Crispy Roast Duck Recipe



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Duck has been domesticated for about 2000 years. It seems first in China, and later in other parts of the world.

Today the majority of duck is the Pekin duck, and in the US most of those come from Long Island and are commonly referred to as Long Island duck. Another breed that is gaining in popularity is the Muscovy duck.

Roast Duck With Orange Siracha Tamari Glaze

While this recipe seems, on the surface, to be complicated it isn't. It is involved, however. That is to say it's not a put it and forget it kind of thing. That said, you should give it a try, it is a great roast duck recipe. 

Roast duck breast, mashed potatoes, and green beans.My Roast Duck Recipe With Mashed Potatoes And Green Beans
A whole raw duck on a cutting board.

Remove the duck from the packaging. Remove the giblets from the cavity and rinse thoroughly under cold running water. Reserve the giblets for another use, see notes.

Preparing to remove the excess skin from the duck.

Pat dry and transfer to a clean cutting board.

Removing the excess skin from the duck's cavity.

Remove the excess skin from the area around the cavity. Don’t throw the skin away, reserve the skin to render into duck fat.

Removing the excess skin from the neck.

Remove the excess skin from the neck. Don’t throw the skin away, reserve the skin to render into duck fat.

Scoring the skin on the duck.

Whenever you make duck you need to score the skin. This allows the fat to render out easily.

Seasoned and trussed duck on a cutting board.

Next you need to season, stuff, and truss the ducky.

The duck in the roasting pan.

All ready to roast, notice the skin that I trimmed off. This is going to render into fat. It also makes yummy duck cracklins.

Place the roasting pan into the preheated oven, breast side up. Roast for one hour.

Piercing the skin after the first hour of roasting.

After the first hour, remove the duck, pierce the skin, and flip the duck over. Roast for one hour, remove, pierce, and flip. Repeat this cycle two more times.

The duck after roasting for 4 hours.

Roasted duck after four hours in the oven. Now increase the temperature to 400 F / 205 C and roast 10 minutes, breast side up.

Whole roasted duck on a cutting board.

Remove from the oven and glaze the bird with the sauce. (See Below) Then back into the oven another 7 minutes.

Remove from the oven and rest, in a warm spot in your kitchen, 10 minutes.

Glazed duck breast with mashed potatoes and green beans.

Carve and serve.

Glaze For Roast Duck

This recipe was given to me by a chef I worked with in NY. We served it under a seared rare duck breast. Although, we used sweet soy sauce in place of the tamari, but, I've never found it anywhere so I use tamari.

Ingredients for duck glaze: orange juice, honey, tamari, molasses, siracha, salt, and pepper.

Ingredients for duck glaze: orange juice, honey, tamari, molasses, siracha, salt, and pepper.

Duck glaze in a sauce pan.

Whisk all the ingredients together. Bring to a low boil, reduce heat, and simmer until it is the consistency of syrup.

Remove from heat and set aside until ready to use.

A Delicious Roast Duck Recipe

  • Yield: 2 to 3 servings
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 4 hours and 15 minutes
  • Oven 300º F / 150º C

Ingredients

For The Duck

  • 1 five pound duck
  • 1 small orange, washed and halved horizontally
  • Kosher salt, to taste
  • Cracked pepper, to taste

For The Glaze

Volume

  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 2 TBSP molasses
  • Juice from 1 large orange - (4-1/4 ounces)
  • 2 Tbsp tamari sauce
  • 1 to 2 TBSP siracha 
  • Kosher salt, to taste 
  • Cracked pepper, to taste

Grams

  • 45 grams honey
  • 30 grams molasses
  • Juice from 1 large orange - (120 grams)
  • 30 grams tamari sauce
  • 14 to 28 grams siracha
  • Kosher salt, to taste 
  • Cracked pepper, to taste

Method

For The Roast Duck

  1. Remove the duck from the packaging. Remove the giblets from the cavity and rinse thoroughly under cold running water. Reserve the giblets for another use, see notes.
  2. Pat dry and transfer to a clean cutting board. Remove the excess skin from the neck and the cavity areas. Don’t throw the skin away, reserve the skin to render into duck fat.
  3. Next you need to score the duck by making a series of parallel slices through the skin, making certain not to cut into the meat. Then go back and make a series of perpendicular slices through the skin. This allows the fat to render out.
  4. The best way to accomplish this is to use an extremely sharp knife and just drag the blade over the skin with no pressure. This allows the knife to do all the work. You may need to go over a slice twice to achieve the desired result but you won't go through the meat, this way.
  5. Next you want to season the cavity of the duck with salt and pepper. Then place the orange halves in the cavity, squeezing the juice out of the orange while placing it in the cavity.
  6. Season the outside of the bird and truss it so that the wing tips and leg ends don’t burn.
  7. Place the duck, breast side up in a roasting pan lined with a rack. Add the excess skin to the roasting pan and it will render while the duck roasts.
  8. Place the pan in the oven and roast for one hour at 300º.
  9. Remove the duck, poke the skin all over, flip the duck over and return to the oven. Roast for one hour.
  10. Remove the duck, poke the skin all over, flip the duck over and return to the oven. Roast for one hour.
  11. Remove the duck, poke the skin all over, flip the duck over and return to the oven. Roast for one hour.
  12. Remove the duck from the oven and increase the temperature to 400 F / 205 C.
  13. If you are going to save the duck fat, and I highly encourage you to do so, now is the time to remove the fat from the pan. Quickly transfer the duck to a plate, remove the rack, and pour the fat out of the roasting pan into a heat proof glass container. Allow the fat to cool, cover and refrigerate.
  14. Place the rack back into the pan and put the duck back on the rack, breast side up. Place foil over the duck and rest it until the oven is at 400º. Place the duck back into the oven and go for 10 minutes. Remove the duck, and brush it all over with the glaze. Place it back into the oven and cook another 5 to 7 minutes.
  15. Remove the duck and rest it for 5 minutes. Carve it and enjoy.
  16. Serve with mashed or fried potatoes and green beans. 

For The Glaze

  1. Combine the honey, molasses, orange juice, tamari sauce, and siracha in a small saucepan. Whisk to combine and season to taste with salt and pepper.
  2. Bring to a full boil, reduce heat and simmer until it reaches the consistency of syrup. Remove from heat and set aside until you are ready to glaze the duck.

Notes

  1. A couple ideas for the giblets: you can simmer or saute them and make a pate, you can bread and fry them or you can use them to make duck stock.
  2. Duck fat is an amazing medium for cooking with a uniquely wonderful flavor. Try making french fries fried in duck fat, once you do you'll never want to eat them any other way, I promise. Not only that but duck fat is terribly expensive to buy. 
  3. To store duck fat put it in a clean container and store it in your freezer until ready to use. Since fat has no water it won't crystallize in the freezer, thus you can store it for several months, this way.

Tags: roast duck recipe, how to roast a duck, roast duck with orange, roasted duck