Food Duck breasts (kind of recommendation)

So far the best Chinese roast duck I've had in this country is still Ming Jiang; but the way they handle the rest of meat after the "pancake course" is not really ideal to me. They don't slide that many pieces of meat from duck anyway, so there is really quite a lot of meat left on the skeleton, and when the second course comes you only see a tiny bit of duck meat in either soup or fried rice of lettuce package (over seasoned imo). Not sure where all the rest of stuffs gone, really a waste.
Back home (for example Three Coins in Taipei) we can have a full big plate of duck slides from one duck, and a big bowl of duck soup enough for six people, with all the bone stewed in it, plus fried rice with strimmed duck meat again enough for six people.

If I can get a whole roasted suck from somewhere similar quality I would be happy to do all the anatomy work myself. Better value and would be fun.
 
I once bought some duck breasts and a whole duck from the abatoir in Challans (Vendee) that supplies Otto and Pont de La Tour. Fabulous, fabulous meat. Also haven't had duck breast since last night and am now craving again... ;)
 
Thom Blach said:
I completely agree about the second course, where does all the meat go, and the carcase soup?
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I don't know about MingJiang, the skeleton+lots of meat of duck we ordered in Ritz was "not allowed to be taken out of kitchen again due to health and safety reason". (But they took the legs out again as the second course, confit de canard)

Like one of my friend once demanded: "I want those meat, I paid for the whole thing!"
 
Going to be roasting a whole duck tomorrow. I'd like to do it on a roasting rack with spuds underneath. Assuming that it's cooking for about 2 hours at 180C, does the majority of the fat come out in the first half? Just trying to find a way to convince the Mrs that I won't make a mess or end up with "greasy" potatoes. Of course they will be greasy (i.e. would leave a stain if left on a piece of paper), but hopefully still crispy and not soggy with duck fat. Various recipes I've seen appear to be pretty vague about the detail here!

I'm thinking of removing the duck after about an hour of cooking, then pouring off any excess fat before introducing the potatoes. Thing is, I'm not sure how much constitutes "excess" unless I have an idea of how much more fat will emerge from the bird during phase 2 of the roast.
 
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Alex Lake said:
Going to be roasting a whole duck tomorrow. I'd like to do it on a roasting rack with spuds underneath. Assuming that it's cooking for about 2 hours at 180C, does the majority of the fat come out in the first half? Just trying to find a way to convince the Mrs that I won't make a mess or end up with "greasy" potatoes. Of course they will be greasy (i.e. would leave a stain if left on a piece of paper), but hopefully still crispy and not soggy with duck fat. Various recipes I've seen appear to be pretty vague about the detail here!

I'm thinking of removing the duck after about an hour of cooking, then pouring off any excess fat before introducing the potatoes. Thing is, I'm not sure how much constitutes "excess" unless I have an idea of how much more fat will emerge from the bird during phase 2 of the roast.
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Prick the very cold duck all over, taking care not to pierce the flesh, season, concentrating on the interior, then place in a cold oven, as you do so turning the temperature to low, say 100C. After a couple of hours the fat should all be rendered but unburnt and there should be no mess. Pour off the fat, rest the duck then finish in a hot-say 230C-oven for half an hour or so. Don't forget to remove the wishbone before cooking, and cook the potatoes separately.
 
Well, that's been curious. I put it in a cool oven, initially 100C and then upto about 120C for about 2-3 hours and virtually no fat came out!
Internal temperature hit 65C, so I figured it was cooked, and have removed it from the oven. Will give it a blast in a hot BBQ now!
 
turned out quite pink inside. Think I’d possibly cook it a bit more next time (extend the slow phase to 4 hours? Or internal temp of 75C), but it tasted very good. Still quite a bit of fat on the very front(top) of the breast (you can see it in the second picture).


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