Ducks
Birds
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Facts & Comparison
to Chicken
- Size: While chickens come in a wide range of sizes for
different purposes, ducks are nearly all sold between 4 and 5-1/2 pounds.
This is, however, a convenient size for most recipes.
- Fat: Ducks carry a very large amount of fat compared to
chickens, but unlike chicken nearly all the fat is firmly attached to
the skin and comes off with it. On the plus side, duck fat is considered
one of the finest cooking fats, so render it all out for cooking.
Caution: duck fat will turn rancid fairly quickly even if
frozen, so do not keep frozen duck or duck fat more than a couple
months.
- Meat: It's all dark meat - there's no pale dry
cardboard-like breast meat like on chicken. The meat is also
relatively tough, making for longer cooking times, and it's relatively
oily, so you don't have to worry about it drying out - but you may
have to skim fat out of recipes.
- Breast: Duck breasts are wide and flat, and not nearly
as thick as chicken. The breastbone is very wide and has only a low
keel. The skin over the breasts has a very thick layer of fat. Breasts
are almost always used skin-on, the fat becoming part of the recipe.
Breasts are very scarce in markets because almost all are sold to the
restaurant trade. You'll usually have to buy a whole duck and have a
plan to use the rest of the bird.
- Legs & Thighs: Duck legs are shorter than chicken
legs and the thighs aren't large enough to sell as a separate product,
so they're packaged together. They are harder to skin than chicken
because the skin doesn't just peel off, you have to carefully cut it
off, and they're harder to disjoint.
- Wings: These are similar to chicken wings but larger
and with a deeper flavor. The tip joint is longer and without meat so
it's used for making stock.
- Skin: It's relatively tough compared to chicken skin
and remains a bit chewy if fried or roasted. It has a relatively thick
layer of fat under it, particularly at the breasts, but almost none on
wings and legs. It adheres much more strongly than chicken skin so has
to be carefully cut away with a sharp knife rather than just being
pulled off.
- Giblets: Neck, gizzard, heart and liver should be
included in any whole duck, but don't count on it - what you actually
get can be pretty random - and there may be some unexpected parts in
there too. Duck gizzards differ in both flavor and texture from chicken
gizzards and are highly prized in France and Asia. They can be
purchased in trays in Asian markets - see our
Duck Gizzard page for details.
Duck livers are prized by chefs and food processors for making
pâtés so are very scarce in the markets. Necks are also
sold separately in trays and are excellent for making duck soup stock.
- Bones & Cartilage: Duck bones are very hard, they
practically ring if you drop them on a hard surface. There is very
little cartilage even in the joints.
- Oil Gland: Ducks have an oil gland at the top of the
tail which has a bad flavor. Commercial ducks have this removed but if
you're doing your own duck be sure to cut it off thoroughly.
- Cooking Time: Duck meat takes a much longer cooking
time than chicken - for thin slices of meat an hour. For whole wing
joints, about 2 hours at a slow simmer, 2-1/2 hours for legs.
- Stock: Duck bones and offcuts make an excellent
flavorful stock, but it won't be as clear as chicken stock. You need
to simmer duck a whole lot longer - use beef timing rather than chicken
timing. In Asian markets you can often find trays of duck necks which
make excellent stock.
Yields
Weights given are for raw meat. After simmering to tenderness meat will
be about 58% of the raw weight, which is a little lower than for
chicken. The lost weight becomes part of, and flavors, the cooking liquid.
Whole Duck
| Breast | Leg/Thigh |
Wings | Liver | Gizzard | Neck |
Duck 4.7# | 13.6 oz | 15.9 oz |
7.3 oz | 1.5 oz | 2.1 oz | 4.5 oz |
Duck Meat
| Breast Meat | Leg/Thigh Meat |
Total Meat | Skin & Fat | Rendered Fat |
Duck 4.5# | 9.2 oz - 15% | 7.2 oz - 11% |
18.3 oz - 29% | 23.8 oz - 37% | 13.3 oz - 21% |
Leg & Thigh - as sold in trays
| Whole | Skinless | Meat Only |
Skin & Fat | Rendered Fat |
Leg/Thigh | 8.5 oz | 6.3 oz - 74% |
4.5 - 53% | 2.3 oz - 27% | 1.1 oz - 13% |
Breast - as cut from 4-1/2 # duck
| Whole | Skinless | Meat Only |
Skin & Fat | Rendered Fat |
Breast | 13.6 oz | 9.1 oz - 67% |
9.1 oz - 67% | 4.5 oz - 33% | 2.52 oz - 18% |
Notes & Safety
Thawing: Yes, all the books, recipes, cooking
articles and "experts" scream "Never Do This!" but
even the rabid bacteriophobes at the USDA (U.S. Department of
Agriculture) say it's OK. Actual research has proven a cool countertop
or cold running water thaw is less risky (on multiple counts) than
thawing in the refrigerator, and far easier to time. The "Never Do
This" recommendation is based on an FDA decree that has no research
whatever to support it. If you find you just won't be ready by time
it's thawed, put it back in the fridge before it is completely
thawed - and make sure it can't contact or drip on anything else.
Final Temperature: Yes your thermometers and many of
your books and recipes say fowl must go to 180°F/82°C - based
on an FDA recommendation. That recommendation was reviewed in 2006 and
the FDA could find no supporting data whatever, not even scribbled
notes, to support the ruinous 180°F recommendation, and now agrees
with the USDA that 165°F/74°C is perfectly safe.
Hot Oil: Be prepared to handle dangerous quantities
of very hot oil. The roasting pan must always be handled with great
care lest it spill. Safe and proper basting tools should be used.
Temperature: Observe cooking temperatures given
above and take them seriously. Harmful bacteria multiply very rapidly
at temperatures between 40°F and 140°F, a range your duck
will be in for most of the cooking time. The 165°F/74°C will
assure all bacteria are dead.
Contact: Do not let an uncooked duck come in contact
with or drip on any other food, inside the refrigerator or out.
Handling: When handling an uncooked duck, do not
handle any other food until you have cleaned up all surfaces, tools
and your hands, preferably using a little bleach or a mildly
disinfecting cleanser.
Leftovers The USDA recommends that leftovers should
be in the refrigerator within 2 hours of coming out of the oven. In
general, that's just not going to happen, but try to keep close. If
there are large amounts store in multiple smaller batches so the
temperature will drop quickly.
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