Honey-Glazed Roast Duck

Ingredients

• For the duck:
• 1 5 lb duck
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 15 garlic cloves, peeled
• S&p
• Chicken stock for pan (if desired)
• For the glaze:
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tbsp fresh orange juice
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• For serving:
• Bourbon-Pickled Jalapenos (recipe below)
• Sliced cucumbers
• Fresh cilantro
• Fresh basil
• Sriracha

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Remove the gizzards from the duck. Rinse the duck under cold running water (inside and out) and pat dry. Using a very sharp knife, score the skin (being careful not to cut into the meat itself), making a diagonal cross-hatch pattern across the breast. Place the duck in a colander in the sink.

Bring 4 cups of water and the salt to a boil. Set the pan of boiling water near the sink. Using a large ladle, slowly pour the boiling water over the duck. The skin should shrink and curl a bit as the fat renders from the skin (according to the recipe, this should make the skin crispier).

Scatter the garlic cloves over the bottom of a cast iron skillet or a roasting pan. Set the duck, breast side up, on the garlic. Add a few tablespoons of chicken stock (or water) to the pan. Roast for 45 minutes. Flip the duck over and roast 15 minutes. Flip the duck back, so the breast is facing up again, and roast for another 15 minutes. If at any point the pan is bone dry and the garlic looks like it is burning, you can always add in a little more stock.

Meanwhile, make the glaze. Combine all glaze ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.

Take the pan out of the oven, carefully tilt it, and pour as much of the rendered duck fat as possible into a bowl. You can either save the duck fat in a lidded jar in the refrigerator (if you want to experiment with cooking potatoes or other things with duck fat) or toss it. Brush the glaze generously over the duck. Turn the oven up to 450 degrees F and roast the duck for 15 minutes, brushing a little more glaze over it once or twice.

Take the duck out of the oven and base with any remaining glaze in the bottom of the pan. Serve immediately with roasted garlic and other garnishes.