Holiday's are Time For Roasting

Many anglers pursue duck hunting in the late fall. Here's some advice for cooking your "catch". First things first, this is not a quickie on the grill. You'll be roasting the duck for a total of 3 hours at 350 F. These 3 hours of roasting are divided into 4 distinct time chunks:

1. Roast the duck for 1 hour at 350 F, breast side up, then remove the duck from the oven, Then, flip the duck breast side down, and roast for 40 minutes at 350 F breast side down.

2. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar with freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon. Set the duck breast side up again on the roasting rack in the roasting pan. Brush all of the duck with the balsamic mixture (especially the scored duck breast) and cook the duck breast side up for another 40 minutes at 350 F, brushing every 10 minutes with the mixture.

3. In a separate small bowl, combine 1/4 cup honey and 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar lemon mixture that you will have left over from the previous step. Brush the breast side of the duck with this honey-balsamic mixture, and roast the duck breast side up for another 40 minutes, brushing the duck breast side every 10 minutes with honey balsamic mixture.

4. You can even carefully broil the duck for the last 10-15 minutes if you like (do it carefully, checking the duck regularly to make sure it doesn’t char too much). In the end, the duck should be nicely browned with crispy skin like that (By now you would’ve cooked the duck for 3 hours at 350 F.

If you want a really beautiful and tasty fall presentation for your duck, serve with Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Butternut Squash glazed with Cinnamon & Maple Syrup, Pecans & Cranberries.