Thanksgiving - What The Duck!

This year, like most in recent years, it will just be Wife and I for the holiday. Most of this is because, for us, family is the main thing we would want at holiday time. But our family is scattered around the world. The closest is 1000 miles away in California (almost exactly a thousand...I checked on Maps). Another trend has been a general dissatisfaction with turkey as the primary focus of the Thanksgiving meal. Wife is not fond of it generally. I am not fond of the white meat. It is a royal pain to cook and get both white and dark meat cooked correctly. And it is a pain from the standpoint of manhandling the bird in all aspects of preparation. 

While we were in Sicily, I realized Thanksgiving would only be a bit over week after we got back. I attempted to engage Wife in a discussion but she was in her 'in the moment' mantra work of the trip and did not want to focus time or energy on that discussion (this is not a critique, just a recitation of facts). As I am the one doing the cooking, I made a unilateral decision to make duck. I love duck and we almost never have it mostly because Wife doesn't like all the fat.

It having been a long time since I'd made a duck, I remembered a relatively easy, slow cook method. Going online, I did a search (An ONLINE SEARCH! I DID NOT GOOGLE IT. Though I did use Google). I found a couple of recipes right away. They were simplicity itself. Season bird. Put on a rack. Cook for a long time at a low temperature. Take out and serve. Could it be that easy? I was about to find out.

First de-I must fortify himself with the traditional (as of this year) hearty pre-cooking breakfast

 Eggs, roast beef hash, green chile, homemade bread, coffee

 Now on to the Duck

Our duck before going into the oven. Trussed, seasoned with only salt and pepper. Skin slightly scored to allow the fat to drain. It went into a 275 degree oven (yes that low) for an estimated 6 hours.

Duck is perfect for my ethos of using every part of the animal to let nothing go to waste. The neck and wing tips went into a broth for making gravy.

Duck has a lot of fat and skin

 Fortunately, that is the raw material for schmaltz (Jewish style rendered fat for cooking) with a by product of gribbnes, the crunchy bits of skin after the rendering process.

Rendering in action

 End product

 

 Back to the Duck. Around 4 hours in, I took a peak. It looked quite done. I inserted the trusty meat thermometer. Sure enough, it was at its proper temperature at around 195 degrees. Out it came.

 According to the recipe, it was supposed to be tender enough to break apart with one's hands. No carving required. Sure enough, it was exactly as promised.

 And it was absolutely delicious. A lot of the meat had the fat completely rendered out so Wife was very happy. But there was plenty of crispy, fatty skin make me happy. I was really amazed that with just salt and pepper that the meat was so flavorful. No brining. No marinating. Aluminum foil tents. Just put the bird in the oven. Wait. Pull out deliciousness. I think this is going to become our Thanksgiving staple from here on out.