Game of Thrones

I've never read the Game of Thrones books but from what I've been told, they go into great detail about food, to the point that a couple awesome people have created a blog dedicated to their love of the books and of food. Garrett and I randomly picked up a delish looking duck and saved it to make for the Game of Thrones season premiere. Eventually it turned into a crazy feast, but here's what I did.

Lots of people asked where I got the duck; it was just from Save-On Foods, on sale one week!

Pentoshi Style Duck (Honey & Orange Roasted Duck)
(modified from Inn at the Crossroads)

Ingredients

• 1 whole duck, rinsed
• 1 tsp cardamom
• 2 teaspoon powdered ginger
• pinch of pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 orange, quartered

For the sauce

• 3/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup orange juice concentrate
  
• pinch of pepper
  
  
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Rinse duck inside and out, removing gizzards and saving them for broth. Criss cross the breast to expose the layer of fat but not cutting too deep into the meat. This will help get the skin as crispy as possible!
  
  In a small bowl mix together mix together the cardamom, ginger and salt and sprinkle mixture on inside and outside of duck. Stuff duck with orange quarters and lay in roaster.
  

Side note: can someone explain to me why this much cardamom costs NINE DOLLARS?

In a small saucepan combine the honey, butter, lemon juice and orange juice concentrate. Simmer together over low heat until syrupy; pour a little of the mixture over the duck, saving the rest for a sauce. Cover roaster.

This sauce was so damn delicious, I want to make an orange honey butter spread of it next time. I may have dipped biscuits into this sauce by the end of the night...

Roast duck in preheated oven for 30 minutes, breast side up. Turn duck breast down, reduce heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) and roast covered for another 3 to 3 1/2 hours, or until very tender, flipping about every hour. Turn duck breast up during last few minutes of cooking to brown. Use a meat thermometer!

I got a lot of great pointers from The Hungry Mouse who has tons of great photos of the process and fantastic decriptions! I had never done duck before and not being the biggest fan of poultry I haven't done a lot of chickens or turkeys and typically leave the dirty work of removing the innards to someone else (i.e. Garrett) so I was pretty proud of myself for doing this. I have all the parts, along with a TON of duck fat and the leftover bones sitting in my freezer, waiting for a day to become broth. I'm taking suggestions on what to fry with the duck fat...

I also made some simple tea biscuits...

and the rest of the crew brought their game. Wild boar roast wrapped in boar bacon, goose legs, slow cooked mulled wine, salad and cheesecake. WE ARE THE BEST.


We'll need some way to beat this for the season finale; horse heart anyone?