Ginger Duck
- Total Time
- 4 hours, plus overnight refrigeration
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1duck (thawed in the refrigerator), giblets removed
- 1onion, peeled and cut in half, or 3 shallots
- 2stalks celery, cut into 3-inch-long pieces
- 2teaspoons ground ginger
- ½cup sugar
- ½cup soy sauce
- 1teaspoon salt
- ½cup sherry
- 1small bunch watercress, trimmed and washed
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
1432 calories; 125 grams fat; 42 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 59 grams monounsaturated fat; 16 grams polyunsaturated fat; 32 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 27 grams sugars; 40 grams protein; 1977 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
The day before, stuff the duck with the onion and celery. Place the duck, breast side up, in a large soup pot with enough water to half cover it. Add the ginger and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat so that it simmers gently for an hour.
- Step 2
After one hour, turn the duck over. Add the sugar, soy sauce and salt. Continue simmering for another hour. Turn duck once again and simmer until tender and almost falling apart, about another hour. Turn off the heat and when cool enough, remove duck from pot and place in a roasting pan. Cover and refrigerate until the next day.
- Step 3
Pour the broth into a container and chill overnight. A layer of fat will form on top. Scrape off and discard. What remains is delicious in rice and soups and can be frozen for months.
- Step 4
Before serving, bring duck to room temperature in roasting pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add the sherry and 1 cup of the defatted duck broth to the roasting pan and place in the oven. Roast uncovered for 30 to 45 minutes, basting occasionally with the juices from the pan. The duck is done when it is heated through and the skin is crisp and chestnut brown.
- Step 5
Transfer the duck to a serving platter and garnish with watercress.
Private Notes
Comments
This has become my go to roast duck recipe since it first appeared in the paper back in '01 having made it many times I have found the trick is controlling the temp and keeping the pot on a gentle simmer as recommended and then the duck doesn't fall apart. Have also tried many variations adding bay leaf, star anise, cloves and allspice in addition to the ginger and soy sauce, Yum...
Three hours is too long. The duck falls apart and looks a mess. After boiling I took all the meat off the bones, covered it with intact skin I managed to salvage and roasted it for about 30 minutes as directed. It is delicious - broth is amazing. Two hours would suffice and the duck would likely stay whole and make a better presentation.
Cooked as written except for the simmer time as it seemed a bit long. The flavor is wonderful and the presentation is beautiful. Often recipes on NYT say to discard this or that. While this is sometimes the correct thing to do, it is definitely NOT in this case. The duck fat in step 3 is valuable, healthy, and delicious; keep it in the refrigerator and use it wherever you want to use flavorful fat. Just this morning I used it to make biscuits and gravy!
This does not make a "pretty" roast duck. But it does make a duck that's requested, and devoured, regularly. It never fails to make my guests very, very happy.
As others have noted, the key is to simmer very gently (almost poaching) to render off most of fat. I found that doing it in the oven at 250F (120C) on convection (fan) setting allows the skin and meat to pretty much stay intact. I don’t make this recipe often, but do enjoy it every time I cook it (going on 20? years now)!
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