Roast Christmas Duck with Honey-five-spice Glaze
Roast Christmas Duck with Honey-five-spice Glaze is a modern Asian Fusion recipe prepared in South Africa) for a classic roast duck with a honey and Chinese five spice glaze. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Fusion version of: Roast Christmas Duck with Honey-five-spice Glaze.
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
135 minutes
Total Time:
155 minutes
Serves:
8
Rating: 
Tags : Spice RecipesGame RecipesFowl RecipesFusion RecipesFusion Recipes
Duck is quite popular in South Africa and is often seen sold near the Christmas turkey. For a special occasion I prefer ducks, and as most South African ducks are pekin-type birds (with long breasts) this Asian-inspired treatment seems apposite. The basis for the recipe is one of my Asian fusion recipes, but I’ve added an African twist or two.
Five-spice, with its blend of cinnamon, cloves, fennel, Szechuan pepper and star anise is a classic Chinese spice blend, but it’s almost Christmassy in its nature and I’ve added allspice (pimenton) here as it’s a classic component of Caribbean jerk seasoning and it’s also a very Christmassy spice.
Ingredients:
1 Pekin-type duck (mine weighed 1.9kg [4 1/3 lbs])
½ onion (no need to peel)
1 tbsp runny honey
2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
½ tsp ground allspice (pimenton)
½ tsp smoked chipotle chilli powder (or smoked paprika)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 chilli, finely minced (I used a red habanero, but use a chilli of your choice; smoked chillies are very good)
Method:
Preheat your oven to 150°C (130°C fan, 300°F, Gas Mark 2).
Remove the giblets, rinse the duck under cold water, and pat it dry with a paper towel (both inside and out).
Trim off excess fat, and pull out any leftover quills with tweezers. Using a sharp knife, score the skin of the duck (you should aim to just cut through the fat without touching the meat); this will help render the fat (great for your roasties) and ensure that you get crispy skin.
Pop the onion half into the body cavity then truss the duck by poking the tail up into the cavity and tying the legs together with a piece of butcher’s twine.
Sit a rack in your roasting tray then sit the duck on top, breast side uppermost. Transfer to your oven and roast for 60 minutes. After this time, take the duck out of the oven and poke it all over with the point of a sharp knife to release even more of the fat. Pour the excess fat from the roasting tin and return the duck to the oven (but this time have it breast side down). Continue roasting for 1 hour.
In the meantime, prepare the glaze. Combine the honey, five-spice powder, allspice, chilli powder, soy sauce and minced chilli (if using) in a small saucepan along with 1 tbsp water. Heat gently, beating with a spoon until the ingredients have combined. Take off the heat and set aside.
Once the second hour of roasting is up, take duck out and brush it generously all over with the glaze. Turn it over, and brush the breast-side too, not neglecting the drumsticks, then return to the oven.
Increase the oven temperature to 180°C (160°C fan, 355°F, Gas Mark 4). Be careful at this stage, as the glaze can burn easily. It shouldn’t take more than five minutes for the glaze to crisp and become a deep golden brown. However, if it starts to catch remove the duck immediately.
Remove from the oven then set aside, loosely covered in foil, to rest for 10 minutes before carving. I served mine with biltong roast potatoes cooked in the duck fat (see the next recipe).
