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Last time I made a roast, I used a recipe from BBC good food. Since I have had luck with those recipes, I decided to go for their roast duck recipe.

That recipe involves cutting the whole duck in half and roasting the halves with the skin pointing up. I have never roasted a bird like that before, and I am wondering why someone would do it. Does it have to do with the flavor of the meat? Proportion of fat? I don't think I'd ever do that to a chicken because I'd be afraid the meat would go dry. But obviously the flavor of duck is different, and maybe if I know why people do that, I can use it intelligently in my cooking.

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4 Answers

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The main reason why you want to cut the duck in half and roast them with the skin side pointing upwards is so the skin of the duck is nice and crispy. Unlike most roasted poultry where you don't eat the skin, the duck's skin is considered a huge delicacy if it is crispy.

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thanks. i'am just about to put it in the oven, so i'm glad i checked here. – ixtmixilix Jan 9 '12 at 17:04
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Who doesn't eat chicken skin? It's awesome! – Chris Cudmore Jan 9 '12 at 17:34
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@Chris: For the most part, people don't eat chicken skin. Where as some people specifically order duck skin. Think Peking Duck, where it is mostly duck skin with a little bit of duck meat attached. – Jay Jan 9 '12 at 18:00
...which brings back fond memories of my meal at this place: china.org.cn/english/features/beijing/31300.htm – ixtmixilix Jan 9 '12 at 18:11
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As far as I know the not-eating-chicken-skin thing is a calorie and fat saving measure. It used to be rare in the circles I eat in and most lamented by those who felt they had to practice it. These days it seems pretty common. I split the difference by only eating the skin if it's just right. An instance of Fuzzy Pink Niven's Law. – dmckee Jan 26 '12 at 1:08
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I agree with Jay's answer that one of the reasons is because of keeping the skin crispy, but I don't agree about the difference with other types of poultry and have a bit more background info.

The root difference between duck and other poultry is that duck is much fattier, and most of that fat is stored under the skin. If you don't do anything about the fat, you'll get a bird that will be too greasy to enjoy; and also the skin won't crisp as nicely as, say, chicken skin would with similar preparation, because the skin will be soggy with the fat that's rendering underneath. There are more ways than one to get rid of the fat; a popular one is to steam the duck before you roast it, usually after sticking a fork into the skin a few times so that the rendered fat can get out easily. This seems to be a different solution to the same problem: if you cut the duck in half and put the cut side down (which is the same as putting the skin side up), the fat will have a much easier way out than if you cooked the duck whole.

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Very valid point. My answer was coming from someone who likes to eat the duck and your answer comes from someone who obviously prepared a duck in the past. Haha I fully support switching to this as the accepted answer. – Jay Jan 9 '12 at 21:43
This is definitely the right answer. There's nothing magical about duck skin compared to other poultry skin; the distinguishing characteristic of duck compared to other birds is the amount of fat! – Aaronut♦ Jan 25 '12 at 23:22
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Another reason would be that duck is reasonably high in Omega-6 oils, which you don't want to get too much of. Cutting it in half will allow more of those oils to drip out, leaving only the safe saturated and mono-unsaturated fats for more crispy skin eating enjoyment.

EDIT:

Omega-6 oils are bad for you in excess:

That's a good start :)

As for the dripping out of Omega-6, ok that may be a fantasy, but in any case, PUFA oils have a lower melting point than SAFA oils and I therefore expect them to be more mobile and relatively more drained from the remaining fat. This study does show such an effect in beef, however.

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Can you provide a reference for your claims that (a) Omega-6 oils can cause health problems in high quantities and (b) that Omega-6 oils are more likely to "drip out" than saturated or monounsaturated fat? We try to stay away from health-related topics in general here, but if you are going to make such a claim as a potentially relevant answer, it is important that they be properly substantiated and explained in the correct context. – Aaronut♦ Jan 11 '12 at 21:42
I'm not seeing how most of these links are relevant to your first claim and certainly not to your second claim. Yes, it's theorized that there is an optimal balance of Omega 6 to Omega 3 fatty acids as far as long-term dietary requirements are concerned. No, that doesn't mean eating a few ducks is going to throw it all out of whack. And the polyunsaturated group contains both Omega-3 and Omega-6 (and more) types, so I'm completely lost on why you included those links, and the ones about corn oil (duck = corn?). – Aaronut♦ Jan 25 '12 at 23:27
And this answer is still making claims that are downright wrong, not just scientifically unsound. It's saturated and trans fats that have a higher melting point than either poly- or mono-unsaturated. I cannot conceive of a situation where heat would reduce the amount of polyunsaturated but not monounsaturated fat. – Aaronut♦ Jan 25 '12 at 23:30
Duck fat is 12% O6 and 1% O3 so that's a 12:1 balance which is greater than the 4:1 to 1:1 balance that's being proposed as healhty. – w00t Jan 26 '12 at 10:59
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Do you realize that dietary requirements are over a long term, they don't need to be met precisely for every single meal or even every day? And why would this particular cooking technique change the balance when both O3 and O6 are polyunsaturated? – Aaronut♦ Jan 26 '12 at 11:34
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I routinely butterfly most poultry before roasting, not just duck. The biggest reason I have is the bird cooks faster and more evenly without the cavity. Since it cooks faster, there is less moisture loss. I also get the backbone to save for stock.

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