Roast Duck

Today we have 2 "practical" sessions (the actual cooking) and 1 demonstration. The first one's duck. Dead easy - except for trussing the thing so that it's nice and symetrical and with the trussing string not showing. This involves a great big needle and running it in a complicated diagonal pattern through the beast. Duck's a possible dish for the final exam so I'd better figure it out. Sunday's reserved for practicing on some chickens.

Tricks to remember: when resting the duck, after it's cooked, place it 1) on a rack [to not stew in its own juices] and 2) breast side down [to keep the breast meat moist].

Somehow, I was the first one finished; to present the dish to Chef for evaluation.
I was just rolling along, not flailing around at all, really efficient in the kitchen. I even beat the 2 pro & semi-pro chef types that usually are done 10-15 minutes ahead of the rest of us.
The only problem is that it might have been a one time thing and I don't know how to repeat it.