Roast Duck with Oyster Dressing

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First, in response to Sophie, the recipe does indeed match with the episode. 3 tsp per pound of duck x 5 pound duck = 15 teaspoons, or 5 tbsp... 3 tbsp is 1/4 cup, so 5 tbsp would be around 1/3 cup total. The recipe was worded oddly for sure, but the math works out.

Prepared this last night, and two duck-avoiders said it was the best they'd had. The skin was pretty salty, but very crispy and delicious, and the meat was quite good as well. I might try using a little less salt next time and give it 4 days instead of the 3 I gave it, as there was still some moisture on the skin. But a very successful first try.

No on to duck soup with the leftovers!

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I remember it had cardamon and looked tasty....does anyone remember?
Penny

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Duck is one of those foods which I keep trying to really master. I've tried most approaches to duck in order to get that perfect balance of moist flesh and crispy skin. I heard Alton Brown talk about this recipe on a Christmas special so, trusting him and FN, gave it a try with two ducks and an important meal. Huge mistake ... even thought I reduced the salt by 1/3 and carefully removed any excess before cooking, the duck was incredibly, inedibly salty. I was embarrassed to serve it. While the roasting technique resulted in crispy skin, the textures were not as good as I can get with a more traditional steam-then-roast technique. What a waste of four days and 12 pounds of duck. FN should test their recipes before putting them on TV as if they know what they are talking about.

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I agree with Alton that the crispy skin on this duck is wonderful and rivals the love I feel for chocolate chip cookies (he mentions this is how he feels about crispy duck skin in the episode!.

What was not so great was the duck meat itself. It was just OK and a little bland. I've cooked duck breasts to medium rare in a skillet and had them come out fantastic tasting.

The good thing it's not a lot of work and I have lots of leftovers to make cassoulet later this week.

The recipe posted online is different from the air episode in a major way - on air the amount of salt is 1 tablespoon per pound of duck, online it's listed at 3 teaspoons or 1/3 cup (obviously 3 tsp is not 1/3 cup.

Also, my duck required significantly more cooking time than 1 hour to come to the specified temperature - nearly a full additional 20 minutes and it was only only a 5lb duck

I did not make the oyster dressing and can't comment on that aspect.