Many people’s favourite meal is a good old-fashioned roast. A whole animal roasted to perfection served with vegetables and gravy. However, some alternatives will provide just as much satisfaction while being different from the norm.
In this blog post, we’ll be discussing duck in a pot: preparation of ducks for roasting or baking in a closed container such as a casserole dish or Dutch oven with some liquid added to it.
What to remember when cooking a whole duck?
When cooking a whole duck, it’s important to remember that the legs take longer than the breast meat, so we’ll separate them: remove wings, thighs and leg quarters from your roasted or baked duck before serving.
The easiest way to remove the legs is by cutting in between the leg and breast meat. This will leave you with a whole, boneless duck leg that can be cooked in any number of ways. For example, our confit duck legs are cooked in a pot of duck fat that has been seasoned with herbs and spices.
The breasts are much easier to slice thinly once they have been roasted or baked for long enough so that there are no more pink bits near the bone anymore. Roasting or baking your duck takes approximately one hour per kilogram (or pound), but it depends on how hot your oven gets; check after 45 minutes, then every 15-20 minutes until done (if using an oven). Baking at 200 C / 400 F should get you good results as well!
If you plan to serve your duck with a sauce, the best time to take it out of the oven is when there’s still some liquid fat in the bottom of your baking dish. This is because hot meat will release juices that can be used to make a nice gravy or jus-type sauce!
A pot roast also makes for an excellent alternative to roasting or baking whole ducks and chicken pieces. Of course, you’ll need enough water to submerge all your ingredients completely, but how much exactly depends on what size cooking vessel you’re using – bigger requires more liquid while smaller may not hold quite enough.
Once everything has been placed into the pot (duck legs, vegetables up into small pieces, bay leaves and sprigs of thyme), seasoning with salt, pepper and dried herbs (if using) to taste, you can start cooking your duck in a pot.
Conclusion:
It’s important to remember that your duck will require a longer cooking time than other meats, but it can be cooked in much the same way. As long as you’re using enough liquid to submerge all ingredients completely and cook them over low heat (ideally), there is no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy a delicious meal next time around!
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