Whole roast duck makes a great centrepiece for a dinner party or special family lunch. With its rich, gamey taste, it is much more flavourful than other poultry and can stand up to robust ingredient pairings. There is a lot of fat on duck which needs to be dealt with through prep and cooking in order to get the best results. Here’s how…

Roasting is a great method for cooking duck and a whole bird can be roasted in the oven fairly simply. Wash and dry the bird with kitchen paper, then rub with salt and pepper, inside and out, along with any dry spices you like. Cut the excess fat from the rump and neck. It’s also a good idea to prick the skin all over using a skewer or fork, lightly so as not to prick the meat, in order to help the fat render out. 
To roast the whole duck, either position the duck, breast side up, on a rack over a roasting tin in order to catch the duck fat that comes out (you can use it again, see below). Or roast the duck breast-side down for the majority of the cooking time, to cook down the fat, then turn the right way up for the final 10-20 mins to crisp up the skin. A good rule of thumb is to cook duck for 20 minutes plus 20 minutes per 500g (for example, a 1.5kg duck would take 1 hour 20 minutes).

Duck also suits slow roasting, as long and gentle cooking helps the fat melt properly. It’s best to roast at a slightly higher temperature to begin with in order to help crisp the skin, then turn the oven down to and roast until cooked through and burnished. Follow our recipe for the perfect finish.

Duck breast is brilliant pan-roasted. Once dried and seasoned (as above), cook in a frying pan over a medium heat without any oil, for 5-10 minutes, until you can see the fat has rendered and the skin has turned golden. Pour off some of the fat then cook on the flesh side for 4-5 minutes until just cooked through, depending on how pink you like it. Follow Pierre Koffman’s recipe and serve your pan-fried duck with a fruity sauce. 

You can also roast duck breast in the oven. Start them off in a frying pan for 5-7 minutes, to cook the fat out and give that golden skin. Then put on a rack over a tray in the oven and cook at around 180C for 5-10 minutes.

You can cook duck legs in a real variety of ways. They become tender and delicious when braised and slow cooked, or roast them for golden results. Confiting is another classic method where the duck legs are cooked in duck or goose fat until tender and falling off the bone. Check out our collection of duck leg recipes for inspiration. 

Make sure the skin is dry, before rubbing with salt. This can be done up to an hour in advance with a whole duck. Some chefs also score the flesh in a criss-cross pattern, cutting through the skin and fat, to open up the surface. Another technique is to pour boiling water over the duck’s skin to tighten it up. Then leave to dry for about an hour before cooking.

Although it is poultry, duck meat is the colour and texture of something closer to meat. Many chefs think duck should be treated in a similar way to lamb, not served too pink, but also not cooked to well-done as this will make the meat tough. Well-reared ducks are best served to a medium-rare level of pinkness, with a blush on the meat.