Roasted Duck

Joanne wanted to know if we could have duck for Christmas, so I roasted my first duck.

 

Ingredients:

Duck:

• 1 5- to 6-pound Pekin (Long Island) duck, thawed
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1.5 tablespoons Chinese 5-spice powder, preferably homemade (see note)
• 1 zest from large orange
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Glaze:

• 1.5 cups orange juice
• 1 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice powder

Instructions:

1. Remove excess fat from cavity and tail area, and trim off a bit of flappy neck skin. (Remove neck and giblets from duck.)
2. Pat dry with several paper towels.
3. Slice duck skin all over in a grid pattern with a paring knife, making sure not to penetrate meat.
4. Prick skin around legs and other fast areas.
5. Mix together salt and 5-spice powder. Season interior of duck with half of the salt mixture; use remainder to generously season exterior.
6. Combine orange zest with 1 teaspoon each of ginger and garlic powder, then smear mixture inside cavity.
7. Tie legs together. Secure neck flap with wooden skewer or toothpicks.
8. Place duck on rack in roasting pan breast-side-up and refrigerate uncovered for at least 8 hrs or overnight.
9. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
10. Let duck come to room temperature while oven pre-heats.
11. Make the glaze by bringing the orange juice, honey, sugar and soy sauce to a simmer. Add in 1 teaspoon each ginger and Chinese 5-spice powder, then reduce mixture until you have a medium-thick syrup, about 10 minutes.
12. Slice handful each of carrots and celery to put under rack in the dust roasting pan.
13. Remove glaze from heat and set aside.
14. Roast duck for 1.5 to 2 hours, carefully turning duck over every 30 minutes. (If needed, remove accumulated duck fat.)
15. Paint with glaze starting at about an hour of cooking.




16. Duck is done when temperature at thickest part of leg reads 165 degrees.
17. Either use poultry shears to cut into duck quarters (remove backbone first) or carve in the traditional way, slicing breast and removing legs.
    
    

 

Carole's Notes:

We all liked this! One duck may feed 4 with heavy sides, but I also made a small chicken in the Instant Pot - so we could have leftovers on later days.

The recipe is lightly adapted from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015833-roast-duck-with-orange-and-ginger