Do try this at home: A holiday entrée à la FIU student-chefs

Our Panther Holiday Cooking Special would not be complete without a centerpiece dish around which to gather this holiday season. This week, FIU student-chef Christian Poole shares with us his recipe for Asian cranberry glazed roasted duck.

Last week, Christian Poole and Laura Mañon, two outstanding student-chefs in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, showed us how to make a couple of side dishes for our Panther Holiday Cooking Special (an acorn squash soufflé and a yucca and butternut squash with pecan and cippolini onion topping mash, respectively).

This week, Poole is back on kitchen duty for the meal’s pièce de résistance, an a non-turkey/roast/lechón alternative entrée: a quite tasty Asian cranberry glazed roasted duck.

Poole said that he wanted to work with duck because “it’s different than what’s expected at this time of year” and because it is a very flavorful meat – we believe the secret is in the fat – that lends itself well to an Asian-inspired recipe.

Stay tuned for dessert later this week!

Christian Poole's Asian cranberry glazed roasted duck.

Asian Cranberry Glazed Roasted Duck

1 can of cranberry sauce
3 oz. of vegetable stock
5 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of hot sauce
1 oz. of fresh ginger, grated
1 whole large garlic, minced
½ a stick cinnamon
1 whole onion, quartered
1 orange, quartered
1 whole apple
2 whole garlic cloves
1 oz. of ginger, rough chop
1 whole duck, cleaned (remove innards)
Salt and pepper, as needed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Thoroughly dry the skin of the duck with paper towels. Stuff with onion, orange, apple, whole garlic cloves and the rough-chopped ginger.

For the glaze:

Add first seven ingredients in saucepan. Let simmer at medium low heat until thick enough to coat the skin of the duck skin. Remove immediately from heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Apply a thin glaze coating with pastry brush to the duck skin. Roast in oven for 15 minutes, then reapply glaze. Repeat every 20 minutes until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit on the meat thermometer.

Carve, serve and enjoy.