Categories: Poultry- Duck

Ingredients

• Peking (Long Island) duck
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp. chopped garlic
• 1 small handful thyme sprigs

Directions

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

2. Cut the wing tips off the duck. Likewise, remove the giblets, save these and the tips for another use, like stock, if desired.

3. Dry the duck well with paper towels. Remove any excess yellow fat from the two cavities. Rub the large cavity with salt and pepper and garlic, and put the thyme inside. With a small, sharp paring knife, make dozens of slits all over the duck, piercing the skin and fat but being careful not to pierce the flesh. The easiest way to do this is to insert the knife on the diagonal, not straight in.

4. Put the duck breast-side up on a rack (a wire cake rack is fine) set on a jelly roll pan, and put it in the oven. Every hour for 4 hours, take the pan out of the oven, pierce the duck all over with the knife, and turn it over. Each time, pour off the fat in the pan. (Save the fat, if you like, for another use, like making fried potatoes. Keep it covered and refrigerated, or freeze it.)

5. After 4 hours, increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Sprinkle the duck with salt and pepper, and cook for about 1 hour longer, or until the skin is crisp and browned. Let rest for 20 minutes before serving.

6. Variations: For Chinese Duck, put peeled, chopped, fresh ginger in the cavity and brush the duck during the last hour of cooking with a

7. mixture of hoisin sauce, toasted sesame oil and a little honey.

8. For Thai duck, put chopped fresh lemongrass, fresh cilantro and garlic in the cavity and brush during the last hour with a mix of Thai curry paste, unsweetened coconut milk and lime juice.

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