Roasted duck for dinner

I love chowder and often challenge myself to recreate the classic comfort-dish into something transcendent. While creating the menu for the North Idaho Wild Game Feast, I take this challenge to its limit. Instead of clams, I hot-smoke four fillets of steelhead with Applewood after brining the fish in brown sugar and North Idaho honey.

Searching for something to replace the pork bacon found in most chowders, I smoke a duck breast and create rich bacon from the meat. I slice the breast meat thinly then crisp the bacon in its own fat. The result is amazing and might be the perfect addition to a miniature breakfast of fried quail eggs and mini blueberry pancakes.

Now it's time to gild the lily. I need a substitute for the package of oyster crackers often displayed as an afterthought on the saucer of the cup of soup. I want the cracker substitute to be part of the chowder, connect the duck bacon with the steelhead and offer different textures and flavor to the soup.

The solution; a large sourdough crouton tossed with rendered duck fat, fine-diced cloves of garlic, salt and pepper then toasted in the oven. This final addition of toasted bread transforms a somewhat typical chowder into an amazing mixture of smoky, salty, fishy, crispy and creamy deliciousness - transcendent.

While packing up left-overs from the Wild Game Feast, I discover in the walk-in the half-rendered whole duck I used to create the fat for the croutons. What am I going to do with this? Cut the breasts off and saute them with an orange-soy glaze; possibly. Part out the duck into eight pieces and make Southern fried crispy-battered duck; I don't think so.

I decide to cook the duck whole and create Crisp Roast Duck. I know I love duck when all fat is rendered from the skin and it turns amazingly crispy. I also know how wonderful whole duck smells when roasting in a commercial kitchen.

This recipe is about as simple as a recipe can be, but a huge word of caution. The smell of roast duck will linger in your house for many days - not necessarily a bad thing unless your wife is a vegetarian, as mine is, and hates the smell of cooked meat. I cleaned my oven twice and opened all windows of the house for a few days to release the smell.

One final note; do not be tempted to cover the duck as it cooks. This will braise the duck and not allow the skin to crisp properly.

Crisp Roast Duck

Ingredients

1 (5- to 6-pound) Long Island duck (also known as Peking)

2 cups boiling-hot water

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425 degrees.

If necessary, cut off wing tips with poultry shears or a sharp knife. Remove and discard excess fat from body cavity and neck, then rinse duck inside and out. Prick skin all over with a sharp fork. Fold neck skin under body, then put duck, breast side up, on a rack in a 13- by 9- by 3-inch roasting pan and pour boiling-hot water over duck (to tighten skin). Cool duck, then pour out any water from cavity into pan. Pat duck dry inside and out, reserving water in pan, then rub duck inside and out with kosher salt and pepper.

Roast duck, breast side up, 45 minutes, then remove from oven. Turn duck over using 2 wooden spoons, and roast 45 minutes more. Turn duck over again (breast side up), tilting duck to drain any liquid from cavity into pan. Continue to roast duck until skin is brown and crisp, about 45 minutes more (total roasting time: about 2 1/4 hours). Tilt duck to drain any more liquid from cavity into pan. Transfer duck to a cutting board and let stand 15 minutes before carving. Discard liquid in roasting pan.

- Recipe courtesy of Epicurious

Send comments or other suggestions to William Rutherford at [email protected] or visit pensiveparenting.com.