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1 Duck thawed in the fridge, giblets removed 1 onion peeled & cut in half or 3 shallots 2 stalks of celery, cut into 3 inch long pieces 2 teaspoons ground ginger 1/2 cup of sugar (I use brown sugar) 1/2 cup soy sauce 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup sherry 1 small bunch of watercress, trimmed and washed
1. The day before, stuff the dack with the onion and celery. Place the duck, breast up, in a large soup pot with enough water to cover half of it. Add the ginger and bring it to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat so though simmers for another hour.
2. After one hour, turn the duck over. Add the sugar, soy sauce, and salt. Continue simmering for another hour. Turn duck once again and simmer until tender until almost falling apart, about another hour. Turn off the heat and when cool enough, remove duck from pot and place in a roasting pan. Cover and refrigerate until the next day.
3. Pour the broth into a container and chill overnight. A layer of fat will form on the top. Scrape off and discard. What remains is delicious in rice and soups and can be frozen for months.
4. Before serving, bring duck to room temperature in roasting pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add the sherry and 1 cup of the defatted duck broth to the roasting pan and place in the oven. Roast uncovered for 30-45 minutes, basting occasionally with the juices in the pan. The duck is donewhen it is heated through and the skin is crisp and chestnut brown.
5. Transfer the duck to a serving platter and garnish with watercress.
Yield: Dinner for 4, with no leftovers.
For well over a decade, I've made this annually for my father's birthday. I've found that often if you simmer the duck for close to three hours it completely falls apart (especially if it's fresh duck) so I've learned to turn it every 30 -45 minutes and watch it like a hawk.
The recipe came out of the New York Times Sunday Magazine. It was written by the food editor and critic. She had fallen in love and got to the stage in the relationship when it was time to meet his parents. She had wanted to take them out to dinner so as to not put his mum on the spot given the nature of her work as she didn't want to intimidate her. The mum wanted to cook for her and the food critic was totally wowed by the mum's enormously huge, state of the art kitchen that was perfectly organized with cookware and obscure utensils from all over the world, some of which the food critic couldn't even recognize or identify. The mum served the duck with rice that had been cooked in the duck broth and she had shredded carrots and parsnips into long thin strands and steamed them with butter in a saute pan and finished them with a sprinkling of tarragon.
The food critic was totally humbled by her totally wrong pre-assumptions.
She was fairly funny about it and it was a very cute story.
It's really delicious.
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