Serves 12
PASTRY
In a big bowl, place flour, salt, sugar, butter, and shortening. Rub the flour and fat together rapidly between the tips of your fingers until the fat is broken into pieces the size of oatmeal flakes. Do not overdo this step as the fat will be blended more thoroughly later.
2. Add the water and blend quickly with one hand, fingers held together and slightly cupped, as you rapidly gather the dough into a mass. Sprinkle up to 3 tablespoons more water by droplets over any unmassed remains and add them to the main body of the dough. Press the dough firmly into a roughly shaped ball. It should just hold together and be pilable, not damp and sticky.
3. Place the dough on a lightly floured board. With the heel of one hand, not the palm, which is too warm, rapidly press the pastry by the two spoonful bits down on the board and away from you in a firm, quick smear of about 6 inches. This constitutes the final blending of fat and flour, or fraisage.
4. With a scraper or spatula, gather the dough again into a mass. Knead it briefly into a fairly smooth round ball. Divide into 2 pieces - 2/3 and 1/3. Sprinkle them lightly with flour and wrap in waxed paper. Place in the freezer for 1 hour or until the dough is firm but not congealed, or refrigerate for 2 hours.
DUCK
Cut a deep slit down the back of the bird from the neck to the tail to expose the backbone. With a small, sharp knife, its edge always cutting against the bone, scrape and cut the flesh from the carcass bones down one side of the bird, pulling the flesh away from the carcass with your fingers as you cut. When you come to the ball joints connecting the wings and the second joints to the carcass, sever them, and continue down the carcass until you reach the ridge of the breast where skin and bone meet. You must be careful here, as the skin is thin and easily slit.
