Not Healthy: Duck Stock

Every Valentine's Day I cook duck for my wife and I. It started with just duck breasts but I realized I could buy an entire duck for slightly more than what I was paying for duck breasts. Granted, the breasts coming off the whole bird are slightly smaller than the plump breasts I was buying but I end up with a much larger amount of delicious meat. Since I ended up with a pile of bones at the end of the meal, I decided the duck was too delicious to just toss the bones. I wanted to make stock for future use.

Stock is really easy to make. It's probably the easiest thing you can make. It's just boiling water, bones, herbs and vegetables (optional). It doesn't require a specific recipe and it's very flexible. Duck stock is no different. The only thing you have to worry about with duck stock over say chicken or turkey stock is duck is a fatty meat and no matter how much skin and fat you remove from the carcass the stock always ends up with a thick layer of fat. No matter how much fat I skim off I always end up with extra fat in the stock. So it's not the healthiest stock out there but it is the most delicious.

Below is my really easy recipe. Most stock recipes call for using vegetables. You can add cut up onion, carrots, celery and other root vegetables if you want. I don't think it's necessary. If you plan on using the stock for soup, you're going to get those vegetable flavors from the vegetables in your soup. If you plan on using it for other reasons, you may not want the vegetables. So I don't use any myself.

Ingredients:

One duck carcass with as much skin and fat removed as possible (hopefully you have removed the meat for dinner or left overs)
Water
Salt
Pepper
4-5 tbsp of herbs (I prefer thyme, sage and oregano, but you could use bay leaf, rosemary, peppercorns, etc.)

Equipement:

Slotted spoon
Stove
Large pot with lid (I use a 1.5 gallon stock pot)
Wire mesh strainer (optional)

Step 1: Fill your pot 1/2 with water. Add the carcass. You can break it up if you need to but I would try to avoid small splinters of bone. If the pot can support more water, add more water, leaving 2-3 inches from the top.

Step 2: Add the pot to the stove burner and turn the heat to high. Add your herbs, salt and pepper. Add a pinch of salt. As the stock concentrates you don't want it to be too salty so start small. You also don't want it too peppery so start with a half teaspoon.

Step 3: Once the stock reaches boil, turn the heat down to medium-low. You don't want it to simmer too gently because I find a slight rolling boil helps soften the bones and release the collagen that adds body to the stock (which is why you don't need to add celery for body).

Step 4: Let it boil down for 1-2 hours (or more). You may need to adjust down the heat as it concentrates. You want it to have a good chicken soup-like color and not taste watery. If I start with a gallon of water I usually try to boil down to half a gallon but I let taste make the decision. Periodically you will want to skim off the layer of fat on the top. Try not to scoop up the herbs if you can.

Step 5: Once you decide it has boiled down enough, really try to get the layer of fat skimmed out. Remove from the heat. I pour it through a wire mesh strainer to capture any small bones and herbs. I pour it into a tupperware container and put it in the freezer. You may want to freeze it in smaller containers where you can use it in smaller amounts. You really don't want to have to thaw half a gallon, scoop part out and then refreeze.

After it freezes, you will probably see a thick layer of fat on the top. You can scoop most of that off while it is frozen with a regular metal spoon. You have to do this while it's frozen because it's a lot easier to scoop out solid fat than try to capture it when the stock thaws. I don't like the stock to stay fatty so I scoop it off before using the stock. Another option for you is to scoop off the fat to use in place of butter in recipes. It adds richness to food that butter doesn't. It's particularly good in mashed potatoes. Just keep in mind that it is fat and adds calories to your food. You can scoop off the frozen fat and dethaw it for a few seconds in the microwave or add it to a hot dish and it will melt easily. If you don't like that idea just discard the fat.

Duck stock is good for a lot of purposes. It makes great soups and classes up a chicken soup with deeper flavor. It's best use, in my opinion, is in risotto. Instead of using chicken stock, I always whip out the duck stock. It makes risotto infinitely better. Since you usually can't buy duck stock at the store it will make your risotto something special.