Butchering ducks - Pin Feather question

[Ahab]

If making confit seems a chore (it isn't that hard, and well worth it), and turning prime duck leg-thighs into essentially potted meat seems a culinary sacrilege (it does to me, anyway), then why not roast the thigh/leg combos separately? Freeze them in pairs in a vacuum-seal bag, with or without skin; they roast very quickly. If they're skinless, paint them first with mustard beaten with an egg and roll in fresh bread crumbs drizzled with a little olive oil or butter.

The problem with roasting whole duck is that breast meat tastes best at around 130F, and leg/thigh meat at around 165F. It's almost impossible to roast a whole bird without drying out the breast, losing the crispy skin, or under-cooking the thighs.

But canning duck meat? I shudder. Of course, if you don't have the freezer space . . .

Be sure to save all the cracklings from rendering the fat. A little salt and pepper and a haze of allspice, and these are prime munchies, sprinkled on a salad or mashed potatoes.

As for the carcass itself . . . in New Orleans you'll find a number of restaurants serving duck-debris po'boys. These are made from the meat of roasted carcasses, after removing the wings, leg/thighs, breasts, and most of the skin. Pick the meat into shreds, making a stock from the resulting bones, reduce it until it tastes seriously good, and then combine with the roasted meat; it should be about the consistency of good pulled-pork barbecue with sauce. I've never tried canning it, but I expect it would can nicely.

 

[yinepu]

Thanks so much for the tips on how to cook a duck! Lol.. I know for sure now I would have ruined it by treating it like a chicken .. I'm trying to convince my husband that we need MORE ducks instead of getting rid of all of them so knowing how NOT to ruin it is a big plus!

 

[rbefarm]

Thanks for all the tips and info on duck processing and how to butcher/cook. We are going to do the rest of our Pekins tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes but you all have my mouth watering reading all this. I will definitely keep the skins for rendering fat and all the carcass parts. Duck stock sounds incredible.

 

[bwmichaud]

rbefarm: good luck with them. The fat is great to have around. Get enough of it and make duck confit. A nice rare-medium rare duck breast is nothing short of incredible and makes all of the extra work worth it. I run out of duck in March or April and never have any more to eat until July or so. The months I have duck to eat are definitely better than the months that I'm not eating duck.

Ahab: Exactly! Except the part about duck confit being like potted beat. That one cracked me up. Duck legs and thighs are excellent grilled or braised. If you try to roast them, just make sure you don't do it for too long. Less time cooked is always better with duck unless you are braising, making confit or stew. I too, want to cry when people skin a duck and throw the skin away or when duck, or chicken gets canned. I have all kinds of bags of animal parts in the freezer that get made into stock and put back in the freezer. Stock, of any kind, is good for adding in plave of water to stews, boiled rice, potatoes, etc. You can use it for everything and it just adds flavor.

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
I bet cosmetic wax would work.