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Choosing and Trussing (Choose ducks with plump)
Choose ducks with plump bellies, and with thick and yellowish feet. They should be trussed with the feet on, which should be scalded, and the skin peeled off, and then turned up close to the legs. Run a skewer through the middle of each leg, after having drawn them as close as possible to the body, to plump up the breast, passing the same quite through the body. Cut off the heads and necks, and the pinions at the first joint; bring these close to the sides, twist the feet round, and truss them at the back of the bird. After the duck is stuffed, both ends should be secured with string, so as to keep in the seasoning.
To insure ducks being tender, never dress them the same day they are killed; and, if the weather permits, they should hang a day or two. Make a stuffing of sage and onion sufficient for one duck, and DUCK, ROAST, TO CARVE. leave the other unseasoned, as the flavour is not liked by everybody. Put them down to a brisk clear fire, and keep them well basted the whole of the time they are cooking. A few minutes before serving, dredge them lightly with flour, to make ROAST DUCK. them froth and look plump; and when the steam draws towards the fire, send them to table hot and quickly, with a good brown gravy poured round, but not over the ducks, and a little of the same in a tureen.
When in season, green peas should invariably accompany this dish. TIME.-Full-grown ducks from 3/4 to 1 hour; ducklings from 25 to 35 minutes.
SEASONABLE.-Ducklings from April to August; ducks from November to February.
A trussing note and a roasting method rolled together, written for a bird bought whole and undressed. Most of the trussing survives only as history now, but the roasting advice still works once the timings are corrected.
- The bird you will actually buyA modern duck comes plucked, drawn, headless and footless, weighing 4-5 lb. Everything about scalding the feet, peeling them, cutting the necks and folding the pinions applies to a bird bought whole from a poulterer and is of antiquarian interest only. Skewer the legs close to the body and tie the ends if you are stuffing it.
- HangingHanging a killed duck a day or two in cool weather was standard for tenderness and flavour. It has no place in a modern kitchen with a chilled, dated bird; roast it within the use-by date and keep it refrigerated.
- The timing is far too short"from [blank] to 1 hour" reflects a smaller bird cooked before a fierce open fire; the lower figure is missing from this printing. A 4-5 lb duck needs roughly 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours at 350F, and the thigh should read 175F, at which point the leg meat is tender and the fat rendered.
- Fire to oven"A brisk clear fire" implies a hot start; the book gives no oven temperature, so as a modern equivalent try 425F for the first 20 minutes to set the skin, then 350F for the remainder. Duck sheds a great deal of fat, so roast on a rack over a tray and pour the fat off once or twice during cooking.
- BastingConstant basting mattered on a spit, where the bird turned away from the heat. In an oven it mostly slows the skin's crisping. Prick the fat lines of the breast instead and let the rendering fat do the work.
- The flour dredgeDusting with flour a few minutes before serving gives the froth and plumped look Mrs Beeton wanted, but only under fierce heat. Raise the oven to 450F for the last five minutes if you want the effect; otherwise skip it, as modern ovens brown duck skin perfectly well on their own.
- Sage and onion inside the birdStuffing packed into a duck slows the heat reaching the cavity and must itself reach 165F, which usually means overcooking the breast. Cook the sage and onion in a separate dish and serve it alongside, which also answers the recipe's own point that not everyone likes the flavour.
- Gravy and peasThe gravy goes round the bird, never over it, so the crisp skin stays crisp; the recipe also asks for a little of the same sent to table in a tureen. Green peas are the classic accompaniment and are worth keeping.
- YieldOne 4-5 lb duck serves three, perhaps four with generous sides. The recipe assumes two birds, one stuffed and one plain, which serves six to eight.
The Aylesbury is a pure white, pink-billed table duck from the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, where cottagers in the district known as Duck End reared ducklings in and around their houses and sent them by road, and later by rail, to the London markets. The breed's pale skin and fine flesh made it the fashionable English roasting duck of the nineteenth century, which is why Mrs Beeton names it here rather than simply writing "duck". Its commercial dominance faded after the heavier, faster-growing Pekin duck arrived from China in the 1870s and was crossed into English flocks; the pure Aylesbury is now a rare breed. The seasonal note is a reminder that ducklings were a spring and summer luxury and full-grown birds a winter dish, a distinction that year-round farming has erased.