This roast duck was roasted in an electric Nesco roaster oven and served with raspberry sauce. Being roasted in an electric roaster means that the skin gets nice and crisp to go with the sweet and sour raspberry sauce. It’s a winner!
About Ducks
Have you had duck before? Duck is delicious if you like the dark meat of chicken or turkey. If you are a “breast only” person, you won’t like a duck. It’s a little bit gamey, and that’s what gives it a special flavor. It’s very rich so some kind of acid does very well with it. You might have heard of Duck à l’Orange, a classic French dish that uses orange as the acid. Here we are using raspberries and balsamic vinegar to offset the richness.
Just as a turkey comes out beautifully in an electric roaster, so does duck, and having a nice rack means the duck doesn’t just sit in its own fat and never crisp up. There are some necessary steps to take when you want to roast a duck.
Ducks, like geese, are waterfowl so they need a lot of fat to keep warm. That fat is under the skin and it has to come out. You will want to carefully prick the skin with a fork, being careful to not go all the way to the flesh, just the skin. There is no need to baste a duck, the fat coming out from the skin bastes it. A self-basting bird! What will nature think of next?
| Duck Roasting Times at 350 F / 176 C | ||||
| Weight | Not Stuffed | Nesco Unstuffed | Stuffed | Nesco Stuffed |
| 4-6 lbs. | 2 to 3 hrs. | 1 ½ to 1 ¾ hrs | 2¼ to 2¾ hrs. | 1 ½ to 2 hrs |
What to do with the leftover duck?
If you are lucky enough to even have some leftover duck, make Duck Fried Rice. Just remove any skin, cut it up and add it to Same Day Fried Rice for a real treat. You’ll want to make duck again just for that reason!
Let’s make Roast Duck in a Nesco with Raspberry Sauce
Equipment
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Ingredients
- 1 domestic duckling
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
For the Sauce
- ⅛ teaspoon chicken base
- ¼ cup hot water
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 cup frozen raspberries, lightly sweetened
- ⅓ cup seedless raspberry preserves
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Remove the cookwell from your Nesco and preheat the base at 350.
- Rinse the inside of the duckling and pat dry with paper towels. Skewer neck skin to back tie legs to tail. Twist wing tips under the back. Place duckling, breast side up, on a rack in the cooking well of the Nesco. Using a fork, prick the skin generously. Do not prick the flesh, skin only. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Roast at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes per pound or until an instant-read thermometer reads 165 F. Remove the duck from the well, cover it and let it rest about 15 minutes before carving it.
- Meanwhile, for sauce, in a small saucepan combine all the sauce ingredients except the butter. Bring to a boil. Cook, uncovered, over medium-high heat about 8 minutes or until sauce is reduced to 1/4 cup. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in butter until melted. Put it in a nice serving dish, and serve it with the carved duck.
