Succot Feast: Duck with an orange and summer fruit glaze

Duck is a mild, versatile meat that’s easy to pair with your favourite seasonings, stuffings and glazes. It also pairs well with aromatics like garlic cloves, lemon slices, sprigs of fresh thyme, and shallots, as it does with fruits like cherries, cranberries, apricots etc. Leftover duck is great in salads (such as one with spinach leaves, mango, strawberries, caramelised pecans and a sweet vinaigrette), or can be shredded for duck pancakes. Summer fruits, unlike the name suggests, are available all year round in the supermarket freezer section, making this a wonderful dish for Succot.

Ingredients

1 whole duck from Kosher Deli

500g frozen summer fruit mix

250g sugar

200ml orange juice (no bits)

Optional: 50ml Cherry Liqueur for an extra level of flavour

Pinch of Kosher Salt

Method

For this recipe, you start by putting the duck in the oven for 30 minutes and only then the sauce is added. I like to prepare the glaze whilst the duck is in the oven but it can be done beforehand

1. Preheat oven to 200°C

2. Sit the duck, breast side up,  in a roasting tin and dry the skin with a paper towel

3. Using a sharp knife carefully score the skin and the breast and legs in crisscross fashion, roughly 1.5cm apart – making sure not to cut into the meat.

4. Sprinkle the duck with kosher salt and roast in the oven for 30 minutes, uncovered.

5. Whilst the duck is roasting make the glaze. Place the summer fruits, orange juice (if using the cherry liqueur – add it in now tops) and sugar into a pot on high heat until the sugar has melted and is no longer visible. Turn down to low heat and keep stirring to help the ingredients combine. Keep on the stove for 20 minutes.

6. At this stage, remove the duck from the oven, drain all the fat from the roasting tin (keep it for the next time you make roast potatoes) and pour the glaze over the duck.

7. Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C and return the duck to the oven covered with foil for 1hr 20 minutes or until you have an internal temp of 75°.

8. Remove the duck from the oven, and allow to rest for 20 minutes before carving.

9. Gather the glaze from the roasting tin into a gravy boat and serve over the duck.