This crispy skin roast duck comes out great every time. The meat is moist and succulent and the skin is crackling crispy while the rosemary cherry sauce provides the perfect accompaniment. The key to getting the skin crispy is in getting the fat to render out of the skin. This was one of the first videos we made as 2 Cooks in the Kitchen and we continue to make duck this way regularly as it is one of our favorites. Sometimes we just make it to get the rendered duck fat which we use for other recipes.

This recipe is naturally gluten free.

Watch a Video

Here is a video of 2 Cooks in the Kitchen making Crispy Skin Roast Duck With Rosemary Cherry Sauce:

The Ingredients For Crispy Skin Roast Duck

• One Duck
• 2 Tbls Minced Garlic
• 2 Sprigs Rosemary
• 2 Tbls Salt
• 2 Tbls Pepper

Cherry Sauce:

• 2 Tbls Duck Fat
• One Shallot, minced
• 1 Tbls Chopped Garlic
• 2 Cups Cherries
• 1 tsp Finely Chopped Rosemary
• 1/2 cup Chicken Stock
• 1 Tbls Maple Syrup

Clean and Dry the Duck

To start with we need to clean and dry our duck. Remove any giblets that may be inside your duck. You can save these for other uses or discard them. Often the duck comes with an orange sauce packet that we won’t be using as well. Then we’ll rinse the duck inside and out and pat dry with a paper or cloth towel.

Make Small Slits In the Skin

Next, using a sharp knife we make small slits in the skin all over the duck on both sides, paying particular attention to the extra fatty areas around the thighs, tail and the extra skin around the neck. Be careful to just go through the skin and not into the meat. We want to create a way for the fat to escape as it melts in the oven.

Sprinkle Salt and Pepper

Next we will mix salt and pepper in a bowl and sprinkle it on the duck. We want to cover both sides of the duck as well as rub it inside the cavity. We like to use Maldon Flake Salt for this.

Rub With Garlic

Then we want to put the garlic inside the duck. You can just spoon it in and then rub it all around the inside. This gives a nice flavor to the meat when it’s all done.

Rosemary

Our last flavor addition is a couple sprigs of rosemary inside the duck. Rosemary is a flavor that goes great with duck and it will also go well with our cherry sauce.

Put the Duck On A Roasting Rack

Now we want to put the duck in a roasting pan on a rack, breast side up. The rack is important as it keeps the duck up out of all the fat that will render out when we cook it. If it sits in the fat it will just get soggy and that is not what we want. If you have issues with the skin flaps on either end of the duck hanging down too low you can pin them up with turkey lacers.

Cook at 300°

Now our duck is ready to cook. We want to do this in a 300 degree oven for about 4 1/2 hours, turning the duck over and piercing the skin again every hour using the tip of a knife. After the first hour you will already see the skin cooking nicely.

Turn the Duck and Poke the Skin

Then after the second hour the skin will be browning even more. We will poke the skin again. When you poke the really fatty parts you will see the rendered fat run out. That’s when know it’s going well! Turn the duck over and poke the other side and put it back in the oven.

Seed the Cherries

While our duck is cooking away we can make the rosemary cherry sauce. We’ll start this by removing the seeds from the cherries. We like to slice the cherries to make it easier to get the seed out and then put the cherry pieces in a bowl.

Heat Duck Fat In A Saucepan

After the cherries are pitted we’ll heat some duck fat in a saucepan. We have saved the fat from previous ducks, and when we get close to running out of duck fat it is time to cook another one. If you don’t have duck fat you can use bacon grease, and if you don’t have any animal fat saved you can use oil in a pinch.

Add Shallots

We need about 2 tablespoons of our fat or oil heated over medium heat. When it’s hot we’ll add our diced shallots. We want these to be a pretty small dice so they blend into the sauce and don’t dominate it.

Add Garlic

After the shallots have cooked for 5 minutes and turned translucent we will add our garlic. The garlic only needs about 2 minutes of cooking.

Add the Cherries and Stir

Then we are ready to add our cherries. We’ll just dump them in and stir them around.

Add Finely Chopped Rosemary

Then we’ll add the rosemary. You’ll want this to be chopped pretty fine so there’s not a lot of woody chunks in the sauce.

Add Turkey Broth and Maple Syrup

We’ll also add our chicken or turkey broth and just a touch of maple syrup at this time. Stir this all together and let it cook down for about 30 minutes. After that time you can see what consistency you have. If you want, you can mash the cherries more or just leave it as is. We like a little chunkiness to our cherry sauce so it’s usually just fine for us.

Cooked Temperature

By this time hour 3 has gone by for our duck. We have poked it, turned it over, poked the other side and returned it to the oven for another hour. Then at the end of hour number 4 we have some decisions to make. We’ll measure the temperature in the thickest part of the leg as well as the breast. The tricky issue with duck is that the breast cooks faster than the leg. We want the meat to be done but we don’t want the breast to get dry. We are looking for an internal temperature of around 140 degrees in the leg without going over 160 in the breast. After 4 hours we expect to be around 135 in the leg, which is perfect.

There is disagreement over the safe cooking temperature for duck. There are guidelines that say all poultry should be cooked to 165 degrees, but as duck is less prone to salmonella, food experts such as Ina Garten and Hank Shaw recommend temperatures between 130 and 140 degrees. You will have to decide for yourself what temperature you are comfortable with. If you want more cook time at this point, simply return the duck to the oven.

Finish Cooking

Otherwise, to finish our bird, we will turn the oven up to 350 degrees. Then we will sprinkle salt over the breast and put the duck back in, breast side up for 20 minutes more.

Cover and Rest For 10 Minutes and Save the Fat

When the duck is finished cooking, remove it to a plate or cutting board and tent with foil to cool for 10 minutes. Pour the liquid duck fat from the pan into a jar to keep for future cooking. Don’t waste this valuable resource! Store it in the refrigerator and it will keep for a long time. Ours doesn’t last too long as we use it up.

Plate the Duck

Then we are ready to plate our Crispy Skin Roast Duck. Slice the duck breast thinly across the grain for maximum tenderness and to keep a little skin on each piece. We like to cut the legs and wings off and just serve those whole. Put on the plate with some cherry sauce and the side of your choice and dinner is served.

Save the Bones For Broth

Remember to save all the bones from your duck to make broth. This recipe for turkey broth is adaptable to any bird including chicken and duck.

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Here are some other fantastic recipes you can make:

• Fantastic Bolognese
• Green Chile Chicken
• BBQ Beef Ribs With Pineapple Salsa

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