Ducky dinners

How is one supposed to diet when there are so many delicious things to eat in a lifetime?  I had to starve myself all day yesterday so that I could indulge in the divine pleasure of duck-skin-eating last night.

Ged-the-lovely-husband is the man who taught me how to cook a decent duck.

Pre heat oven to Gas 7, 220C.
Pour boiling water over duck to shrink the skin.
When dry, rub with sunflower oil then cover with sea salt.  Put it on a trivet over a deep roasting pan.
Pop it in the oven until the skin starts bubbling up and                                                                     browning –  about 20 mins – then turn it right down to No 3, 170C for a good couple of hours.

When you pull at the leg it should come away like a confit leg and the skin should be super-crispy with no white fat left beneath it.  It can sit out of the oven while you whack up the heat and roast the potatoes in the duck fat while making a gravy with the stock.  Yum yum.

In EATING MY WORDS I make Peking duck for the arms dealer and his family.  It was not a total success and involved a very grumpy maid with a hair-dryer, a paint brush and a bucket of ducky marinade.  Best left to the Chinese methinks.