Cooking by Peterson James

Author:Peterson, James [Peterson, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781607744061
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2012-04-09T22:00:00+00:00

DUCK AND SMALL BIRDS

Because of their petite size and, in the case of duck, because of the fat contained in their skin, these birds can’t be roasted in the same way as a chicken or turkey—by prolonged exposure to dry heat. Ducks, unless you like the traditional “crispy” variety, need to be cut up to be cooked in the best way and small birds such as squabs and quail need to be browned on the stove before going into the oven.

DUCK

Unless you are lucky enough to have access to wild ducks, which are best when simply roasted rare or sautéed in the same way as these squabs, you will find only one or two varieties of duck in the market. The most common variety, found frozen in most supermarkets—fortunately, duck freezes well—is the Pekin (also called Long Island) duck, which is not to be confused with the Peking duck, the famed roasted bird of the Chinese table. In fancier places, you are likely to find mullard (also spelled “moulard”) ducks, which are giant hybrids used to make foie gras. They also happen to be especially delicious.

Lately, duck parts have begun to appear in markets. This makes cooking duck much simpler, since you can buy just the breast meat (often called magrets when they come from a mullard), which isn’t much harder to cook than a steak, or just the thigh, which is easy to braise.

The inherent problem with American domestic ducks is that they have a thick layer of fat. If you roast a whole duck in the same manner as a chicken, you have to cook the duck for hours for the fat to render. You end up with so-called crispy duck that, while good in its own right, isn’t nearly as exciting as a duck breast cooked rare or medium-rare. To cook duck successfully, you must break it down into its parts, since the breasts and thighs must be cooked differently. Duck breast meat is tender and cooks relatively quickly, while duck thighs are tougher and need to be braised or turned into confit. The ideal scenario is to braise the duck thighs, sauté the duck breasts, and use the braising liquid from the thighs to make a sauce for both.

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