DUCK FOR THANKSGIVING RECIPES

Steps:

• DUCK-FRIED RICE: This works with either homemade or doggie-bag rice and duck from a Chinese dinner out. Heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil in a wok. Add 1 clove of garlic, minced, a quarter-sized piece of ginger, minced, and cook until fragrant. Add 1/2 carrot, grated, a strip of red pepper, chopped, and 3 scallions, sliced. Break in an egg and cook until it forms curds. Add 1 cup of shredded cooked duck and 2 cups of cold, day-old rice. Heat through and season to taste with soy sauce and pepper flakes. Makes enough for two.
• SALAD: Toss mixed salad greens with vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Divide the greens among plates. Lay a few slices of duck breast on each plate and garnish with a dollop of cherry marmalade next to the duck.
• ANOTHER SALAD: Take a page from a chicken-salad recipe. Mix diced, smoked duck with diced celery, chopped scallions, roasted and chopped hazelnuts and a little good mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper and serve as an open-face sandwich.
• SOUP: Use the duck carcass the same way you would make chicken soup and you'll have, you guessed it, rich duck soup.

Steps:

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F.
• If necessary, cut off wing tips with poultry shears or a sharp knife. Remove and discard excess fat from body cavity and neck, then rinse duck inside and out. Prick skin all over with a sharp fork. Fold neck skin under body, then put duck, breast side up, on a rack in a 13- by 9- by 3-inch roasting pan and pour boiling-hot water over duck (to tighten skin). Cool duck, then pour out any water from cavity into pan. Pat duck dry inside and out, reserving water in pan, then rub duck inside and out with kosher salt and pepper.
• Roast duck, breast side up, 45 minutes, then remove from oven. Turn duck over using 2 wooden spoons, and roast 45 minutes more. Turn duck over again (breast side up), tilting duck to drain any liquid from cavity into pan. Continue to roast duck until skin is brown and crisp, about 45 minutes more (total roasting time: about 2¼ hours). Tilt duck to drain any more liquid from cavity into pan. Transfer duck to a cutting board and let stand 15 minutes before carving. Discard liquid in roasting pan.