Slow-Roast Duck with Figs, Star Anise and Port

⏱ 230 min · Serves 4

A whole duck roasted low and slow until the skin shatters and the meat slips from the bone, served with sticky port-glazed figs perfumed with star anise and orange. It looks like a restaurant plate but the oven does nearly all the work — you just need patience and a good spoon for the glaze.

Per serving: 742 kcal · 45.0g protein · 31.0g carbs · 47.0g fat

Ingredients

• 1 whole duck, about 2–2.2kg, giblets removed
• 2 tsp flaky sea salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 3 star anise
• 1 orange, halved
• 4 garlic cloves, bashed
• 2 bay leaves
• 300ml ruby port
• 150ml chicken or duck stock
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 8 fresh figs, halved
• 1 small cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp cold water (optional)
• Small knob of cold butter (15g)
• Watercress, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 150C fan / 170C conventional. Pat the duck very dry with kitchen paper. Prick the skin all over the breast and thighs with a sharp skewer, angling it so you pierce the fat but not the meat.
2. Rub the duck all over with the salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with one star anise, half the orange, the garlic and bay leaves.
3. Sit the duck breast-side up on a rack in a roasting tin. Roast for 3 hours, carefully pouring off the rendered fat into a bowl every hour (save it — it's gold for roast potatoes).
4. Meanwhile make the glaze: put the port, stock, vinegar, honey, remaining 2 star anise, cinnamon stick and the juice of the remaining orange half in a small pan. Simmer for 15–20 minutes until reduced by half and syrupy. Strain out the spices.
5. After 3 hours, turn the oven up to 200C fan / 220C. Brush the duck generously with a third of the port glaze and roast for 15 minutes until deeply lacquered and crisp.
6. Tuck the fig halves around the duck, brush them and the bird with more glaze, and roast for a final 10–12 minutes until the figs are soft and blistered.
7. Lift the duck onto a warm board, tent loosely with foil and rest 15 minutes. Keep the figs warm.
8. Spoon off the fat from the roasting juices and add them to the remaining glaze in the pan. Bubble for 2 minutes; if you want it thicker, whisk in the cornflour slurry. Off the heat, swirl in the cold butter for gloss and season.
9. Carve the duck into legs and thick breast slices. Serve with the roasted figs, watercress and the port sauce poured over.