Robin McDouall’s roast duck with orange stuffing

The tinge of orange is apparent but not sweet; grated zest alone flavors the stuffing to prevent the cloying overtone of most orange sauces. It is a commonplace to note that foremost among fowl and poultry a duck may be roasted with success in any number of ways, from a low slow oven to an extremely hot one and just about any permutation in between. McDouall roasts his duck in a ‘very hot’ oven, which in our case translates to 500 degrees. Although he cooks duck a little too long for our taste the technique is otherwise the best we have tried.

• a duck (in the United States usually @5-6 lb, probably smaller in the UK)
• half a big sweet onion (like Vidalia) chopped fine
• unsalted butter
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• milk to moisten the breadcrumbs
• grated zest of an orange
• heaped ¼ cup chopped parsley
• pinch of mace
• about ¼ teaspoon cayenne, more or less
• salt & pepper
• 2 egg yolks
• a trace of neutral oil

1. Be sure to let the duck warm to room temperature before roasting it; pat it thoroughly dry inside and out.
2. Score the duck all over with a butcher’s fork.

Preheat the oven to 500°.

3. Make the stuffing: Fry the onion, as McDouall warns, “in as little butter as possible” (a duck has plenty of fat) until golden.
4. Take the onion off the heat and mix in everything but the yolks.
5. Once the stuffing cools mix the yolks in too.
6. Stuff and truss the duck, then give it a liberal dose of salt and pepper.
7. Film a heavy oven pan or big cast iron skillet (ideal) with the oil over medium heat until the oil shimmers; drop the duck in the pan, give it a spin to discourage it from sticking and, when the pan is hot again shove it in the oven.
8. Remove the accumulating fat from the pan every 20 minutes.
9. For barely pink breast meat and slightly rarer legs, roast the duck until an ‘instant read’ thermometer reads 160-65°, usually in about an hour.
10. Let the duck rest before carving.

Notes:

-A smaller duck will of course require less time.

-Crispy skin is part of the fun. If your duck has not turned bronze after nearly the hour or so, crank the heat another 50 degrees.

-Duck may be served along the entire spectrum of rare to well done. Diners differ on their preference; we have calibrated the recipe to ours.

-A few strips of smoked bacon make a nice roof for the duck and taste good eaten with it. Remove them half an hour or so before the duck finishes roasting… for crispy skin. If you apply the bacon do not salt the duck. Pepper only.

-By all means strain and save the fat as you remove it from the pan. It is unrivalled for roasting potatoes, vegetable or for frying nearly anything, and will keep in the refrigerator for a long time.

-McDouall uses only half a cup of breadcrumbs but then he anticipates that his duck will weigh only between 3 and 4 pounds. That also adds a lot more orange flavor to the mix; we found it too much orange. He cooks the smaller duck, probably at a temperature closer to 440°-, for about 1 ¼ hours.