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" Duck is one of the most flavorful and excellent airborne proteins you can cook: sophisticated, special-occasion, a little different. I mean, come on, chicken again? It&amp;#039;s also a bird that, I suspect, many of us are a little nervous about cooking at home. We&amp;#039;re afraid we&amp;#039;ll overcook it until it&amp;#039;s gray and leathery, undercook it and serve our guests a crime scene, or fail to render away that prodigious layer of fat between the breast and the skin. (Some foodies love to gnaw the stuff; me, I&amp;#039;m skeeved by gelatinous textures and want that fat rendered.) Here&amp;#039;s your answer, adapted from a truly great recipe by cookbook author Sally Schneider: into the oven whole, slow, and easy (really slow -- five hours, in fact -- but really easy). You puncture the skin all over so the fat drains out and the skin (best part) gets crispy as a Frito. The only slightly difficult part -- and come on, it&amp;#039;s really not that difficult -- is that you have to flip the bird once an hour and pierce the skin some more. Unless, of course, you have one of those fancy grills with a rotisserie, in which case you can spear the duck around lunchtime, set him to spinning, and forget about him until dinner. Do it this way and duck becomes even more special, producing rich meat that is, in fact, no longer red but succulent and fall-off-the-bone tender -- kind of like confit-ing the whole bird. And if you want to make the best fried potatoes you&amp;#039;ve ever tasted in your life, save some of that rendered fat for cooking -- it&amp;#039;ll keep forever in the fridge. Decadent as hell, to be sure, but damned delicious. Roasted Duck 1 5-lb Pekin (aka Long Island) duck Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper 4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed  A few sprigs rosemary and thyme Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Remove the neck and gizzards from the cavity, rinse the duck inside and out with cold water, and pat dry with paper towels. With kitchen shears, trim the excess fat from the cavity and neck area. Remove the neck and cut off the skinny wing tips. Season the cavity and the outside generously with salt and pepper. Stuff the garlic and herbs into the bird. Using a paring knife, prick the skin all the way through the thick layer of fat, but not into the meat, all over the entire bird -- the more pierces, the better. Put the duck breast-side up on a rack in a roasting pan, and cook for 1 hour. Take the pan out of the oven and carefully drain off the hot fat, holding the bird with tongs so he doesn&amp;#039;t hit the floor. (You can also remove the rack from the pan before draining, which is easier.) Make some new holes in the skin, then flip the duck over and toss him back into the heat. Repeat this draining and piercing on the hour. After 4 hours, turn the oven up to 350, salt and pepper the skin, and return the duck to the oven (he should be breast-side up at this point) to crisp up the skin, about 1 more hour. To serve, remove the herbs and garlic from the cavity, cut the duck into manageable pieces, and arrange on a platter. Garnish with fresh herbs and serve. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/a3387/duck1007/>