On Roasting a Duckling
Duckling is basically inedible, most of it is bone, gristle, fat and skin, not necessarily in that order. Your children, even your adult children, will tell you it is no good. Don't even get me going on wild duck. Only hunters claim to like it - and most of us think they are either lying or out of touch with reality, or at least their own taste buds.
On the otherhand if you are a real cook you will have an irresistable urge to occasionally cook (and eat, this is actually more remarkable) a duckling. This is kinds of like my collie dog, Sammy, who liked to eat our neighbor's chickens. Actually he only ate several bites, and our neighbor was always able to identify what was left as his favorite pet chicken. This did of course result in our collie dog being sentenced to life (about 11 more years) in a much smaller fenced yard, despite our owning over 10 acres.
If you have read all of the various recipes on coping with duckling, they ALL have you boiling the blessed thing for about an hour. Usually it is disguised as steaming, braising, fricassee-ing or some such term. Typically this involves about two of the preceding steps. Afterwhich you roast it long enough to hide that fact that basically you are serving boiled duck.
So now that you know the truth I will tell you the easiest way of "roasting" a duck. Let me now confess that not only do I love to eat duckling, I also love to cook them. Sammy, I really do understand. Here I combine the various methods I have used.
Cut most of the excess skin and fat found at either entry to the duckling. This is a family site, and I am not about to get anymore biological than that. Reach inside and remove the odd parts which are loosely inside the cavity. Cut off the tail and wing tips. Everything that is separated should be put in a small sauce pan and boiled to make a Duck Stock.
Place the duckling in a roasting pan on top of the stove or in a 400 degree or so oven, with about 1/2 inch of moisture (water or canned chicken broth), tent it fairly tightly with lid or foil. After 1/2 hour add 1/3 cup each of chopped onion, carrot, celery. Steam for a further half hour. Pour all the liquid out, including vegetables, adding it to the sauce pan. You can boil down and strain this stock to make a sauce, or save it for Duck Soup.
Put the duckling back in the roasting pan, but this time on a rack. And put in the oven at 400 to 425 degrees and roast for about 40 minutes, or until it is nicely browned. If you like duckling, you will love this. If not, serve it to people who do. Somehow serving roast duckling makes a dinner ever so much more gourmet, even if only one or two people eat any.
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