DUCK: A BLACK FRIDAY TRADITION

I am not a fan of white meat, and I find turkey basically tasteless. So, Thanksgiving was always something of an overblown holiday, for me. Yes, time with family and friends is fun. And, after meeting my wife, it was a pleasant day of drinking, smoking and playing poker; but, gastronomically, it left me kind of flat.

So, a few years ago, I began an annual Black Friday tradition of preparing a duck. Each year, the recipe is different. This year was the absolute best, to date. If my wife is to believed, she has not had better duck "even at a restaurant". Dining in New Jersey and New York, high praise, indeed.

So, how did I prepare this year's bird, you ask? Well, firstly, I bought a duck. A single duckling is anywhere between 3 and 5 pounds. I accidentally bought a kosher duck. I am not sure if this has anything to do with it, but it was not defeathered all that well. I pulled as many of the quills out as possible. Fortunately, after cooking, it was not a problem. This bird was cooked, at 300 degrees, for four hours. Every hour, it was flipped over. After this slow treatment, I raised the heat to 400, and cooked each side for four minutes. This method cooked out a lot of the fat, and gave the skin a crispy finish. The skin was rubbed with a mixture of 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, half a teaspoon of turmeric, 2 teaspoons of garam masala, half a teaspoon of sea salt, and black pepper mixed 3 tablespoons of melted ghee. Obviously, this is an Indian recipe.

The duck came out wonderfully! One word of warning, however. The odor of duck fat can be very nauseating. Luckily, it was warm outside, so we opened the doors and windows.