This recipe came out of an experiment I did when I cooked for a gathering of California Waterfowl Association members. I wanted to make my Buffalo duck wings, only I had to use legs instead because that’s what the people who donated the ducks had available. It came out great, I daresay better even than the wings.
When I got home I thought about how successful this was and about what other flavors of wings I’d eaten over the years. As it happens, the sweet-spicy-sour-garlicky flavor of sriracha-honey-lime wings is up there with my favorites. Like a lot of Southeast Asian food, it relies on a balance of sweet-sour-savory-spicy that makes it so appealing.
What’s more, it’s stupid easy to make — especially now that Sriracha has essentially become America’s new ketchup.
Sri-wha? See-Rah-Cha, as it is properly pronounced, is a a Thai and Vietnamese hot sauce laced with sugar and garlic, among other things, that has swept the country, butting heads with the venerable (and very different) Tabasco for the title of America’s hot sauce. I suspect people like sriracha because it’s not as hot as most chile sauces, and it is decidedly sweet. It’s easy to love.
At any rate, all you do here is roast the duck legs, mix up the ingredients to the sauce, warm it a little so the honey flows and toss with the duck. Put them back in the oven a bit to caramelize the sauce and you are good to go.
Serve this as a party appetizer or a snack, or as a course in a larger meal. You eat them with your fingers, by the way.
Honey Sriracha Lime Duck Legs
Ingredients
- 3 pounds of duck legs
- Salt
- 3/4 cup sriracha hot sauce
- Juice of 2 limes
- 3 tablespoons honey, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Instructions
- Salt the duck legs well and arrange them skin side up in one layer in a roasting pan or sheet pan. Put them in the oven and set it to 400°F. Don't preheat the oven. You want the temperature to come up gradually so some fat from the ducks renders and moistens the bottom of the pan, so the legs don't stick to it. Roast until tender, about 90 minutes to 2 hours. You might have a few legs that are still tough, but that's part of working with wild food. If you work with domesticated legs, you should only need about an hour. (Note that my oven will take 30 minutes to get to 400°F, so if you have a quick heating oven, start at 350°F for 30 minutes and then jack the heat up.) NOTE: Pre-braised legs will only need about 20 to 30 minutes to crisp up.
- Meanwhile, mix the remaining ingredients together in a small pot and warm just enough to incorporate the honey.
- When the duck legs are tender, take them out but keep the oven on. Put them into a large bowl (gently, as the meat will be starting to come off the bone) and pour the sauce over them. Carefully toss to combine and put them back on the baking sheet skin side up and return them to the oven. Keep an eye on the wings, and when you start to see a little bit of char on the sauce, which will caramelize quickly, pull them out. Serve with the remainder of the sauce in the mixing bowl.
Way to knock it out of the park with this one, Hank. We scaled back and made this with four Canada Goose legs and it was fantastic. We made slight adjustments to the proportions of Sriracha and honey because of our smaller batch, but WOW this one was amazing! Highly recommended.
These look great! I love Sriracha sauce on just about everything.
I like this one Hank! I am wondering for swapping in chicken legs (lame I know), but would you forgo the slower heating for fat rendering? It would seem to me that a high heat, preheated oven would be right for them for a crispy skin. Thanks
Nat: Yep, that sounds about right for chicken…
Not sure what ethnicity the people are who started mass producing it but they were from Sri Racha Thailand which is along the coast on the way to Pattaya from Bangkok. I think the Sri refers to some geographic feature like sheltered bay or peninsula or something. In any case Sri Rach is a sheltered water and used by many ships waiting to enter the port Bangkok used to export from. At any time one could see twenty to fifty ships standing by in the lee of the islands further out waiting to enter the port.
You seem to be venturing into SEAsian tastes and foods what with the Pho post and what not. Lao food especially lends itself to both wild meats and wild growing herbs and spices.
I’d definitely swap chicken wings for duck legs – how delicious!