Tips on roasting a duck.

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Discussion

eggchaser1987

Original Poster:

1,608 posts

148 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
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Well, I'm sure everyone has different ways of doing it and all with good results.

I have never roasted a duck before and as we are having friends over the weekend I thought I would give it a go, and if it doesn't work then down to the Chinese and have duck with pancakes!

Are there any sure fire ways to roast a whole so that it turns out nice and moist with crispy skin?

Or is it going through the whole cooking and taking the skin off and crispen it off after.

LHRFlightman

1,931 posts

169 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
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crossy67

1,570 posts

178 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
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I have cooked a few with ease. I can't remember exactly how now but it goes something like this.

Cut the skin and fat almost through to the meat. Cook breast side down in the oven on a low temp, 150c max iirc for an hour or so then whack the heat up. The idea is to render the fat out, i have seen recipes saying to pour boiling water over first but I never did.

Google a few different ideas but don't worry, they aren't that hard to cook relatively well if you're able to apply a bit of thought.

eggchaser1987

Original Poster:

1,608 posts

148 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
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Thanks. Think I will have to use one of the recipes from that site. Just which one?

Pferdestarke

7,179 posts

186 months

Wednesday 19th November 2014
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I'd take the hassle out of it and just get a load of duck legs. The trouble with roasting a whole bird is you're tryng to cook different muscles all for the same length of time.

If you just buy legs then you can crisp them up after a slow cook and you're almost guaranteed succulence.

226bhp

10,203 posts

127 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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eggchaser1987 said:
Well, I'm sure everyone has different ways of doing it and all with good results.

I have never roasted a duck before and as we are having friends over the weekend I thought I would give it a go, and if it doesn't work then down to the Chinese and have duck with pancakes!

Are there any sure fire ways to roast a whole so that it turns out nice and moist with crispy skin?

Or is it going through the whole cooking and taking the skin off and crispen it off after.
This one always goes down well: http://www.lovelyrecipes.com/recipe.php?recipeid=3...

Jer_1974

1,497 posts

192 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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I tried Big Als recipe on this thread a few years ago and it worked really well.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Mobile Chicane

20,741 posts

211 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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Pferdestarke said:
I'd take the hassle out of it and just get a load of duck legs. The trouble with roasting a whole bird is you're tryng to cook different muscles all for the same length of time.

If you just buy legs then you can crisp them up after a slow cook and you're almost guaranteed succulence.
I'm with Pferdy here.

Pete Franklin

839 posts

180 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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Mobile Chicane said:
I'm with Pferdy here.
Me too.

for the whole duck I take the crown off, roast the carcass Inc legs and wings attached at around 160 for 2hrs then pan roast the crown to med rare frying skin down first. Best of both worlds

crossy67

1,570 posts

178 months

Saturday 22nd November 2014
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Well I'm going to open a tin of confi for dinner tonight lick

Don

28,377 posts

283 months

Saturday 22nd November 2014
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Roasting a whole duck is no problem. The trick is to roast it long and hot enough to crisp up the skin.

I like to rub the skin with some salt and rosemary.

The farmed ducks have so much fat it's really hard to dry out the breast meat anyway. Wild duck is a completely different bird...

I also enjoy a whole duck slow roasted in the slow cooker! I just hot finish the thing in the oven before serving. Very soft meat but the bones are fiddly as they are almost, but not quite, soft enough to eat!


Don

28,377 posts

283 months

Saturday 22nd November 2014
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Orange sauce is a piece of piss, too. Just juice and zest an orange into a small pan. Heat and thicken with cornflour. Sugar to taste - I don't add any.

eggchaser1987

Original Poster:

1,608 posts

148 months

Saturday 22nd November 2014
quotequote all
Thanks for the advice all. I was thinking on just doing some leg, but the idea of having a whole roasted bird on the table seamed right. Got to try these things at least once.

It's not going to happen now for a couple of weeks, friends forgot it was a sisters birthday so it wont happen this weekend.

I had a look at the Gressingham duck website and the Roast duck with Honey and Rosemary jus looks like a winner. Easy enough to do but should taste good.