Braised Muscovy Duck

I've cooked Muscovy duck a few times, and I always find it a bit of a challenge. The meat is much more like beef than poultry in colour and texture, although with that lovely ducky flavour. They are sturdy birds and the meat does not tend to be naturally tender, and while the skin is thick with some fat they are not overall fatty like other ducks but really quite lean. Like most poultry, there is a fair bit of difference in the meat from the legs versus the meat from the breasts. I decided to try cooking this one using the technique I like to use on free-range turkeys. The verdict - it works very well.

I hardly seasoned this at all, other than aromatic vegetables, bay leaves, and salt and pepper. No complaints. The meat is rich and flavourful and doesn't need anything else. Next time I might throw in a few juniper berries, and I can see adding sautéed mushrooms to the gravy. Of course, you don't have to make the gravy at all; various sweet-tart fruit sauces are classic with duck and you could do one here. I'm not likely to bother. I like the gravy very well and as I say, the flavour stands on its own with no trouble. There is plenty of leftover stock in addition to the leftover vegetable and flour thickened gravy, and between the two of them you have the basis for quite a lot of excellent soup.

I'm doing the final roast for the breasts at a higher temperature than I did the turkey; I think the duck breast calls for a faster, shorter cooking.

It's interesting (to me, if no-one else) to see how my recipe writing technique has changed since I started this blog. I find myself wanting to go back and re-write the original turkey recipe to use the system of mini sub-recipes I've been using for more complicated dishes for a while now. I'm curious if anyone has any preferences about how I'm doing this. 

allow about 1 pound per person
up to 1 hour to break down the duck
3 hours plus to make the stock - 15 minutes prep time
2 to 2 1/2 hours cooking time plus a further 15 minutes before you are eating

Break Down the Duck:
1  4 to 5 kilogram (8 to 10 pounds) Muscovy duck

I find that Muscovy duck often comes with a fair number of feather tips still embedded in the skin. Use a good large pair of tweezers to extract as many as you can. 

Cut the wings from the bird. Cut the tips from wings and put them in a large soup pot. Cut the legs off from the bird next. Some really good kitchen shears are very helpful here. Put the leg and wing pieces aside. If there are any other portions of meat still attached to the back side of the carcass, remove them carefully and set them with the legs and wings.

Cut the breast meat carefully from carcass, in one piece from each side, along with any remaining pieces of meat that are large enough to cut off and use. Start by cutting along each side of the breast bone then almost scraping the meat from the rib cage. Break off the back half of the carcass (now with all the meat removed) and put it in the soup pot with the wing tips. Break up the remaining bones and put them in the soup pot. Add the neck, if you have it. 

Make the Duck Stock:
1 stalk of celery
1 medium carrot
1 medium onion
2 1/2 litres (10 cups) water
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 or 3 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

Wash, trim, and peel (if necessary) the vegetables, and chop them coarsely. Add them to the pot of bones. Cover the bones with the water, add the vinegar, bay leaves and pepper, and simmer for several hours; cover and return the duck pieces to fridge while this happens. You may wish to make the duck  stock the day before the duck is to be cooked. Cool the stock promptly and keep it in the fridge as well until needed, in that case.

I made my duck stock in the Instant Pot. I don't know that it was much quicker, what with the heating up and cooling down periods, but it required no attention as it cooked. I gave it 45 minutes and the results were satisfactory, although I wonder about giving it slightly longer next time - up to an hour for really strong stock.

At some point the stock must be strained, and the solids discarded - but keep any fat if you can.

Braise the Duck:
1 or 2 stalks of celery
1 medium carrot
1 medium onion
2 to 3 tablespoons duck fat OR mild vegetable oil
2 or 3 bay leaves
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Yes, this is a repeat of all the veggies put into the stock. Wash, trim, and finely chop the celery. Peel and grate the carrot. Peel and chop the onion. Put them aside for the moment.

Preheat the oven to 275°F. 

Heat 2 tablespoon of the duck fat (from the top of the stock) or vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the wings and legs and any other pieces with skin well, and put them, skin side up, in a large roasting pan with a lid when done. Add the vegetables to the skillet, with a little more fat or oil if there is not enough (unlikely; you may need to drain some off in fact), and cook them until softened and slightly reduced in volume. Spoon the vegetables in around the duck pieces, but not covering them. Add any duck pieces without skin (if you did a good job there won't be any). If you can keep the skin above the level of the stock it should stay fairly crisp and nice. 

Ladle over 4 cups of the strained duck stock. Cover the pan and put it into the oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The meat should be cooked, and moderately tender, although keep in mind that Muscovy duck will always be quite firm and almost beef-like. Raise the temperature to 400°F.

Place the duck breast pieces on top of the meat in the pan, trying to avoid putting them over the legs (to keep the skin on them crisp) and return to the oven. Roast until the breasts are crisped, brown, and medium rare; about 20 to 30 minutes.

Cover the meat loosely and let rest for 10 minutes before carving and serving.

Make Gravy:
2 to 4 tablespoons barley or other flour

If you wish to make gravy, lift the meat from the roasting pan to a large serving platter and cover it to rest there for the 10 minutes. Scrape half the broth and vegetables into a food processor, removing and discarding the bay leaves, and process with 2 tablespoons flour. This will be more than enough gravy, but I do this with the remaining half as well - it makes an excellent soup when thinned with a little more the plain stock.

Heat whatever quantity of the puréed broth you think will make sufficient gravy for your needs in a medium skillet over medium heat. Simmer, stirring regularly, until thickened; 3 or 4 minutes should be sufficient. Transfer to a gravy boat and serve.

The remainder of the puréed broth should be cooked in the same way, but after dinner is soon enough to do it; it then becomes the basis for soup along with any leftover gravy from the meal.




Last year at this time I made Barley, Wild Rice & Mushroom Pilaf. It would go extremely well with duck, just sayin'!

Posted in: Ontario Food