Foods & cuts · Duck

Whole duck

A whole bird with far more fat than a chicken and two halves that disagree more sharply — a fast breast and a slow leg on one carcass.

What it is

Form: Whole bird
Typical weight: 1800–2600 g
Typical thickness: 90–130 mm
Cut: Not a cut of anything

Why it behaves as it does

The whole-bird conflict again, and duck has the worst version of it. On a chicken, breast and thigh want different endpoints but the same order of cooking time. On a duck the breast is a fast-cooking muscle usually served pink and the leg needs hours to convert its connective tissue, so cooking them as one object means choosing which to sacrifice — which is the honest reason so many duck preparations joint the bird first. The other governing fact is fat: there is a great deal of it under the skin, it renders throughout the cook and it has to go somewhere. Over direct heat it goes into the fire, which is the single most reliable flare-up in the catalogue. Scoring the skin and cooking indirect over a tray is the standard arrangement and both halves of it are about the fat. No duration is published.

When is it done?

Food-safety endpoint

Food Standards Agency
In the UK, food should reach 70 °C held for 2 minutes, or an equivalent time-and-temperature combination, at the slowest-heating point.
- 80 °C (176 °F) held for 0 min — measured at the slowest-heating point of the food.
- 75 °C (167 °F) held for 1 min — measured at the slowest-heating point of the food.
- 70 °C (158 °F) held for 2 min — measured at the slowest-heating point of the food.
- 65 °C (149 °F) held for 10 min — measured at the slowest-heating point of the food.
- 60 °C (140 °F) held for 45 min — measured at the slowest-heating point of the food.
The rule and its source
In the UK, food is considered adequately cooked when it reaches 70 °C held for 2 minutes, or an equivalent time-and-temperature combination.
Well established
- Food Standards Agency — States this directly
  “70°C for 2 minutes”
  How it was measured:
  Temperature is that of the food itself, at the slowest-heating point.
  Equivalent to a six-log reduction in vegetative bacteria.
  Where it applies:
  England, Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland follows equivalent guidance.
  About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
- Food Standards Agency — States this directly
  “60°C for 45 minutes, 65°C for 10 minutes, 70°C for 2 minutes, 75°C for 30 seconds”
  The combinations are presented as alternatives, not as a scale of increasing safety.
  Long, low cooks may satisfy a lower-temperature combination many times over without ever reaching the highest figure.
  About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
Food Standards Scotland
In Scotland, a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the food should read 75 °C or above, and minced meat products such as burgers, sausages and kebabs must be cooked thoroughly all the way through.
- 75 °C (167 °F) — measured at the thickest part of the food.
The rule and its source
In Scotland, Food Standards Scotland advises consumers that food is adequately cooked when a thermometer in the thickest part reads 75 °C or above.
Well supported
- Food Standards Scotland — States this directly
  “When inserted in the thickest part of the food, the thermometer should read 75°C or above.”
  Safety regime:
  Consumer guidance, addressed to people cooking at home.
  Where it applies:
  Scotland.
  A single core temperature where the FSA publishes 70 °C held for two minutes plus a ladder of equivalents. Two food bodies in one state giving different consumer advice, and neither is in error — the same shape as the FSA/USDA/MPI divergence the safety model was built around, arriving inside the United Kingdom.
  The page states no resting guidance.
  About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-14
New Zealand Food Safety / Ministry for Primary Industries
In New Zealand, meat should reach 75 °C or more at the middle of the thickest part, or an equivalent combination: 75 °C for 30 seconds, 70 °C for 3 minutes, or 65 °C for 15 minutes.
- 75 °C (167 °F) held for 1 min — measured at the middle of the thickest part.
- 70 °C (158 °F) held for 3 min — measured at the middle of the thickest part.
- 65 °C (149 °F) held for 15 min — measured at the middle of the thickest part.
The rule and its source
In New Zealand, meat should reach 75 °C or more at the middle of the thickest part, or an equivalent combination of 75 °C for 30 seconds, 70 °C for 3 minutes, or 65 °C for 15 minutes.
Well established
- New Zealand Food Safety / Ministry for Primary Industries — States this directly
  “the middle of the thickest part (where the temperature should be 75°C or more)”
  How it was measured:
  Middle of the thickest part, explicitly.
  Where it applies:
  New Zealand.
  About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
- New Zealand Food Safety / Ministry for Primary Industries — States this directly
  “75°C for 30 seconds, 70°C for 3 minutes, or 65°C for 15 minutes”
  These differ from the FSA's equivalents at the same temperatures — 3 minutes against 2 at 70 °C, 15 against 10 at 65 °C.
  Where it applies:
  New Zealand.
  About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
Tenderised meat is grouped with minced meat rather than with whole cuts, and must be cooked through when barbecued.
Well supported
- New Zealand Food Safety / Ministry for Primary Industries — States this directly
  New Zealand Food Safety advises that chicken, tenderised meat and minced meat products need to be barbecued until they are cooked through, over 75 °C all the way through.
  Form:
  Groups tenderised meat with mince rather than with whole cuts — direct support for treating mechanical tenderisation as an interior-contamination form.
  Stated specifically in the context of barbecuing.
  About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
Food Standards Australia New Zealand
Across Australia and New Zealand, cook chicken, sausages and hamburgers thoroughly to an internal temperature of 75 °C, checked with a food thermometer. Steaks may be cooked to preference.
- 75 °C (167 °F) — measured at the internal centre of the food, checked with a food thermometer.
The rule and its source
Across Australia and New Zealand, FSANZ advises cooking chicken, sausages and hamburgers thoroughly to an internal temperature of 75 °C, while stating that steaks may be cooked to preference.
Well established
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand — States this directly
  “Cook chicken, sausages and hamburgers thoroughly, to an internal temperature of 75oC - check the temperature with a food thermometer.”
  Where it applies:
  Australia and New Zealand together. FSANZ's remit is bi-national, which is why a New Zealand reader is covered by this AND by MPI.
  Form:
  Names chicken, sausages and hamburgers — poultry plus the two commonest minced forms.
  Method:
  Stated in the context of sausage sizzles and barbecues specifically.
  About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand — States this directly
  “Steaks can be cooked to preference”
  A regulator saying explicitly where its own rule stops. Most authorities leave this to be inferred; FSANZ writes it down.
  Form:
  The distinction is FORM, not species: the same animal appears on both sides of the sentence.
  About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
Food Standards Australia New Zealand
Use separate equipment for raw and cooked meat, and never put cooked meat back on a tray or plate that held it raw. Throw away leftovers unless there is refrigeration available to cool them quickly.
The rule and its source
At a barbecue, raw and cooked meat must be kept apart: separate equipment, and cooked meat never returned to the tray that held it raw.
Well established
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand — States this directly
  “never place cooked meat back on the trays that held the raw meat”
  The single most common barbecue food-safety failure, and one that no cooking temperature prevents.
  Where it applies:
  Australia and New Zealand.
  About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
Food Standards Agency
Wash a thermometer stem in hot soapy water before and after each use, and do not put the head in water.
The rule and its source
A thermometer stem should be washed in hot soapy water before and after each use, and the head should not be put in water.
Well established
- Clemson Cooperative Extension — States this directly
  “Make sure to clean the stem of your food thermometer with hot soapy water before and after each use. Do not immerse the head in water.”
  Before and after, not just after. a probe that went into an undercooked bird and then into the next one is a cross-contamination route BBQHQ's food-safety model already recognises between surfaces and hands, and has never described for the instrument that touches every piece of meat on the grate.
  The head exclusion is an equipment instruction rather than a hygiene one — electronics — and is recorded here because it is in the same sentence and separating them would misquote the source.
  About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-21

When it goes wrong

It caused flare-ups: Flare-ups — 2 distinguishable causes.
The skin was rubbery: Chicken skin is rubbery — 3 distinguishable causes.

Afterwards

Cooling, keeping and reheating what is left is general guidance for barbecue leftovers. Neither UK authority publishes anything specific to whole duck, and BBQHQ does not invent a distinction they do not make.

What we don't know about this

No published barbecue cooking time has been found for this food. The sources that cover it describe how to prepare it or how to keep it safe, not how long it takes over fire.

What we know we’re missing records what was searched for each of these, and what would settle it.