Slow Roasted Crispy Skin Duck

For my slow roasted duck with crispy skin I looked at a number of different recipes. I've never cooked it before and I've only eaten it a handful of times so I really had no idea what to expect. I can't believe how amazing it turned out and how great it tasted!

I searched heaps to try and find a recipe that would let me slow roast the duck but there were hardly any recipes around and hardly any that weren't really complicated. The recipe I based mine off is found on justalittlebitofbacon.com and it was the most straight forward recipe I found.

To start off I bought my Luv-a-duck brand duck from Coles and let that thaw in the fridge, which took about 3 days. Once I was ready to cook I removed the packaging and let the bird sit in the roasting pan. Because ducks are quite fattier than chicken, I scored the bird 7 times to allow the excess juices to come out.

Before I added any seasoning to the duck I made sure to pat and dry it with a paper towel to make sure there was no more moisture on the skin so it would crisp up. To season I only added salt and pepper because I didn't want to add any additional flavours like oranges or other citrus.

All the research I looked up said to not stuff the duck because it can stop it from cooking properly but instead I placed fresh rosemary and oregano from my herb garden.

Once the bird was seasoned and herbed up I popped it into the lowest shelf on the oven for 3 hours at 150C and relaxed!

When the 3 hours are up I put the oven temperature up to 220c and let it cook for another 20 minutes and then pulled the duck out and let it rest.

While the roast is resting it's onto the gravy! The best gravy I might add.. To make the gravy is really simple, all it takes is removing the juices from the roast and putting that into a pot and adding red wine, any should do but I used a shiraz. To that I added some more fresh rosemary along with some dried rosemary and salt. I let that come to a boil and reduce then added more water and flour to thicken.

When it came to carve the duck it was a bit tricky because it was so tender and just fell apart from the bone so it more had to be half cut away and half pulled off with tongs. I put all the meat onto a platter and served!

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Recipe

Ingredients

1 Whole duck (2kgs)

Rosemary

Oregano

2TBS Salt

2TBS Pepper

Gravy

Duck juices

1 TspSalt

3 Sprigs Rosemary

1/2 Cup Red Wine

2TBS Plain Flour

1. Preheat oven to 150c. Place duck in roasting pan and pat down dry with paper towel.

2. Score skin being careful not to go through to the flesh. Rub the duck with salt and pepper and place herbs inside.

3. Put the roast in the oven on the lowest shelf and set the timer for 3 hours.

4. Once the timer goes off turn the temperature up to 220c and roast for a further 20 minutes to crisp the skin.

5. Let the duck rest.

Gravy

1. Place juices from roast into pot on the stove at a medium high heat and add rosemary, salt and red wine.

2. Allow to come to boil then lower the heat and add flour and stir. Season to taste.

Bon Appétit