Please admire my endeavors. This stock is great! It is delicious - rich, deep flavors that will be great in soups and stews this winter. I already am craving a mushroom soup with a duck stock base.
And to the subscriber who queried buying duck on a budget, let me reassure you. Ducking is $4.99 a pound where I shop; I paid about $22 for it. This may seem like a lot but it translated to:
- generous portions of meat for dinner for 4 people
- meat for L. to pick on in the fridge the very night I made it
- meat for an overstuffed sandwich for 1
- meat and stock for soup (I also used the cooked carrots and shallot) for 1 while making this stock
- copious amounts of meat in homemade ramen for 2 for lunch
- a portion of lunch for a bento box lunch for my sister
- 10 cups of highly concentrated stock for the freezer that will be diluted by half to be used in soups and stews so essentially 20 cups of flavorful stock
- 2 cups of rendered duck fat for cooking purposes
AND I still have 2 duck necks in the freezer for future use. All this to say that I think I got my money's worth and that sometimes items that bite into one's monthly food budget can be worth it if you plan accordingly.
Anyway...
Carcass from one duck, stripped of as much meat as possible (reserve the meat for other uses)
1/2 bunch of parsley (or whatever other herb you have languishing in your hydrator)
1 shallot, halved (I do not peel it as the skin adds color to the stock)
2-3 carrots
1/2 head garlic, cut in half lengthwise
Thumb-sized piece of ginger
1 jalapeno
2 star anise
1 bay leaf
a few peppercorns
Salt
I happened to have some garlic scapes so added those but be creative. Lemongrass works well. Look through your spice rack, fridge and produce drawers - this is an opportunity to be creative and divest!
Place all the ingredients in a large stock pot. Add enough water to cover by about 1/2 an inch.
Turn the heat on low and cover the pan.
Allow to cook very gently, with barely a simmer, for about an hour and a half to two hours. Check from time to time and if any foam has risen to the surface, skim it off.
Remove from the heat and pour into a large bowl, through a sieve, pressing down on all the solids to extract flavor and liquid. The carrots and shallots will be delicious so enjoy them as cook's privilege or add them to some of the stock with some of the remaining meat and have it for lunch.
Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight should you wish to remove the thin layer of fat that will congeal on the surface despite your having rendered the fat while cooking while roasting the duck.
Pick through the bones and remove any remaining meat for another meal.
The next day, decant the stock into small containers and freeze for future use such as homemade ramen.
Edit as of 11/05/19 - just made a stellar Curried Squash and Cauliflower Soup with this which I highly recommend.