Ok. Results are in. Based on lots of synthesis of various online roast duck recipes, I went for about 3.5 hours, roasting at 300, flipping 3 times and poking lots of holes to drain fat. Then I turned the heat up to 450 to get dat crispy skin. I served it with the sauce from Serious Eats’s duck à l’orange recipe, which was a huge hit
The ducks were very well done but not dry at all. The skin was superbly thin and crispy. Everyone was full of compliments. Next time I may do the first stage at 250 though, but honestly even at 3+ hours at 300 there was still a lot of fat to render in order to get crispy skin.
In all, It was enough for 4 adults, 1 hungry 9 year old, and two not super hungry younger kids, with a little bit leftover.
As a bonus, just from the roast, I got about 1.25 quarts of amazing duck fat, as well as lots of fat to roast potatoes in. I tried rendering the trimmed skin and excess fat and got about a pint, but I burnt it and threw it out. Shame.
(Sabred Veuve is just how we roll on Christmas)
