either -- more a promise to myself of treats to come and, like the macaroni, a good source of leftovers.

The other meals I've made haven't really been cooking either. They've been stop-gap measures: Quick and easy preparations requiring almost no thought or effort. That's not cooking as I mean it. For me, real cooking is a ritual, a ceremony celebrating food, skill, and imagination. Without the ceremony -- the ritual -- it's merely process. It lacks meaning.

The real cooking began Friday morning. As is often true of ceremonies, it began with cleansing. I found a home for the last of the little odds and ends that had been sitting on the counters. Then I filled the dishwasher with the plates and pans that had accumulated in the sink. I scrubbed the sink, washed all the counters and stove-top, and followed-up with a misting of disinfectant. After a last rinse and wipe-down with paper towels so the counters gleamed and shined, I collected my grocery list and shopping bags, started the dishwasher, and headed for the store.

At the grocers I inspected and collected my offerings to the goddess Copia. It took several stops and a couple of hours to complete, but I confess that I love grocery shopping. Then home again where I pack away the ingredients and fix an omelet to tide me over until dinner. This particular evening I had planned a light meal of fish and salad. The serious cooking would be on Saturday. I'd decided to roast a whole duck (instead of the breasts I often fix).

A light cleansing Saturday afternoon and the kitchen was ready to go. I began by putting Vivaldi's Mandolin Concertos on the stereo -- it just seemed like good duck music, and ceremony calls for music. Carrots, celery, and onion are cut up for stock using my Santoku blade (the one I always cut up veggies with) after whetting it with the steel. These go in a pot with the duck neck and wings, water and herbs, and some frozen duck stock I already had. The pot is brought to a simmer, but not permitted to boil.

I heat the oven while I trim the duck of excess skin and fat and put it in a small pot with water to render. The duck is brushed with soy sauce and then goes it the oven.

Next I make a raspberry coulis. The seeds are carefully filtered out and the coulis is mixed with white wine vinegar, crushed garlic, thyme, and salt and pepper to make a vinaigrette.

I remove the solids from the duck stock, filter it through cheesecloth, and reduce it to a cup of liquid over medium high heat.

When the duck is done, it's allowed to rest while tiny Dutch potatoes are tossed in the fat in the bottom of the roasting pan and then cooked.

Finely minced shallots are lightly browned in butter, then simmered in port. The stock is added and the sauce is thickened with beurre manie.

Finally, I remove a duck breast, slice it crosswise, and fan it around the side of a plate. Mixed greens dressed with the raspberry vinaigrette circle the other side, and potatoes, glistening with duck fat and crunchy with Kosher salt, occupy the center. A drizzle of sauce and a glass of Shiraz complete the ritual. Gustare!

Roast Duck

1 ea duck
1 ea onion -- peeled and quartered
1 ea carrot -- scrubbed and cut into 2" lengths
1 stalk celery -- cut into 2" lengths
1 ea bay leaf
4 - 6 ea peppercorns
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tbsp butter
2 ea shallots -- peeled and minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 c ruby port
1 tbsp butter -- softened
1 tbsp flour

24 hours in advance: Remove giblets and neck and cut off wings -- reserve. Trim all visible fat -- reserve. Using a sharp knife, prick holes in skin all over duck, being careful not to pierce the flesh. Place duck in a large stock pot and cover with water. Remove duck from pot, place pot over high heat, and bring water to a vigorous boil. Par-boil duck in boiling water for 3 minutes. Remove duck, place on foil-lied baking sheet, and refrigerate, uncovered, until ready to cook.

Put wings, neck, heart, onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf, and peppercorns in a large pot and add 4 cups water. Bring to the boiling point and immediately reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Simmer for two hours then discard solid and strain stock through cheesecloth. Return stock to pot and boil until reduced to 1 cup. Set aside.

Heat oven to 400F.

Brush duck with soy sauce and season with thyme, salt, and pepper. Place breast-side up on a rack in a roasting pan and cook for 40 minutes. Turn duck back-side up and cook another 30 minutes. Turn breast-side up again and continue cooking until done -- about 15 minutes. Remove duck to a cutting board and cover with foil.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet, add shallots and thyme, and saute until golden. Add stock and port and reduce to 1 cup. Mix flour with 1 tablespoon softened butter. Whisk into sauce and continue cooking until thickened.

Serves 4.

Par-boiling the duck and then letting it sit uncovered in the refrigerator causes the skin to contract. This forces out some of the fat and also results in a much crisper skin.

This recipe was originally published on Seriously Good on 02/15/2006.

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