Home › The Principles of Cookery › Duck, Roast

Duck, Roast

This universal favourite requires no praise. Without entering into the question of the best duck, we say at once, take a young farm-yard duck fattened at liberty, but cleansed by being shut up two or three days and fed on barleymeal and water. Two small young ducks make a better dish than a large, handsome, hardfleshed drake, which, as a rule, is best fit for a stew, or to be cooked en braise (see DUCK, BRAISED). If the poulterer does not prepare the duck, it must be plucked, singed, and emptied; the feet scalded, skinned, and twisted round on the back of the bird; head, neck, and pinions cut off, the latter at the first joint, and all skewered firmly to give the breast a nice plump appearance. For the stuffing, take half a pound of onions, a tea-spoonful of powdered sage, three table-spoonfuls of bread-crumbs, the duck's liver parboiled and minced with pepper, salt, and cayenne. Cut the onions very fine, throw boiling water over them, and cover for ten minutes; drain through a gravy strainer, and add the bread-crumbs, minced liver, sage, pepper and salt to taste; mix, and put it inside the duck. This quantity is for one duck; more onion and sage may be added, but we recommend the above as a delicate compound not likely to disagree with the stomach. Let the duck be hung a day or two, according to the weather, to make the flesh tender. Roast before a brisk clear fire, baste often, and dredge with flour to make the bird look frothy. Serve with a good brown gravy in the dish, and apple sauce in a tureen. Time: ducks, three-quarters of an hour to an hour; ducklings, twenty-five to thirty-five minutes. Probable cost, 3s. to 4s. each. Sufficient, two ducks for seven or eight persons.