While very good, this recipe needed a bit of revisement to bring the taste factor up a bit. Also, as many other reviewers have noted, if you cook a bord this size and weight for the suggested amount of time, it comes out dry...even at low temperatures (300 F). Using my method, I cooked my 6lb. duck and it was done within 2hours and 20minutes, far below the time limit set for this recipe for a smaller duck.
Since it only takes about 20 minutes per pund for a duck to cook at 375 uncovered, and an extra 5 minutes with it covered at 300F, I used a combination of both to achieve a tender and still crispy duck. First,I set the oven to 375F.
Since I was doing a 6lb. duck, I had to adjust all of the ingredients by and additional half. for the rub portion, I also found it was necessary to add some additional spice/herbs since I know that ginger and basil alone aren't enough for my pallete. I added about 2 tablespoon's worth of a combination of equal parts rosemary, sage (ground), marjoram, thyme and oregano. If you don't have a mortar&pestil, you get a simmilar blend that works the same way from the Spice Hunter brand of seasonings; it's called "Poultry Seasoning".
I made this for my Christmas Eve dinner party. The only "problem" with it was it was SO tender I could not turn it breast up in the last few minutes of cooking. I served it with a raspberry sauce. Everyone loved it!!!! It was the best duck I ever ate.
Outstanding recipe! I varied the recipe a bit by adding some ground rosemary and ground ginger inside and out which always works nicely with oranges. I added water with a bit of orange concentrate on the bottom of the pan to use for basting the rest of the concentrate I brushed over the duck then lightly dusted a touch more seasoning on. My husband 2 year old son and myself devoured the whole thing in one sitting and if a picky toddler will eat this then it deserves 10 stars!:) Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Great recipe.. would use it again. Made a couple of revisions that I think really enhanced the flavour. First I added mango chutney to the honey / orange glaze. There was a hint of the exotic that my family really liked. Also I turned the duck over (breast up) about 45 minutes before finished in order to have a lovely dark skin presented on the platter. Oops one other thing.. I totally filled the cavity of the duck with orange and squeezed the cooked orange juice onto the meat before serving. Thanks!
The duck was really good but came out a little dry because the cooking time was a little too long. I will make the duck this way again but will make sure to cut the cooking time way down.
This was the first time we had ever even eaten duck...(well most of us) it was a wonderful substitute for the over worked turkey that comes around on holidays. I made my own mango chutney which included fresh ginger root and honey vinegar and nutmeg cloves cinnamon fresh herbs like basil and some brown sugar and stuffed the inside of (both ducks) with the chutney and orange 1/4's. I made the glaze (suggested here) and it was beautiful!!! I even made an orange mango gravy that was rich in flavor of fresh fruits and herbs. I will definately use this recipe again and again and again...It came out perfectly cooked and tender after two hours and a half (they were 5 lb ducks!). THANK YOU for this amazing new addition to our holiday tradiotion!
I have never prepared a duck before this but will continue to use this recipe forever. Even my picky husband ate it! The prep time for this recipe is fairly short but it takes a while in the oven (I think its worth it though). The duck was not greasy and the orange-honey glaze was perfect. This recipe is not kid friendly as they probably wouldn't be interested in the recipe (although I think they'd like the sweet taste). Excellent recipe that I recommend to all!
My family loves duck. We hunt them every year. This year we were a little tired of the same old thing and so my dad told me that he had heard of this web site. We were so excited to see that there are so many recipes for duck. I decided that this sounded great so we printed it up and fell in love! It is a delicous recipe!
This was the first time this otherwise-experienced cook prepared duck and it was a hit with my family. Thanks! My 5 lb. duck wouldn't have served more than 6. I served this with a green salad with pears and pistachios and oil and balsamic dressing parsleyed potatoes and bread.
