MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05
 
      Title: Xxcarol's Simply Ducky
 Categories: Xxcarol, Duck
      Yield: 10 Servings
 
      1 ea Whole dressed Duck, 7lbs
    1/3 c  Jufran brand banana sauce
    1/3 c  Thai 'Hot-Sweet' sauce
    1/4 c  Datu Puti brand soy sauce
      1 ea Large white onion, 'sweet'
 
  I've been wanting to cook a Duck since I was in college but my skills
  at the start when I moved out from home were not up to that and the
  price was beyond college student means.  For years though it's been
  in the back of my mind as a 'wanna try that'.
  
  About 3 weeks ago in the cooking echo, I saw a lovely recipe and
  mentioned that Duck is pretty hard to find here but I kept it in
  mind. A week later, one of the rare times when they have Duck at the
  commisary occured and I got one.  It's a touch over 7 lbs.  It sat in
  the freezer while we contemplated recipes.  My initial intentions
  were to put it in the rotisserie with a dry rub but it turned out to
  not fit my unit, being about 3 inches too long.
  
  Next I went to plan 'B' which was to line my biggest baking pan with
  opened cans as I didnt have a rack to raise it out of the grease with
  here and Duck I was told is a very greasy meat.  I was all setup to
  do it that way when Don went to the exchange and got me a mother's
  day gift of a real covered unit (pyrex bottom, metal lifting rack,
  metal lid) that just perfectly fit the duck.  Yippiee!
  
  After perusing many recipes, we settled on a simple adaption.  I
  normally try a new food the first time, in a simpler cooking style.
  Having not even tasted restraunt Duck in 10 years, I had little
  memory so was going on other's experience and what they used.  I
  decided pre-steaming was probably a good idea but a bit too much for
  a first time duck experiment.
  
  Using ideas from many other recipes, we settled on a simple way using
  things I have here and didnt have to go out shopping for.  The Datu
  Puti brand soy sauce is considerably lower-sodium than Kikkoman Lite
  and tastes much better.  In fact, all their line of sauces are lower
  sodium but none are marked 'low sodium'.  I've found all of them to
  be excellent. I also find all the Jufran brand products to be lower
  sodium and extremely tastey, so the 'hot-sweet' sauce here was Jufran
  brand as well.
  
  Mix the 3 sauces in a plastic bowl and let sit while washing the duck
  out. I set the duck in a suspended strainer that has adjustable sides
  and sits at the top of the sink.  It seemed 'drying the duck' was
  used in almost every recipe so I let it dry for 1 hour.
  
  Once ready, I heated the oven to 425F then slathered the sauce on all
  sides and cooked it with the lid on the roaster, for 30 mins 'breast
  up'. I cut the onion in 1/2 and stuffed the cavity with that.
  
  I then reduced the heat to 375F and flipped it over, re-saucing it
  well on all sides then baking another 30 mins.  I raised the temp to
  425F and did another 20 mins 'breast up' and re-sauced.  At the end,
  we took the lid off the roaster, and re-sauced the top (breast) and
  let it 'crisp' another 15-20 mins.
  
  The sugars in the sauces made for a lovely dark flavorful skin that
  was somewhat crispy at the topside.  We let it sit on the top of the
  stove to 'set' for about 15 mins then started picking off favored
  parts.
  
  Perfection for a family where we all love dark meat  and white
  meat gets used mostly in chicken salad.  I said 'feeds 6' above as an
  estimate but we don't eat that much meat so for us, it would be more
  like 10 servings.  There's plenty of drippings and fat rendered out
  which is currently smothering the leftovers in a sort of 'confit'
  type of arrangement.  There's a perfect duck carcass in the freezer
  awaiting being made into duck soup.
  
  The giblets went into a pot of water with just chinese 5 spice added
  and the broth has Don in rapures.
  
  We served it with sticky rice and green beans.  The onion got all
  eaten up as a side nosh.
  
  From the Sasebo Kitchen of:  xxcarol on 05-14-07 

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