Just as in any dish prepared in a slow cooker, crock pot duck recipes are convenient for the home cook and a family who appreciates a beautifully prepared whole duck or duck breast.

1. Crock Pot Duck Recipes
Just as in any dish prepared in a slow cooker, crock pot
duck recipes are convenient for the home cook and a
family who appreciates a beautifully prepared whole
duck or duck breast. Crock pot, which originated from a brand name
of slow cookers in the United States, is now synonymous to the process
of cooking food in low temperature for a very long period. The slow
cooker is a great way to cook duck recipes. While the common way is
to parboil and then roast the duck to get that shiny, dark brown crisp
skin, a slow cooker can make things even simpler.
Use a 6 quart crock pot for whole ducks weighing 4 to 5 pounds. In
crock pot duck recipes, cooking time may vary according to your
crock pot design. But the most common step here would be the
preparation of the duck. For whole ducks, remove the giblets as well as
the fat hanging from the cavity opening. You can remove the skin
entirely before cooking but if you want to serve it with crisp skin, prick
the duck all over to render the fat
first. Rub the duck with salt and
pepper all over. If you have citrus,
garlic and onions, you can insert it
into the cavity for flavor.
To get the beautiful burnished
brown skin, brown the whole duck
in a sauté pan for 15 minutes on
each side. You can also broil the
duck later after removing from the
crock pot. Into the slow cooker, put in the other ingredients such as
onions, shallots, celery and other herbs and spices. You could also put
in chopped apples and potatoes so that it makes a raised bed at the
bottom with which you can settle the duck. If you have a little round
rack that will fit into the crock pot, that will be helpful too. With its raised
position, the fat will melt down the body and drip into the vegetables
below. That means more flavor is soaked up by the duck and the
vegetables.
You can also just cook the duck half, thighs, legs or breast in the crock
pot so it fits the pot nicely. Crock pot duck recipes of this sort suggest
mixing fruits like peaches, apricots and orange peel along with the
honey, soy sauce, and stock to give the duck a sweet, tangy flavor
and balance it with the richness of the duck.