No. 1921

Roast Duck

Canard Roti

Singe and draw a nice fat duck, chop up the liver with the same quantity of fresh fat pork, season and mix in a small finely chopped onion, some chopped parsley, a handful of bread-crumbs passed through a sieve and one egg-yolk; with this dressing stuff the duck's stomach; truss for roasting and cook either on the spit or in the oven for thirty to forty-five minutes, according to its size; baste over several times with butter, salt, and then take it from the spit; untruss and dress it on a dish garnishing around with slices of lemon. Send at the same time a sauce-boat of good gravy taken from the dripping pan, adding a little good stock (No. 194a) to it. This duck may be served plain without dressing if desired.

← No. 1920 Duck, American Style—Stuffed Duck & Goose No. 1922 Duck with Cepes →

For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

Ranhofer assumes a kitchen that buys birds whole and undressed, roasts on a spit, and keeps a stockpot going. Three details need translating: the oven heat he never states, the size of bird he means, and the raw pork forcemeat sitting in the cavity.

The hinge: the stuffing, not the duckThe dressing is raw liver and raw fat pork bound with egg yolk, and it sits in the coolest part of the bird. Thirty to forty-five minutes will give you a pink duck and an undercooked forcemeat, so either take the stuffing to 165F/74C on an instant-read thermometer at the centre, or bake it separately in a small dish and spoon it alongside.
Oven temperatureNone is given because a spit in front of a fire has no dial. For the timing to make sense the oven must be hot: 425-450F, dropping to about 375F if the skin colours too fast.
What "a nice fat duck" meansProbably a duckling in the region of 4-5 lb, roughly the weight of a modern Pekin (Long Island) duck; the recipe itself specifies nothing beyond 'nice fat.' At that size 45 minutes gives a rosy breast in the French manner; a bird cooked to well done needs closer to 75-90 minutes and the timing here will not reach it.
Singe and drawBoth are done for you now. If pinfeathers remain, pull them with tweezers or pass the skin briefly over a gas flame; there is no need to singe a supermarket duck.
Fresh fat porkUnsalted pork back fat or fatback, not bacon and not salt pork, which would make the forcemeat too salty. Fresh pork belly, mostly fat, is the easiest substitute; grind or chop it fine with the liver.
Bread-crumbs passed through a sieveFine dry crumbs, not the coarse fresh sort. A handful is roughly a half cup, and one egg yolk is enough to bind that quantity with the liver and pork.
The gravyNo. 194a is Ranhofer's cross-reference to his stock. Pour off the duck fat, deglaze the roasting pan with a few tablespoons of stock, scrape and strain; the fat itself is worth keeping for potatoes.
Resting and yieldLet the bird stand 10-15 minutes before untrussing and carving, or the juices run into the platter. One duck of this size serves two generously, three at a stretch.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchen at Delmonico's, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially the restaurant's working repertoire set down in order, which is why the duck section runs to a long series of numbered variations. Canard rôti is the plain parent of that family: a bird roasted hard and fast, served with its own pan juices and nothing more assertive than lemon. The short cooking time is in line with French practice, in which duck is often carved while still pink. Spit-roasting and oven-roasting are offered as equals here - the recipe says 'either on the spit or in the oven' - a reminder that in the 1890s a large professional kitchen still kept both.