Cook: Roast Duck with Gluten-Free Stuffing for a smaller Christmas setting
A duck serves fewer people than a chicken and certainly less than a turkey!
Unlike a chook, it has the novelty value that a turkey does – making it a perfect festive option for a small family, a Christmas ‘en couple’ or a smaller gathering of Christmas orphans.
But best of all, Florence White tells us ‘it doesn’t need hanging’. Well, perfect. I find it so hard to factor in the hanging time when I’m hungry after a hunt.
Make sure you ask the butcher for the giblets, to make ‘a good brown gravy’ (I did) – and to add flavour to the stuffing. (If you subscribe to the email list on the right side of this page, you will soon receive an email with a special recipe for a good brown gravy!)
Roast Duck is good for a hot Christmas climate, like Australia, as it needs roast less than an hour!
Take your duck out of its packaging at least an hour before you want to cook it, so it can sit in the fridge and dry out.
Roast Duck for a Small Christmas Gathering
Preparation Time: 45mins to an hour including stuffing and trussing
Cooking Time: 45 mins to 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 1 good sized duck.
Must be well basted. Truss for roasting
- coconut oil or butter for basting.
- juice of zested lemon below
- pinch or two of salt
Method:
- Preheat oven to 200°
- Make your Stuffing
“In Lancashire a roast fowl is always stuffed, served with good gravy, rolls of bacon and bread sauce.
Ingredients for the Traditional but Gluten Free Stuffing 
- 1 cup of cooked brown rice (instead of breadcrumbs)
- half an onion or 1 shallot, finely diced
- finely chopped suet ½oz &/or marrow from one marrow bone (I steamed a halved marrow bone – halved by the butcher – for 2 mins to make it easier for the marrow to slide off)
- raw liver of the duck, finely diced
- chopped parsley, a handful
- mixed herbs, a tbsp
- lemon rind, grated rind of 1 lemon
- salt ¼ tsp
- baies roses or course ground pepper ½tsp
- 2 egg yolks
- 3 prunes, mashed with a fork
Method:
Combine all the finely diced ingredients and pound, if you have the facility, in a large pestle and mortar. As I don’t have a large pestle and mortar, I chopped everything finely and stirred with gusto to a homogenous mixture, in a large mixing bowl.
Stuff your duck then truss so that the drumsticks are firmly held, close to the cavity and the cavity sealed. I stuffed an extra handful of the sticky rice to seal off the cavity completely. Also ensure that your trussing keeps the wings close to the duck’s body, so that the extremities do not burn.
Ensure your baking pan is well oiled with the coconut oil or butter so that the skin doesn’t tear on the metal.
Rub a little salt and a tablespoon of butter or coconut oil all over the skin of the duck, then place in the oven with the duck’s breast down. I also squeezed the juice of the zested lemon all over the duck’s skin.
Place in the centre of the oven to roast.
After 10 minutes, turn down to 170°
After another 20mins, turn onto it’s back and cook for a further 20 mins, allowing the breast to brown nicely.
Remove from the oven, cover with foil and rest, breast down, for 15minutes before turning onto its back for carving.
A relatively simple and so tasty Christmas roast.
Watch for a post later this week on a Christmas dinner for a much larger gathering. And it’s not going to be turkey!
Don’t forget to leave a comment if you like what you read – or if you’ve tried the recipe! I’m a real person over here, not just a computer.
Christmas Roast Duck, with crispy, goose-fat roast potatoes and yam; orange sauce
