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Roast Duck

Post date: 24 Nov 2024

I’ve been making this roast duck for some years, riffing off of Julia’s Album. That website appears to be 99% ads now, and I’m nervous it’ll one day get taken down, so replicating what we do here for posterity and to share with friends.

Ingredients

  • 1 (or more) whole ducks
  • aromatics of your choice for stuffing the cavity (good ones: bay leaves, onions, lemons, fennel tops, fennel bottoms…whatever you have around)

Glaze Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 lemon

  • 1/4 cup honey

    OR

  • 2-4 chopped up plums
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup sherry vinegar
  • 1/4 cup water

  • few tablespoons to 1/4 cup of honey

    OR

  • 1/4 cup fruit jam
  • 1 lemon
  • 1/4 cup vinegar of your choice (rice wine vinegar is good too!)
  • 1/4 cup water

optional: add some spices to your glaze ingredients to zhzuzz it up. cinnamon could be good if you go the plum route!

Making the Duck

  • These instructions get the duck to 165 (well-done). Adjust accordingly down in times if you want to cook a duck to 140 or 150.

  • Preheat oven to 350.

  • Score the duck breast in a diamond pattern all over.
  • Poke all the fatty parts with a fork, esp the legs/thighs. Your goal here is to let the fat render and release!
  • Stuff cavity with whatever aromatics you prepared

  • Fold any extra duck skin over the cavity, then tie the legs together with some butcher’s twine or aluminum foil.

  • Set duck on half sheet with wire rack set inside. You don’t need a roasting rack (who owns one of those anymore) but it’s important to elevate the duck from the bottom of the sheet pan.

  • Roast duck breast side up for 40 minutes.

  • While the duck is roasting breast side up prepare the glaze. Heat all ingredients together in a small sauce pan until things look glossy and glaze-y. Taste as you go! Add water if necessary to thin out. If you’re working with jam/fruit, make sure to mash up the chunky bits.

  • Flip duck and roast duck for another 15 minutes back side up.

  • Wait at this step until the duck is 130-135F.

  • Remove any rendered out fat from the pan for other purposes at this time.

  • Brush the back of the duck with the glaze and return to the oven and roast for another 5-10 minutes.

  • Flip duck back over to breast side up. Brush the duck all over with the glaze. Continue to cook another 20 minutes, or until the duck internal temperature reaches 155F, it will go up to 165 as it rests!. Brush with the glaze every 10 minutes.

  • Rest the duck at least 10 min before carving.

  • If you have glaze leftover, you can either set it out to eat w the duck directly, or make a pan sauce with some duck fat / butter and adding some extra acid to it.