Roast Duck with Christmas Stuffing

Roast Duck with Christmas Stuffing

Poultry
Holidays, Duck, Main Dish

Serves 4-6

My husband and I like to have a quiet Christmas Eve dinner at home, as Christmas day is joyfully busy with visits to family and friends. Duck is what I made the first year we celebrated Christmas together at home, and we’ve stuck with it. Here, the duck is stuffed with a rich and festive dressing including chestnuts, sausage, apples and the livers from the ducks. A reduced pan sauce with port wine guilds the lily. With so spectacular a main dish, not much else is needed - steamed asparagus tossed in melted butter, and perhaps some fingerling potatoes roasted in duck fat until golden and crisp.

In my experience, the ducklings we get at the grocery store only serve 2-3 people per bird (ducks have more bone and fat per weight than chickens), so I generally get two to serve 4-6 people. Leftover duck isn’t exactly a terrible problem to have.

Ingredients #

  • For the ducks: #

  • For the sauce: #

    • Necks, wings and other (non-fat) trimmings from the ducks
    • 1 small white onion, roughly chopped
    • 1 carrot, roughly chopped
    • 1 stalk of celery, roughly chopped
    • 2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
    • Olive oil
    • 1 large shallot, finely minced
    • 1 tbsp. cognac
    • 1 ½ cup port wine
    • Corn starch
    • Tabasco sauce

Instructions #

Remove the neck and giblets from ducks, and pull away as much of the fat surrounding the vents as you can (you can render this fat over low heat – potatoes cooked in duck fat are amazing). Rinse the ducks under cold running water and dry them thoroughly. Rub them inside and out with the cut lemon. Season the ducks all over (and inside) with salt, pepper, crumbled thyme and crumbled marjoram. If you’re not stuffing the bird, put additional thyme and both half a lemon in the cavity of each bird.

Position your oven racks so that the ducks can sit roughly at the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350 F.

Stuff the birds loosely with the stuffing (the stuffing expands as it cooks). Tie the legs together with kitchen string, and tuck the wings behind the bird.

Prick the skin of the duck all over – this is tedious, but essential to render out as much subcutaneous fat as possible. Prick at an angle to avoid piercing through to the meat.

Place the ducks in the rack of a roasting pan.

Cook the ducks until done, ensuring that the stuffing reaches 165 F inside. Allow the birds to rest, and remove the stuffing for serving. Carve and serve with the sauce and stuffing.