MARY STADNYK's Roast Duck

            Mom and Dad always had animals on the farm; no homesteader could have survived without running a mixed farming operation.  Horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats (but not after one ate the clothes off the line), and poultry (chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, guinea fowl, bantams), they had them all.

               Once Mom was getting set to press and then pluck some ducks to roast.  Unfortunately, she burned herself very badly with the iron.  No Minor Emergency Clinic those days.  Down to the dirt basement Mom went and plastered herself with cold mud.  When the mud pack heated up, she peeled it off and applied some more.  Accidents on the farm were just a part of life.

                                                             1963

Mary Stadnyk’s Roast Duck   

Rinse the duck.  Then coat it inside and out with a mixture of dry mustard and melted margarine.  Sprinkle the cavity with salt and pepper and stuff it.

Favourite Stuffing for all Poultry:

2 tbsp. melted butter

1 onion

1 stalk celery

4 ½ cups soft or dry bread cubes

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 tsp thyme leaves  (or ½ tsp powdered thyme)

1 tsp poultry seasoning

½ tsp sage powdered

1 cup milk  (maybe less if bread is soft)

Preheat oven to 350.

1.  Finely chop the onion and celery.  Add to bread cubes in large bowl.

2.  Mix in spices.

3.  Pour on melted butter and mix.

4.  Moisten with milk.

5.  Stuff the duck.

 Roast slowly in covered roaster at 350 degrees for 3 hours (no matter how much it weighs).   Take the lid off the roaster for the last 45 minutes (to brown the duck).

The duck is done when it pulls apart easily.

Testing:  If you have a meat thermometer, test the duck after 2 ½ hours.  If the temperature is 170, the duck is almost done.  Take the lid off the roaster and let the duck brown for the last ½ or ¾ hour.  The thermometer should register 180 when the duck is done.