Duck on Christmas Day for 10

[Bella1905]

Hi all, there will be 10 of us on Christmas Day and I'm thinking of purchasing a couple of ducks. I'm an amateur cook so wondered if people would recommend duck as a good option and does anyone have any advice on how to cook it/serve it? (We are not turkey fans). Many thanks

I'd say that's pretty tight, but if you don't count the 2 kids as eating probably just about enough.
It depends on the duck! Ours are around 3.5-4 kg and meaty, easily feed 5. Other peoples are less good.....
Goose is much more expensive, much fattier and won't feed 10.

If you want to be sure maybe get some legs to go along side, once it's carved no one will know the difference. You can tuck them into the same roasting tray, just put them in a bit later.
Tbh I prefer duck legs anyway, and they are easier to cook than whole duck.....
And if you are doing eg pigs in blankets and stuffing and don't want a lot of leftovers you will probably be about right.

We have duck and pork every Christmas, for 4 we normally get a duck and then two extra breasts and that's alongside the pork. That does give some leftovers but it's not Christmas without leftovers imo

You need 5 ducks. Honestly. Have you cooked duck before? They only comfortably feed 2 people, and that's for an ordinary meal. Most people will want more than a teaspoon of meat and lots of sides for a celebration meal.

Duck is also vvfatty and will coat the inside of your oven with fat. Which will then smoke. It's not ideal even in a modern kitchen with a good extractor fan.

I'd do duck breasts if you must do duck, but honestly you're better off cooking goose or a turducken.

You need to practice cooking and carving first, Iceland have them for £10 now, Try one for Sunday. Cook slowly at low temperature. We do that.
Then decide you need 3.

We get through two ducks for 6 people...

I would just buy duck breasts.

Two ducks to feed ten? That's a recipe for disaster.

No. You need at least two per adult couple so you will need five. And one for good luck.

Don't forget it's the size of the empty cavity that's the issue, not the size of the duck itself.

I would buy a fillet of beef - no,waste, delicious, impressive, expensive, celebratory,
can be left to rest whilst you fire up the roast potatoes and yorkshires, mustard and horseradish, baby carrots, sprouts and good gravy, total yum.

There's a lot of variety, from our farm we do chicken up to 5kg and ducks often over 4kg (feed 5-6) but £10 supermarket ones are a totally different (and inferior) product, so make sure you know what you are buying! They aren't a uniform size just because they are all ducks.
And goose is way fattier and much worse value. Way poorer meat to bone/fat ratio

Your butcher is wrong.

Morrisons have whole ducks for £7.50 at the moment.

only feeds 2, but that’s without several Christmas Day side dishes.

also, it’s a faff cooking duck. Delicious though.

We sometimes have Goose which is bigger than duck and 1 feeds 4.

Two will be seriously tight. Our restaurant portion (I was a chef for years) was half per person and they were large.

2 geese at least. More ducks

This, personally I'd have 3 ducks so people have a chance of having a decent amount of meat

2 ducks is not enough for 10 people ! Get at least four or five as in a Chinese restaurant you get served half a duck per person or buy 10 breasts
There's nothing worse than not enough food at a big gathering and you go home hungry

2 ducks isn't enough for 10

This is the recipe you need:

www.deliaonline.com/recipes/books/delias-happy-christmas/roast-duck-with-cherry-sauce

Ducks are very very tricky things to cook. And I consider myself quite a good cook....