theclaud
Reading around the chip
If you don't mind me getting all 'Chez Casa Reynard' on your asses for a minute, I am canvassing forum opinion on cooking methods for my latest yellow-stickering bargain.
I've got a duck from Marks n Sparks, so I'm going to have a roast dinner tomorrow. Thing is, it comes in a bag, and this bag reckons you should chuck it in the oven as is, and just cut it open for 10 minutes at the end to crisp it up. I'll park the question of weird oven-proof plastics for the moment and concentrate on the culinary questions. I am of course familiar with the idea of roasting bags, and I can see how they might mitigate against two equally appalling British habits - drying out chicken to a husk, and spraying Campylobacter all over your kitchen - however ducks are a different kettle of fish (if you see what I mean). Less likely to give you food poisoning, more forgiving of overcooking, and more likely to be enhanced by processes completely unnecessary when dealing with chicken - washing, blanching and so on. Plus the bag eliminates any pre-roast seasoning or flavouring options, or the cooking of potatoes or veg with the bird. On the other hand, I'm quite intrigued to see how the bag thing turns out, and I note that it's a Mallard X, which has presumably been selected to produce a leaner bird, which would be more inclined to dry out if I chuck the bag away.
Should I stick with the bag/instructions, risking a disappointing dinner designed by food hygienists and nutritionist weirdos, but being open to being pleasantly surprised by a well-designed result, or lose the bag and produce a roast dinner by one of the more traditional means derived from cuisines with hundreds of years of wisdom and expertise in producing tasty duck dishes?
Expertise, results from experience, idle pontification, and ignorant conviction equally welcome, obvs. There's a poll.
I've got a duck from Marks n Sparks, so I'm going to have a roast dinner tomorrow. Thing is, it comes in a bag, and this bag reckons you should chuck it in the oven as is, and just cut it open for 10 minutes at the end to crisp it up. I'll park the question of weird oven-proof plastics for the moment and concentrate on the culinary questions. I am of course familiar with the idea of roasting bags, and I can see how they might mitigate against two equally appalling British habits - drying out chicken to a husk, and spraying Campylobacter all over your kitchen - however ducks are a different kettle of fish (if you see what I mean). Less likely to give you food poisoning, more forgiving of overcooking, and more likely to be enhanced by processes completely unnecessary when dealing with chicken - washing, blanching and so on. Plus the bag eliminates any pre-roast seasoning or flavouring options, or the cooking of potatoes or veg with the bird. On the other hand, I'm quite intrigued to see how the bag thing turns out, and I note that it's a Mallard X, which has presumably been selected to produce a leaner bird, which would be more inclined to dry out if I chuck the bag away.
Should I stick with the bag/instructions, risking a disappointing dinner designed by food hygienists and nutritionist weirdos, but being open to being pleasantly surprised by a well-designed result, or lose the bag and produce a roast dinner by one of the more traditional means derived from cuisines with hundreds of years of wisdom and expertise in producing tasty duck dishes?
Expertise, results from experience, idle pontification, and ignorant conviction equally welcome, obvs. There's a poll.