Easy Roast Whole Duck

Ducks are always a welcome treat to our family. Many a roast Peking duck feasts have been heartily consumed in Beijing. Through the years, our old standby has been Quanjude 全聚德烤鸭, and we vetoed the more recent interpretations at restaurants such as Dadong (大董烤鸭). The preparation in Beijing got more elaborate through the years, with chefs slicing whole glistening roast duck at table side and separating out crispy skins to be dipped in sugar. Our most recent visit in May 2024 confirmed the vitality of Quanjude as most of our favorite dishes were not only still made with care but the presentation is getting even more elaborate. CC#2 is crazy about duck broth made from roast duck carcasses, downing 7-8 bowels as a mere 5-year old. CC#1 laments that restaurants now require customers to surrender their carved duck carcass before offering you the communal broth. She’d rather make her own broth at home. All good when consumed. No complaints.

Back at the States side, I would not dare to duplicate the Peking Roast Duck experience, which requires a large kiln rotisserie to accomplish the feat. However, I have made many good roast ducks and perpetually keep a jar of roast duck fat in my freezer for special occasions, such as duck fat crispy potato pancakes on the girls’ birthdays once a year. Another blog.

This recipe was used on a duck from Indiana where a particularly lean and smaller type of ducks are raised, as opposed to Long Island ducks which are quite fatty and large (pictured). We bought two ducks when we celebrated CC#1’s birthday last year in Indiana and when we found out one was still in her freezer this November, we brought it home and enjoyed another wonderful family meal.

This recipe is adapted from D’Targnan’s East Roast Duck

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole duck, 3-4 pounds

  • Salt

  • Sugar

  • Freshly ground black pepper

  • 1 medium onion, quartered

  • 1 lemon, quartered

  • Herbs tied together (rosemary, sage, thyme sprigs)

  • Mixture of 1 tsp of baking soda + 1 tbsp of oil

  • Mixture of 1 tsp of honey + 1 tbsp of honey

Preparation

  1. Brine duck in salt and sugar solution (3:2 ratio) for 24 hours

  2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

  3. Rinse duck in cold water and dry well with paper towels. Using a sharp paring knife, make shallow cuts in the skin over the breasts and legs being careful to only cut through the skin, not the meat.

  4. Place the duck breast-side-up on a rack in a roasting pan.

  5. Pour about 4 cups of hot water, just off the boil, over the skin to tighten it up. Pour out the water in the roasting pan. Pat duck dry with paper towels and let cool.

  6. Season the duck cavity with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of the lemon. Place lemon, herb bundle and onion inside the cavity.

  7. Season outside of duck lightly all over with salt and pepper, then rub duck with baking soda oil mixture.

  8. Add potato wedges (tossed in salt and pepper and 1 tbsp oil) to bottom of roast pan. If there is roasting rack, place duck on rack inside pan.

  9. Roast breast-side-up for 25 minutes, then remove from oven and turn duck over. Roast back-side-up for another 25 minutes, then remove from oven and turn breast side up again. Brush duck breast with honey and water mixture. Use several bunched paper towels to flip the duck.

  10. Finish roasting breast-side-up (convection at 400F if available) until the meat at the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees F on an instant read thermometer, about 15-30 minutes more. This brined duck is quite forgiving so if skin is not crispy, increase temperature to 450F and bake longer 10-15 minutes longer. Gently tip duck to drain any liquid from the cavity then remove to a cutting board to rest for at least 10 minutes, loosely tented with foil. Carve and serve.

Post-script: I just made another duck (Long Island variety) using this recipe and the duck with the following changes: 1) I only partially submerged duck in brine for 4 hours; 2) I didn’t flip the bird 3 times as directed, baking instead with “convection bake” setting at 380F and using a probe thermometer to gauge the temperature exactly to 165F. The result was not nearly as good as my previous attempts. The meat was not as flavorful, and parts of the duck, especially the legs and thighs looked undercooked. Will revert back to the original recipe next time for further testing.

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