When you roast a beautiful Duck, it is a crying shame to not use it entirely. Any leftover can be turn into something delicious in one way or another.

Roast Duck leftovers is the base for the Stock.

You can do Duck wraps with strips of cucumber, spring onion and hoisin sauce the following day for lunch, but you also can use the entire carcasse to make a very rich Stock.

A Duck stock can be used for hearty soups or broths. But it can be reduced to an almost thick gravy which poured over Brussel sprouts will make them sing 'Hallelujah' of Handel. Add some roasted chopped Chesnut for good measure and make the entire choir around the table say it is the festive season.

To jazz up Brussel Sprouts, a reduced Duck Stock helps.

However a nice way to utilise duck stock is also to use it to make a rich Risotto full of flavour. As we all know we have to feed the risotto with the stock, little by little to let the arborio rice (Carnarolli if available) absorb all the flavours.

Arborio Rice: Perfect for Risotto which need to be fed slowly with Sock.

It is a love song on a plate to be honest. I will however qualify seasonaly a Duck Stock Risotto as Automnal. It goes well with left over pieces of Duck, Mushrooms, a little Kale or even a little diced squash or served in one. It is a warming your heart dish.

Mixed Mushrooms: A Mushroom Risotto doesn't have to be done by only one kind of Mushroom, a variety gives it body.

To make the stock, follow the rules of the Trinity but as you see it at your doorsteps. For me it is Celery, Carrot, Leeks. It is a base for flavour. Do not forget your duck get the most out of it. Fully immerse by water. Add crushed garlic, an onion spiked with cloves, Bay leaves, (3 are usually enough), and the bouquet garni.

Fresh Bay leaves are better than the dry ones in Stocks but are also easier to remove when your Stock is ready.

A Bouquet Garni is scent, aroma and flavour. It makes you feel elsewhere, where crickets are singing in the fields, where the sky is blue and you can see shapes of things in the clouds. To return from the sky to earth, there is no true recipe for a Bouquet Garni: It is a bundle of aromatic herbs which marry well together and enhance your Stock in a wonderful way. You attach them together: the tying the knot part and let them reach cloud number  nine.

Growing aromatic herbs in the garden, in a pot or on a windowsill is always a good idea.

My tendencies is to always use thyme, parsley and rosemary, Bay leaves are a must. The rest is in the world of fancies that pleases the palate.

Nowadays the good old fashion ways of tying the knot is to put the herbs in a bag and to let it simmer within the pot. To be honest with you I do find that method convenient however less satisfying. However the flavour are somewhat there still. 

If you are either deprived of space or time or even bother, you can easily buy Bouquet Garni from the shops nowadays. They look like little tea bags to infuse your Stock.

I would say that a good Duck stock takes a while and its time to be awesomely flavoursome.  (Last, don't forget the salt and black pepppercorn)

A Duck Stock is rich and bring much needed warmth to your body when the weather is getting cold. But it is also luxurious to make fantastic Soups, Gravies, Risotto, and lift a dish in two quacks.