Duck with Pear Ginger Sauce
Duck with Pear Ginger Sauce
I love the way duck tastes when served with pears. Duck, with its dark, rich meat really works well with all sorts of fruit. I’ve made sauces and glazes for duck from cherries, prunes, mangoes, peaches and of course, oranges. Since I had several very ripe pears and a duck I was roasting I thought I’d try them together. Oh yum!!
I made a simple sauce out of the pears. I peeled them and diced them and put them in a small saucepan with a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar, about 1/4 cup of cider vinegar, some salt and pepper and a healthy splash of hot sauce. It needed something so I added about a teaspoon and half of grated ginger. That was the missing ingredient. It gave the sauce a nice bite. I simmered the sauce for about 10 minutes, stirring from time to time to prevent sticking. The pears were just starting to fall apart. When the duck was ready to serve I warmed up the sauce and spooned some on the plate.
To roast the duck: Let me say this was a locally grown duck so not as fatty as ducks I get at the grocery store. For the very fatty ducks you need to score the skin and trim off extra fat. If you don’t the skin won’t get crispy and isn’t very appetizing. Still, I wanted a nice high heat to crisp up the skin. I placed it on a rack in a roasting pan. I did cut up an onion and a small orange and placed them in the cavity. Sprinkled generously with salt and pepper and placed the duck in a preheated 450 degree oven for 15 minutes. Then I turned the heat down to 425 until the duck was done. In this case, it was a smallish duck and cooked in about 65 minutes. It is OK if the duck meat is a little pink. Kind of preferred a little pink by most, but cook it to your own comfort level. Let duck rest 10-15 minutes before cutting into serving pieces.
Right out of the oven
