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Susan Jung

Home chefs can find the prospect of a duck dish intimidating given the bird's tendency to splatter hot

fat as it cooks.  But presenting a whole roast duck to your guests never fails to impress,  especially when the skin is crackling-crisp and the meat succulent. For different (but just as tasty) results, duck can be cut into pieces and prepared in a wide variety of ways.

Roast duck (pictured)

Start preparing this a day ahead so the skin has time to dry.

1 whole fresh duck, about 2.5kg

Soy sauce, as needed

1 orange, quartered

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces

1 star anise, broken into pieces

Chop off the duck's neck as close to the body as possible and remove the feet, wing tips and middle-wing joints.

Pull the innards and clumps of fat from the cavity. Pat the duck dry with paper towels, put on a rack over a pan  and refrigerate, uncovered, for 12 to 18 hours, turning once to allow the skin to dry evenly.

Remove the duck from the fridge about two hours before cooking. Rub inside and out  lightly but evenly with soy sauce and sprinkle with black pepper. Stuff the cavity with the orange, cinnamon and star anise.

Tie  the legs together with twine. Allow to dry at room temperature, preferably in front of a fan, for two hours. Use a sharp fork to poke small holes  in the skin of the  breast, trying not to cut into the meat.

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Place the duck, breast-side up, on a rack in a 6cm-deep  roasting pan.  Cook for 1? hours. Remove the duck from the oven and increase the heat to 200 degrees. Pour off the fat that's accumulated in the bottom of the pan then roast the duck, turning over once, until the skin is crackling crisp. Remove from the oven and allow to rest breast-side up for about 15 minutes before carving.

For the following recipes, separate the duck into legs, fat and skin for one preparation, breasts for another, and the carcass, feet and wings for stock.

Rillettes or confit

It's essential the rillettes/confit poach in fat at a low temperature so the fat bubbles only intermittently. If

your cooker flame doesn't go very low, use a heat diffuser or cook at 90 degrees in the oven.

2 whole duck legs, plus the neck and any skin and fat taken from the carcass (except for the  tail)

? tsp fine sea salt, plus extra if needed (for rillettes) or ? tsp salt, if making confit

3 black peppercorns, lightly crushed in a mortar

3-4 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed

1 can of goose fat, or as needed

Optional seasonings:

A couple of juniper berries or cloves (lightly crushed in a mortar), a sprig of thyme, a bay leaf

Dry the duck legs with paper towels.  Massage the salt, peppercorns, garlic and optional seasonings into the meat and skin. If making confit, cover and refrigerate for 12 hours, then rinse off the seasonings before putting into a heavy casserole (preferably enamelled cast iron) with 50ml of water. If making rillettes, there's no need to marinate overnight - just put the legs and seasonings into the casserole with the water. For both preparations, add  the neck, skin and duck fat, then pour in enough goose fat to completely submerge the ingredients. Place over a very low flame, cover with the lid and heat until the fat is hot. Remove the lid and  cook on  gentle heat, occasionally lifting the meat to ensure it's not sticking to the pan.  Cook until the meat is extremely tender: five to eight hours.

For rillettes, remove the legs from the fat.  Remove all the fat and skin while the duck is warm and set aside, and discard the bones.  Pound the meat with a wooden spoon until  it breaks down into fine fibres. Taste the meat and season with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt if needed. Mix the shredded meat with some of the warm fat used to cook the rillettes - don't  be stingy  or they will be dry (the fat should be spreadable, like softened butter). Pack the rillettes into ramekins, smooth the surface then pour fat over to  cover the meat. Chill in the fridge until the layer of fat has hardened then envelop the ramekins in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Serve  on crusty bread.

If making confit, transfer the whole legs to a heat-proof container that fits them snugly. Add enough warm fat to  submerge the legs. When cool, cover the container and refrigerate. To serve, allow to come to room temperature then remove the legs from the fat and pan-fry until the skin is crisp.

For crackling: remove the skin from the neck and turn it inside out. Pull off and discard the small bean-shaped glands. Put all the skin (including that removed from the duck legs, if you made rillettes) in a small pan and add about 45ml of melted duck fat. Cook over a medium heat, stirring frequently, until the pieces are brown and crisp. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with sea salt.

For the breasts: use a knife to score the skin in a criss-cross pattern. Sprinkle the skin and meat with salt and pepper and massage in. Heat a grill-pan or skillet and when very hot, put in the breasts skin-side down. When the skin is seared, turn the breasts over and sear the other side, then turn the breasts over  once more. Cover the pan,  lower the heat and cook the breasts until done: about 10 minutes  for rare. Allow the breasts to rest skin-side up for about 10 minutes before slicing.

The carcass: roast in a 200-degree oven with an onion (cut in thick slices), a chopped celery stalk and a carrot.

When the carcass is well browned, put it and the vegetables into a stockpot, cover with water and bring to the boil. Lower heat, simmer for several hours, then strain and use for soup.

The rendered fat: if the rillettes/confit were cooked correctly, the fat will be clear and yellow, not brown. After using what you need to cover the rillettes/confit, ladle the excess fat into clean jars, taking care to leave behind the brown juices on the bottom of the pan. Store in the fridge.  The fat can be re-used for rilletes/confit several times, until it tastes too salty. It's also delicious for sauteeing vegetables and roasting potatoes.

Styling Rachael Macchiesi



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