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Country Living

Oct 22

Simple Roast Duck

This is the simplest way to cook a tasty duck.

Wash the duck, inside & out. If you wish, you may tie the legs together with baking string, I never bother to do so. Put salt & pepper inside & out. Place duck in a large roasting pan. DO NOT add any type of grease or butter - they carry plenty of fat and don't need any added to stay juicy. Bake at 325 as follows: First, you want to brown the skin, so bake him uncovered. Baste the duck with it's own drippings every 20 or 30 minutes. After about an hour, pull the duck out and cover it very loosely with a tent of aluminum foil. Continue cooking, and you will not need to baste any more after covering with foil. It takes about 45 minutes per pound to cook a duck; more if you filled the cavity with stuffing. It is best to let the bird rest for 15 minutes before carving.

I don't know about all ducks, but our Muscovies carry all dark meat on a VERY large frame. There is plenty of meat on a duck that dresses out at 7 pounds, and the breast is longer and thinner than that of a chicken. To me, the flavor is closer to high-quality dark pork than anything else. After roasting a duck or goose, you can run the pan drippings through a metal strainer to get high-quality shortening from the bird.

Chunky Chewy Pecan Bars

I made the first batch of these to take to Mom's for Christmas dinner. Well, they never made it off of my own kitchen table!! The guys went nuts for them, and so did I. You won't find a better cold-weather dessert than this one, and good luck getting everyone to wait until it's cooled off!!

Crust: Mix together 1.5 Cups All-Purpose Flour, 1 Stick Butter or Margarine, and 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar. It will be very stiff! Press into a 13x9 pan greased wtih shortening and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Filling:

3 Large Eggs

3/4 Cup Corn Syrup

3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar

2 Tablespoons melted Butter or Margarine

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

11.5 Oz Chocolate chunks - also good to mix white & chocolate together

1.5 Cups chopped pecans

Beat eggs, syrup, sugar, butter, and vanilla together in a large bowl. Stir in chunks and pecans. Pour over crust. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until set. Cool in pan, then cut into bars. Try to save at least a FEW of them for other people to enjoy with you!!

Chicken Pie

This is always a favorite, and even though it comes out fairly large, we seldom have any leftovers!!

1 Large Chicken

1 Cup Self-Rising Flour

1 Cup Milk

1 Stick Butter or Margarine

1 Can Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup

1 Cup Broth from Chicken

Boil chicken until it is very tender, or you can cook it in a slow cooker and leave it all day for use that evening. Pull the chicken from the bones and break it up into small pieces. Mix together chicken, broth, and soup in a large open casserole dish with salt and pepper to taste. Melt the butter. Mix the butter, milk, and flour together and pour evenly over the chicken. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

VARIATIONS - add chopped carrots, potatoes, and green peas into the chicken mixture.

Breakfast Pie

SOOOO TASTY!! Trust me, you'll need to make them both to keep from running out! Goes great with biscuits.

2 frozen pie crusts

1 tablespoon self rising flour

1 1/2 cups milk, even better if you substitute a little half-and-half for some of the milk

1 pound fresh sausage

1 teaspoon garlic salt

3 cups shredded cheese, any variety

3 eggs

Bake the pie shells as directed on the package. While they bake, cook & then drain the sausage. Put cooked sausage in pie crusts, cover with cheese, flour, and garlic salt. Beat eggs & milk together in a bowl, pour over the pies slowly. Bake at 325 for 35-40 minutes.

Juicy Pork Roast

Tenderloin is best, but ANY pork roast will do. As an added bonus, it's sodium-free but you won't even notice. Nobody here is on a low-sodium diet but we eat this pretty often because it tastes so good!!

2+ pound pork roast

1 slice of dry toast

2 TBS fresh or 1 TBS dry sage

1 TBS garlic powder or one finely chopped garlic clove

1 TBS fresh or 1/2 TBS dry rosemary

1 small onion, chopped into coarse pieces

1/3 cup brown mustard

Crumble up the toast into small crumbs (or use a blender) and mix it with the herbs & garlic. Use a sharp knife to puncture some good sized holes all over the roast, then stuff each hole with a piece of onion. Roll the roast in the mustard, then roll it in the herb mixture. Roast at 350 for 1-2 hours depending on size of roast. This is the tastiest, juiciest pork roast you'll ever eat!!