Roasted Duck with Orange Honey Glaze - My Sweet Ugly Duckling

Weird. Isn't this Hong Kong? The land where ducks and geese, roasted or preserved, are just hangin'...at almost every street corner? Yeah! The last time I checked, it still is!

So, I thought finding fresh duck meat might be easier than finding the perfect, comfy high heeled shoes (which is equal to the quest for the holy grail for my troublesome feet), but boy, I was so wrong. Carefully, I searched the fresh poultry stands in wet markets, the frozen sections of supermarkets....I found whole chicken, black chicken, chicken legs, wings, breasts, skin on, skin off, bone on, bone off...but I didn't see no duck, AT ALL!

Naturally (I think you know this annoying human nature), the harder it is to find...the more you want it. A friend told me that chilled duck meat is available (at HK$28/half a duck) in a luxury supermarket far far away (in Western District, like 1 hr and 15 minutes traveling time from my place. In Hong Kong, that's practically a different planet). Do I want it that bad? I was contemplating jumping onto a bus one weekend to get that piece of hot duck azz, then thought better of it and planned to just get a chicken instead.

Surprise, surprise, what did sous chef find lying helplessly at the corner of poultry section of the frozen shop? Bags after bags of frozen whole duckies, at HK$28 for a whole duck! HAHA! Score! By the way, I am crossing the phrase "great attention to detail" off my resume.

I was thinking how to beautify my ugly duckling...and thought of oranges. Hold it. I need to manage your expectations here. This is by no means the classic Duck a L'Orange, baby! This is just my way of perfuming my ugly duckling.

Roasted Duck with Orange Honey Glaze


Recipe

Tenderizing
- 1 duck, defrosted
- 5 cm ginger, crushed, or ginger powder
- 5 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 3/4 onion, sliced into big chunks
- 2 oranges, sliced into big chunks
- hot water, olive oil, salt, white pepper
Trim duck's excess fat (wish I could do the same to mine), wash duck, rub inside out with salt and pepper. Saute garlic, ginger, onion with a bit of olive oil, add duck (I cut the duck into quarters), add orange pieces, add water just enough to cover everything. I used a pressure cooker for 20 minutes. If you are not using pressure cooker, cook until duck meat is tender and you get creamy colored, tasty stock (use the stock for other purposes later). Set the bird aside for grilling.


Glazing

- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cm ginger, julienned
- juice of 1 orange
- orange peel (of 1 orange)
- orange chunks (of another orange)
- honey, salt, white pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, olive oil, a bit of hot water
Saute garlic, onion, ginger in a bit of olive oil, add orange peel until everything's fragrant, add honey, orange juice, a bit of hot water, orange chunks, salt, white pepper, a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg, let it caramelized a little. Use some to give the duck a rub, set aside some for sauce.


Grilling

Preheat oven to 250C. Throw the duck on an oven tray (I lined mine with foil - for easy cleaning later), place bits and pieces of glaze in, outside, and all around the duck, sprinkle a bit of salt and white pepper. I added extra honey/glaze from time to time to get more beautiful golden brownage. Grill until golden brown.

It ain't no Gisele...but my ugly duckling was sweet.