Duck, duck, goose! Actually, let’s just stop at duck for now. Many times when people see a picture or even the mention of a roasted duck, they think it must be some highly complicated task. Here’s the secret: It absolutely isn’t difficult at all. In fact, you could leave off the glaze if you wanted to and still have a great meal.

A roasted duck differs from chicken or turkey in a few ways. All of the meat on the duck is dark meat and duck is very fatty. You’ve probably never heard of chicken fat fries, but duck fat fries, oh yeah. They are super delicious. There’s so much fat that many people save it for things like french fries or they pull the duck out, throw some chopped potatoes and onions into the fat to fry it up in the oven then put the duck back in for a few minutes to warm back up. And the bones. Oh, the bones. They make an outstanding bone broth here. A duck dinner is the gift that just keeps on giving.

Finding a duck to eat can be fairly simple. I’m going to warn you though. Just because you can stop by some sweet little pond at a public park and feed the ducks, doesn’t mean you can take one home for dinner. For some reason this is frowned upon in our society. You may think you deserve a free duck because its friend the goose came up to you and gave you a hard, honking bite on your behind biscuits. That jerk! Even after you fed it some stale bread. Well, guess what. You still can’t bag a duck there.

A pastured one can come from a local farmer which you can find online through a google search and places like eatwild.com. Many stores, while not pastured, carry duck as well. I like to rotate my poultry options, so occasionally, duck is on the menu at my house.

Ingredients:

A defrosted duck

Pinch of salt here

Juice of 1 large orange or two medium ones (roughly 1/2 c of juice)

1t apple cider vinegar here

1T brown sugar here or coconut sugar here

2T coconut amigos here or 1T soy sauce here

2T butter (I used a pastured butter like Kerrygold)

Directions:

The easiest way to cook a duck is to slow roast it. After its packaging and innards are removed (save the neck for the stock pot!), place it in a baking dish. Use a knife to pierce its skin on the breast, legs and wings to allow its fat to seep out during roasting. This is important so you don’t have a duck fat shooting situation in your oven. Salt the outside of the duck.

Wrap the duck in a sheet of parchment paper here. This duck blanket will keep moisture in while still allowing the skin to brown. You are going to bake at 250F for 1 hour-1 hour 15 minutes per pound of duck. Mine takes 1 hour per pound, typically. After it is tender and cooked through, brush some of the fat from the bottom of the pan onto the duck, cover it again with the parchment paper and turn the oven to 350F to finish browning the duck. It usually takes about 10 minutes or less. Keep a close eye on it.

Meanwhile, you can make the glaze easily. Put the juice from the orange, vinegar, sweetener, coconut aminos or soy sauce and butter into a sauce pan on medium heat. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes while stirring occasionally. When the duck is thoroughly cooked and plated, you will brush the glaze on the skin. I personally do it this way so the fat isn’t flavored with the glaze and can be used for other delicious dishes. Let the meat rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Now let’s go roast a duck!