If you’re looking for a recipe for duck, click here.
Now that I have been shopping at ALDI for a while, I’m becoming less and less surprised every time I find the unexpected. I was browsing the freezer section in full anticipation of finding something new to test out. They must have known that I was coming in that day. It was almost too perfect. A 5 lb frozen duck rested in the freezer, and duck very well could be my favorite protein on the planet. I didn’t waste any time throwing that rock hard bird into my cart and quickly checked out. It didn’t really hit me until I was about half-way home. I’ve never roasted a duck before. So, I took a deep breath and released my panic with the assurance that my foodie friends would surely have plenty of ideas for me to pick from.
A little over $12 for 5 lbs
I arrived at home and put the duck back into the freezer. It was going to be a few days before I could confidently craft my strategy for tackling this new adventure. I ran through a few ideas and made a couple of trips back to the grocery store, realizing that I was going to have to pin this recipe down and get the right ingredients for this experiment. Let’s face it, it’s a whole duck and there was no way I was just going to cook it for myself. Another person was going to be involved and I had to impress them. Plus, if it was the greatest thing I had ever made, I was going to need a witness. Or, the worst, someone to laugh it off with me.
Luckily for me, I found just the right person the test out my novice roasting attempt on. Also, all of the fruits and herbs were readily available, and most importantly, in season. I put the pen to the paper and spelled out recipe as not to forget anything. Things were in motion and I purchased all that needed to be. It was settled. I was going to attempt to marinate this duck in a red wine rosemary pomegranate sauce, and then roast it upon a bed of onions and oranges for about 4 hours. A glaze would be applied to duck at the end made of brown sugar, cinnamon, and the excess fat left in the pan. I would serve this magnificent bird with more pomegranate sauce and some crumbled blue cheese. In my mind it was perfect. Now, all I had to do was execute the plan. Here’s how my holiday duck went down:
I decided it would be best to make my sauce immediately to give it time to marry. (I, also, didn’t realize just how long it was going to take my duck to thaw in the refrigerator) It was a pretty simple sauce with the most difficult part being the removal of the pomegranate seeds. After I had spent a good solid 1/2 hour destructing a pomegranate, the seeds were added to a pot with onions and garlic. Red wine was added with some sprigs of rosemary that filled the air with a wonderful aroma as they simmered together. I, then, threw the sauce into a blender and gave it a good puree, pouring it into a mason jar and placing it in the fridge.
A day had passed. The duck was thawed and I removed it from its packaging. It was time to reach in a take out the innards that remained for me. I reached my hand into the cavity and pulled out a heart, two gizzards, a liver, and the neck. These were placed in a plastic bag for a later date. I grabbed a gallon freezer bag and placed the raw duck into it. Taking the pomegranate sauce out of the fridge, I portioned off half of it and poured it into the bag, covering the duck. The bag was sealed and placed in a large bowl to marinate for the next 24 hours.
thick cut onions are key
Finally, roasting was on the horizon. At 2 pm the oven would contain my experiment that I had anxiously awaited over the last couple of days. I knew that for the 4 hours that this duck would be in the oven, would be some of the longest hours of my life. As 2 approached, I cut the oranges and the onions that would stuff and flavor my duck. The time had come and the duck lay stuffed with citrus and aromatics, resting on a bed of the same in a non-stick roasting pan. It was 2 pm. The oven was preheated to 300 degrees, and the pomegranate marinated duck entered the place where it would be for the next 240 minutes covered in and air-tight blanket of tin foil.
can you make duck without oranges?
right before the oven
After what seemed like an eternity, the first hour had passed. I could catch hints of sweet onion and orange in the air. It was early in the process and the duck was just getting warm. I opened up the oven and removed the tin foil to reveal an under cooked duck and some wilting onions and oranges. It was time to flip the bird, a process that would have to be repeated every hour and give me a chance to check into progress. Using a paper towel, I grabbed on to the leg bones and gave it a turn and tucked it back into the oven, making sure the tin-foil was tight. This was repeated 3 more times with the drippings being emptied towards the end. The smell of the duck was getting more intense and making me extremely hungry.
During my wait, I made a glaze using some of the drippings, brown sugar, and cinnamon. The heat on the oven was cranked to 425 degrees and the first layer of glaze went down. 3 more layers were applied in 3 minute increments, giving the duck a sweet crust to go with the tender, succulent meat. My guest had arrived in perfect timing, and I sat the duck out to rest and prepared some asparagus to accompany the dish. I took out a sharp knife and cut through the middle of the tender bird, dividing it in half. Then, my knife was drawn around the base of the duck and around the ribs separating the meat from the bones. I plated it up on a large dish with the sautéed asparagus and dressed it with the remainder of the pomegranate sauce and crumbled blue cheese.
I served my guest, who was anticipating this just as much as I was, and sat next to her. We both dug into the duck, each taking our first sample from the leg. It was incredibly tender and the pomegranate sauce was a nice match. Chunks of blue cheese rounded off the tart flavor of the pomegranate and gave a great balance to the sweetness of the glaze. My guest was impressed, but I was finding flaws here and there. The concept was close, and being the first time that it was attempted, not perfect. It was the critic in me, and I knew that I could do better.
Now, I know we all can’t be perfect, but the foodie inside me craves that. I’m always searching for the best recipe. Striving for the best thing I have ever ate is a passion of mine, and how FORKing cool would it be if I were able to say that it was my dish that ended that search. This recipe was not quite there. It’s a work in progress, and you can be sure that if I ever get the urge to open a restaurant, this will be in its perfect form, on the menu, delighting foodies from all around.
Today may have not been the perfect day to enjoy a hot cup of tea. I made the most of it and just because I didn’t need it to help me increase my body temperature, does’t mean that I didn’t fully enjoy it. As you read, It was great, even on a 70 degree day. One doesn’t have to be chilled to the bone to enjoy all of the health benefits a cup of tea can provide, or the joy an earthy seasonal blend can bring. And, speaking of the season, this gorgeous, collectible tin would look great in a gift basket, or even just in your cupboard. So, go out and pick this up, and if you’re they type that likes those fluffy candy cane teas and don’t enjoy the wonderful earthly flavors that were just described, you can go FORK yourself.
Fork U 