Duck

If you've been following me for a while, you know that over this past year, I've tried taking on some new cooking challenges. One of them that really pushes me out of my comfort zone is meat, and over the holidays, I roasted both a heritage turkey and a goose. Shortly afterwards, I came across the recipe (link below) in the holiday entertaining issue of Fine Cooking magazine. Finally, in Spring, (ironically the day that we saw the first baby ducklings at a walk around Green Lake) I got around to actually making these Roasted Duck [Hindquarters] with Tangerine-Hoisin Glaze.

Because there are only two of us, I bought duck hindquarters - which is what is pictured in the recipe photo. I scaled back the recipe by about 1/4 (made extra glaze, but it's so delicious I will use it on something else, and used all the rub - in fact, if I was making the recipe as directed, I might have run out of rub!) The only thing that needed to be adjusted was the baking time; 30 minutes per side at 350 (1 hour total), then broil as directed.

I was really impressed with how delicious this was! The flavors of the rub and the glaze truly complement the rich, dark duck meat. I was especially surprised by how crispy and incredibly tasty the skin became. I know a lot of people (well, mostly my grandmothers) who love the skin on the roast turkey or chicken, but the thought of it to me is pretty distasteful. This was the first time I honestly had a glimpse of how crackly and delicious the skin can become under the right baking conditions. The glaze is very sweet, but perfectly balanced.

For the two of us, I served this with a baked sweet potato (I love a dash of five-spice powder on sweet potatoes, so thought it would go perfectly with the spice rub in this dish) and a green salad. I would absolutely serve this to company, and as so often is true with roasting, so much can be prepared in advance, and then placed in the oven while you await your guests.