I'm suppose to look puzzled, not angry!

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I have a book to publish. Editors love it, marketing departments say 'up the media profile'. So here I am 'upping it' and writing about the book, food, and life in general.

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Is Crispy Skin the Greatest Sin?

Ducky dinners
How is one supposed to diet when there are so many delicious things to eat in a lifetime?  I had to starve myself all day yesterday so that I could indulge in the divine pleasure of duck-skin-eating last night.

Ged-the-lovely-husband is the man who taught me how to cook a decent duck.

Pre heat oven to Gas 7, 220C.
Pour boiling water over duck to shrink the skin.
When dry, rub with sunflower oil then cover with sea salt.  Put it on a trivet over a deep roasting pan.
Pop it in the oven until the skin starts bubbling up and                                                                     browning -  about 20 mins - then turn it right down to No 3, 170C for a good couple of hours.

When you pull at the leg it should come away like a confit leg and the skin should be super-crispy with no white fat left beneath it.  It can sit out of the oven while you whack up the heat and roast the potatoes in the duck fat while making a gravy with the stock.  Yum yum.

In EATING MY WORDS I make Peking duck for the arms dealer and his family.  It was not a total success and involved a very grumpy maid with a hair-dryer, a paint brush and a bucket of ducky marinade.  Best left to the Chinese methinks.

2 comments:

  1. I was told by a workmate, to brine it overnight in salt water and a bit of sugar, dry it off then put it in. No ducks killed recently, although the dogs nearly got a swan...Off with my head, besides that wouldn't fit in the oven.

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    1. I'll give that a go next time. I recently found one of those old Sainsbury's cookbooks by Josceline Dimbleby. There was a recipe in there for duck poached in Earl Grey tea and honey. The smell alone was so awful we had to leave the house. I washed the tea off the duck, dried it, covered it in oil and whacked it in the oven to roast.Still tasted dreadful.

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