Duck In The Mud Recipes

ROASTED DUCK

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Rub salt, pepper, and paprika into the skin of the duck. Place in a roasting pan.
• Roast duck in preheated oven for 1 hour. Spoon 1/4 cup melted butter over bird, and continue cooking for 45 more minutes. Spoon remaining 1/4 cup melted butter over duck, and cook for 15 more minutes, or until golden brown.

DUCK IN THE MUD

Steps:

• Make your breakfast campfire nice and hot. You have, of course, built your fire in a safe, deepish hollow. Get the clay mud from nearby (loam or sand doesn't work) and have it ready. Cook and eat your breakfast. Wash your hands.
• You've already cleaned your duck, getting rid of the offal, so that's done. Wipe the inside out well with a clean cloth, first, then do the outside, too (you don't want stuff in your food).
• Rub the inside of the duck thoroughly with salt and a bit of pepper.
• Clean the apple and onion. Stuff them both inside the duck's cavity.
• Fold the feathers to cover all the openings in the duck, then plaster the entire bird with the clay mud until it's about 1 inch thick.
• Place the duck in the ashes in the campfire pit and cover it well with some coals and a generous amount of wood (but don't get carried away).
• Make sure the campfire is safely away from everything flammable, safely banked. (If you have someone staying back at camp, that works, too.) Then go fishing or hunting for the day.
• When you come back for dinner, dig the duck out of the ashes (it should still be hot) and break off the hardened clay. The feathers will come off with the mud.
• Pull off any remaining feathers, and eat your delicious duck!

ROAST DUCK

Steps:

• Unwrap the ducks and allow them to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. With a fork, prick the skin without piercing the meat. This will allow the fat to drain off while the ducks cook.
• Meanwhile, in a very large stock pot which can hold the 2 ducks, heat the chicken broth with 1 tablespoon of kosher salt until it boils. Add the ducks very carefully and bring the stock back to a boil. If there isn't enough stock to cover the ducks, add the hottest tap water to cover. If the ducks float to the top, place a plate on top to keep them immersed. When the stock comes back to a boil, lower the heat and simmer the ducks in the stock for 45 minutes.
• When the ducks are finished simmering, skim off enough duck fat from the top of the stock to pour a film on the bottom of a 14 by 18 by 3-inch roasting pan. This will keep the ducks from sticking when they roast. Carefully take the ducks out of the stock, holding them over the pot to drain. Place them in the roasting pan, pat the skin dry with paper towels, and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt and the pepper. If you have time, allow the ducks to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the skin to dry.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. (Be sure your oven is very clean or it will smoke!) Roast the ducks for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow them to rest, covered with aluminum foil, for 20 minutes. Serve warm.

ROAST DUCK

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
• Trim duck of all visible fat. Using a fork, prick the skin all over without piercing the meat; season with salt and pepper. Place duck on a rack set in a roasting pan and transfer to oven; roast for 40 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 degrees and continue roasting until juices run clear when thigh is pierced, about 30 minutes more. Remove from oven and let cool.
• Reserve any duck fat from roasting pan. Store in an airtight container, refrigerated, up to 2 weeks. Remove skin from duck and discard. Remove meat from bones; discard bones. Shred meat and serve or store in an airtight container, refrigerated, up to 3 days.