Duck With Soy Sauce Recipe

Duck is becoming more popular as a family meal. Some people are afraid of cooking this bird due to the high fat content but with a little care you can produce a tasty meal without a large amount of fat left on the dinner plate.

Duck

Allow half a duck each for adults with hearty appetites and a quarter for younger diners and those with a smaller appetite. To halve a duck place it onto a large chopping board or on top of a clean tea towel on a steady surface.

Using a sharp knife cut through the back bone on one side of the spine. Pull the bird apart and with a steady hand cut through the other side removing any chipped or splintered bone. To quarter next cut between the wing and leg part, again checking for bone splinters.

Soy Sauce

For this recipe use a light soy sauce, it is readily available in supermarkets and in fact it is now possible to purchase a low salt variety. When serving this meal never season with salt as the soy sauce is salty enough on its own.

Ingredients

• One duck, halved or quartered as required
• Light soy sauce. Half a small bottle is the normal amount used for one duck
• Flour and butter to thicken
• Water

Preheat to 200ºC or gas mark 6.

To Prepare

Divide the duck as required, rinse and pat dry with kitchen paper.

Place a rack within a roasting tin – a cake cooling tray is quite good for this if you do not have a roasting tin with a self fitting rack. Place your duck onto the rack, skin uppermost and prick the skin all over with the point of a sharp knife. Drizzle the soy sauce over the skin checking that some goes into the slits and thus flavouring the meat below the skin.

Add half a cup of boiling water into the roasting tin so that the duck juices start to form a stock and the water also steams the meat.

Cover with foil and place in the middle of the oven. Check after one hour and spoon off any fat that has accumulated in the roasting tin making sure not to remove the soy sauce or stock. Baste the duck with the stock or add more soy sauce.

Replace and continue to cook for another thirty minutes.

Again check the duck, removing more fat. Replace the roasting tin this time without the foil and raise the oven temperature to 220ºC gas mark 7 so that the duck skin is crispy and brown. You may find that you do not need to raise the oven temperature if your duck is already browning under the foil.

After fifteen minutes check if the duck is cooked by running a skewer into the meat to see if the liquid runs clear from the duck. If you are cooking the duck in quarters you will not need to cook for so long.

Remove the duck and keep warm. Remove the rack. Mix a little flour and butter together and place balls of this into the stock in the roasting tin on top of the cooker. Stir until the gravy thickens and is glossy from the butter. You should not need to add any other seasoning to this sauce.

To Serve

Serve this meal with stir fried noodles and vegetables.