On the old hotel dining room menus, or in the sort of restaurants where there would be a dessert trolley and traditional dishes flambéed at the table, this dish would sometimes be called Duck Bigarade, the latter being the name of a bitter orange sauce.

It is in the tradition of cuisine bourgeoise, which defines the home cooking of well-to-do French city folk rather than the haute cuisine of posh restaurants, so, strictly speaking, putting it on fancy restaurants menus was a bit of an affectation, even perhaps a culinary faux pas.

Be that as it may, there is no need to be embarrassed about any home cooking, and even the realm of French peasant cooking gave us some of what are now seen as the great French classics.

Having said that, the dish actually has its origins in Italy, arguably in Naples, where it was known as anatra con arance and from where it made its way to Paris. Another school of thought puts its origin in Florence, as anatra all’arancia, said to have existed there as long ago as the 14th century. 

Like our recipe for roast duck with cherry sauce recently, this requires a whole bird to be roasted for two hours after having been pricked many times for the fat to run out.

The sauce, while sweet, does have some red wine vinegar in it, which offsets the sweetness a little. In any event, duck is often served with a sweet sauce, because sweetness and fruit serve it well.

Ingredients

1 whole duck, wings removed (don’t throw them away, you can make a stock with them)

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

2 cups duck or chicken stock

4 oranges, including the juice of 3 and segments of 1, and their zest

6 Tbsp Cointreau or Grand Marnier liqueur

1 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 Tbsp water

2 Tbsp butter

Salt

1 carrot, 1 celery stick, 1 leek and 1 small onion, all chopped, for the stock

Method

Preheat the oven to 190℃.

Remove the wings and put them in a pot with the chopped carrot, onion, leek and celery, and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until the liquid is reduced by four fifths. Strain into a saucepan.

With a toothpick, prick the (cleaned and dried) bird many times, especially in all the fatty areas. This will help the fat to escape while cooking.

Put the duck on a rack above an oven pan so that the fat will drip out into it. Put it in the oven to roast for 1 hour and 30 minutes, then turn the heat up to 220℃ for 20 minutes.

Put the stock on the heat and add to it the juice of 3 oranges and 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar and simmer for 10 minutes or so. Add the Cointreau or Grand Marnier and a little salt and simmer for 2 minutes, then stir in the cornstarch mixed with water and stir until it thickens, which happens very quickly. Finally, stir in the butter a little at a time to enrich the sauce (as if it needs enriching). Leave it off the heat to rewarm when you need it.

Peel the remaining orange and divide into segments.

Dissect the cooked duck, leaving leg portions intact. Slice the breasts into 5 slices each on the diagonal.

Arrange the breast slices a little apart on a plate, with orange segments between them (or orange supremes if you’re skilled, though I confess to having difficulty doing it; i.e. segments with their membranes removed). Place a leg quarter alongside. Pour plenty of sauce on the plate, because the dish is as much about the sauce as it is the duck. Scatter slivers of orange zest over. DM/TGIFood 

To enquire about Tony Jackman’s book, foodSTUFF (Human & Rousseau) please email him at [email protected] 

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