We’ve been experimenting with Pekin duck recipes over the last few weeks, learning about the best ways to cook our new favorite meal!We want to offer you some of our thoughts about our simple recipes, in case you are new to cooking duck and wonder how it should be done. So far we’ve cooked 4 ducks in 4 different ways, and we do have our favorite techniques! The exciting thing that we’ve learned from all this cooking, is that it’s really hard to ruin duck, short of burning it. There is so much fat that the meat never dries out the way chicken or turkey does when overcooked. Knowing this should help quell your fear about cooking duck… Just go for it!
Here is the first recipe we tried!
High Heat, Low Time: 425 degrees for 2 hours
Score the skin on both sides so that the fat will cook out of the bird and pool in the bottom of the dish. This allows the meat to stay moist but the skin to get crispy!
Cover the duck liberally with salt and garlic powder.
Flip the bird 2 or 3 times during the cooking time, spaced evenly throughout the 2 hour time period.
Cut the breast out of the bird after 1 hour and 15 minutes and continue cooking the rest of the meat for another 45 minutes.
Ducks going in the oven!
Taste Test:
The breast was overcooked and a little dry. We learned that we should have cut it out much sooner!
The legs were a perfect moistness.
The skin was partially crispy, which was great for me but Jason would have preferred it crispier!
Stay tuned for the second recipe we tried!
.:.