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Story: Duck shooting

Roasted wild duck

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Roasted wild duck

Duck can be cooked any number of ways – but the traditional method is roasting. This is one recipe:

Ingredients
1 wild duck
4 slices of bread, crumbled
Orange rind
Fresh rosemary
¼ cup Cointreau
½ onion, finely chopped
75 g butter
¾ cup white wine
½ onion, sliced
25 g butter
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 cup orange juice
1 tbsp flour
Muslin to cover duck
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method
Combine bread, orange rind, rosemary, Cointreau, chopped onion, salt and pepper. Stuff bird and place in baking tray. Melt butter gently in white wine, soak the muslin in this, then lay on top of duck. Pour remainder of butter and wine over duck and roast at 160°C for two hours (maybe less, depending on the size of the bird). Baste often with pan juices. Once cooked, remove duck and allow to rest with muslin still on.

Caramelise the sliced onion with brown sugar and 25 g butter. Add to pan drippings and thicken with flour. Slowly add orange juice until good consistency is reached, allow to simmer for a minute. Cut duck into pieces and place in sauce. Serve.

Using this item

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

by Marguerite Hill

Source: Monteith’s Brewing Company

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

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How to cite this page

Harvey C. Perkins and Bob Gidlow, Duck shooting – Hunting culture, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/17129/roasted-wild-duck (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Harvey C. Perkins and Bob Gidlow, published 1 March 2009.