My feelings about the festive season are always fluctuating. Some years, I have the energy to host an enormous Thanksgiving feast for a dozen guests, with a showstopper main course and four or five or six side dishes. Other years, simple is good enough – just a roast chicken, some spuds and a token pumpkin pie.
This year, I’m aiming somewhere between those two poles: A cosy dinner party with a small group of friends, a few sides (plus a whole-baked Tunworth as a starter) and then, as the capstone of the feast, a roast duck.
I’ve regularly returned to duck as a festive main course, when I’ve tired of the faff of turkey but don’t want to do something too clever (see the year that I roasted 12 quails, one per guest). This year, it felt fitting: Duck delivers a huge punch of flavour relative to the effort of roasting it, and serving it with pancakes, cucumbers and hoisin or plum sauce is a good way to keep things casual and hands-on.
I love this recipe for its aromatics (stuffed with star anise, ginger and spring onions), as well as its bronzed decadence. The skin is crisp in places, collapsing into creamy fat in others. And while it’s a somewhat time-consuming proposition – it’s best to start up to two days before you plan to eat – very little of that is active preparation. Rather, the duck just needs time to chill out in the fridge, while a simple glaze and plenty of salt do their work to season and tenderise it.
Then there’s the wine, which ties it all together. Light-bodied reds (Pinot Noirs, Gamays) are food-friendly go-tos during the festive season. Zweigelt, too, is a delightful option. This particular bottle, Christina Kuhlbar, is crunchy with red cherry notes that work seamlessly with the duck, adding a bright and merry foil to its richness.
This festive meal may not be particularly canonical, but it’s not especially controversial either. All you really need are the essentials: good company, good wine and good duck.
Spiced Roast Duck Pancakes
Adapted from Red House Spice
Serves 6
For the duck:
1 2-2.5kg duck
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
2 tablespoons golden syrup
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
2 large pieces ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
½ bunch spring onions, roughly chopped
1 head garlic, broken into cloves
4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
To serve:
Approx. 18 pancakes (I bought mine frozen from my local East Asian grocery store)
2 medium cucumbers
Plum or hoisin sauce
1. At least one day, or even two, before you plan to cook, prepare the duck. Place on a wire rack over a deep roasting tray. Bring a full kettle to the boil and pour over the duck, using tongs to flip it halfway through. This process helps tighten the skin and also makes it easy to remove any stray feathers.
2. Pat the duck dry. Next, generously season the duck’s cavity with flaky sea salt. Mix together the golden syrup, rice vinegar and five-spice powder in a ramekin or small bowl; add an extra tablespoon or two of hot water, or until it’s just thin enough to brush onto the duck. Using a pastry brush, brush evenly over the duck’s skin. Then, season generously on all sides with flaky sea salt.
3. Place the duck on a wire rack over a baking tray, breast-side-up and transfer to your fridge, uncovered. Leave for at least 24, and up to 48, hours; this process helps season the duck while drying out the skin.
4. The day you plan to cook, remove the duck roughly 2 hours beforehand. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Stuff the cavity with the ginger, spring onions, garlic, star anise and cinnamon stick. Cut away and discard any excess fat near the cavity and use toothpicks to seal shut both of the duck’s openings.
5. Once the oven has preheated, keep the duck on the wire-rack-lined baking tray. Wrap foil over the wing tips and bottoms of the drumsticks, to prevent them from burning, and transfer to the oven. Roast for roughly 20 minutes, or until the skin is starting to turn golden-brown.
6. After 20 minutes, turn the heat down to 180°C. Continue to roast for roughly 1 ¼ hours. Check the duck sporadically as it roasts - loosely tent it with foil if it’s browning too quickly.
7. After 1 ¼ hours, begin to check the duck for doneness. Remove from the oven and insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the breast, as well as where the thigh meets the breast, being careful not to touch any bones. The duck will be fully cooked at 74°C. If it isn’t there yet, or if the juices are not running clear, return to the oven, and continue to check periodically.
8. When the duck is fully cooked, remove from the oven and rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the pancake accoutrements: Steam or microwave the pancakes, according to package instructions. Halve the cucumbers and deseed before chopping into narrow batons. Ensure you have a good amount of plum or hoisin sauce to hand.
9. When the duck is ready to serve, carve into thin slices, or use two forks to shred. Encourage everyone to build their own pancakes: Add a generous swipe of sauce, a few batons of cucumber and some duck to each. Loosely wrap, eat and repeat.
Claire M Bullen is a professional food and travel writer and all-around lover of tasty things. You can follow her at @clairembullen. For more recipes like this, sign up to our Natural Wine Killers wine subscription - you'll receive Claire's recipe and food pairings plus expert tasting notes for three amazing wines like this one every month (or two, if you choose our bi-monthly option).
