Making the Most of Roast Duck

Because duck is so fatty, you need to make a special effort to eliminate some of the fat. This is easy enough if you're pan-roasting breasts or cooking just the legs. It is far more tricky, though, when roasting a whole duck. The best way I know to do it is to simmer the whole duck after poking holes in the skin to allow the fat to escape as it melts. You'll need a large stockpot, and it's a two-part process, but the two parts result in that most luscious of lipids (duck fat) and a wonderful broth you can use for cooking beans or making soup. Serve the breasts for the special meal, add the potatoes below, and then check out the other ways of using the legs creatively.

It's worth cooking a duck just to get the duck fat needed to make duck-roasted potatoes. Potatoes and fat/oil are natural complements whether it's mashed potatoes with butter, boiled potatoes with olive oil and parmesan, or French fries. But the ultimate combination of potatoes and fat is potatoes roasted in duck fat. Wonderfully rich, deeply flavored, and delightfully creamy, these are so good they'd persuade a saint to give up his vows.

You don't actually have to include any duck meat in this recipe - the broth alone raises it to the level of nirvana. But if you roasted a whole duck (required for making stock anyway) you might have a spare leg you can cut up and toss into the mix. When I roast a duck for Thanksgiving, this soup is my standard meal on Friday. And if you really want to go overboard, serve it with the grilled cheese sandwiches below.

So if you serve the two breasts for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, then you have two leftover legs. The Duck and Lentil Ragu uses one and has a decidedly Mediterranean aspect. This recipe uses the other leg in an Asian recipe. I toss frozen peas and dried mushrooms into the mixture then add a bit of fish sauce to the stock and stir in plum sauce just before serving.

I wasn't kidding about a grilled cheese with duck. No real recipe, but allow some duck fat to warm to room temperature. Smear on bread as you would butter then salt lightly. Grill fat side down with your favorite grilled-cheese cheese. Finger licking is optional but recommended.