Greasy Chicken

Paul and I do a lot of our grocery shopping at Aldi. It takes some getting used to, certainly (taking our own bags, not using a cart, precious few name brands, etc.), but the deals they have on a lot of things make it worth the trip. It helps that there is one just down the street from our apartment. Anyway, on our last trip there, we looked in the meat case, just on a lark (we don't usually get meat there -- I don't trust them that much). They had a special on 5-lb whole ducks. Paul made a joke about getting one, and I took it as a challenge. I enjoy the learning process that comes with cooking new things, so we got a duck and I googled how to cook it.

I ruled out a lot of recipes I found immediately, because I can't stand sweet sauces on my meat, and so many of them called for an orange glaze. Blech! I found one that came highly-recommended on allrecipes.com, though, that used a spice rub, so I decided to go with that one. It called for only salt, pepper, and paprika. I used those plus some garlic powder (because garlic makes everything better). I mixed the spices together and rubbed them into the skin, and then I roasted the bird at 375. Once it had been in the oven for an hour, I basted it with a little bit of butter and some of the pan drippings. I put it back in for another 45 minutes, then basted it again (just pan drippings this time), and roasted it for another 15 minutes.

The finished product had wonderfully crisp skin and tender, flavorful meat. It was extraordinarily difficult to carve, though. Duck physiology is apparently just different enough from that of chickens or turkeys to make carving them radically different endeavors. I also had some difficulty with the cooking time, as the meat at the thickest part of the thigh was registering 180 degrees and the juices were all running clear, but we still discovered a spot in the middle of the breast that was undercooked (it was easy enough to throw it back in the oven, but I was frustrated that it didn't cook more evenly).

All in all, I enjoyed the duck and was proud of myself for doing something new, but I think we'll probably not have it again (except in a restaurant) for quite some time. It just was not good enough to put up with quite that much hassle.