Gourmet Foods

• 1 5-6 pound duck
• 2 teaspoons salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 cups diced apples
• 12 pitted prunes
• 1 egg
• 4 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Singe the duck to remove pin feathers; wash and dry. Make a paste of the salt, pepper, and minced garlic. Rub into the duck. Mix together the apples, prunes, egg, bread crumbs and sugar. Stuff the duck and close the opening. Place on a rack in a roasting pan.

Roast in a 400 oven for 20 minutes; reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and roast for 2 ½ hours longer or until browned and tender. Pour off the fat a few times during the roasting. Serves 4.

• 1 5-6 pound duck
• 2 teaspoons salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups orange juice
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ½ cup beef broth
• 2 tablespoons current jelly
• 2 oranges, segmented

Singe the duck to remove the pin feathers; wash and dry. Season with the salt and pepper. Place on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast in a 350 degree oven 3 hours, or until tender and browned.

Measure 2 tablespoons of the fat from the roasting pan and pour into a saucepan. Stir in the flour and gradually add the orange juice, mixing steadily until mixture reaches the boiling point. Add the lemon juice, broth, jelly and orange segments. Cook over low heat 10 minutes. Carve the duck and serve with sauce. Serves 6.

Stock for the sauce

(Prepare several hours or the day before your dinner.)

• Duck wing ends, neck, giblets
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 medium carrot, sliced
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 cup beef bouillon
• 2 cups water
• 4 parsley sprigs, 1 bay leaf, and ¼ teaspoon sage

Chop the duck wing ends, neck, and giblets into1 inch pieces. Brown in a frying pan in hot cooking oil with the sliced carrot and onion. Transfer to a heavy saucepan; add bouillon and enough water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to the simmer, skim off scum, then add the herbs and simmer 2 to 2 ½ hours. Strain, skim off all fat, and boil down until you have 2 cups of liquid. When cold, cover and refrigerate until needed.

The orange peel

(This may be done several hours ahead.)

Using a vegetable peeler, remove just the orange part of the skin in strips. Cut into fine julienne (small strips no more than 1/16 inch wide and 1 ½ inches long). Simmer for 15 minutes in 1 quart of water, to remove bitterness; then drain, rinse in cold water, and sauce; part, inside the duck. Wrap it in waxed paper and refrigerate if you are not ready to use it. Wrap and refrigerate the partially peeled oranges until later.

Roasting the duck

Roasting time: 1 hour and 30 to 40 minutes.

• A 5-lb. ready to cook duckling
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/3 of the prepared orange peel

A shallow pan with rack, just large enough to hold the duck easily.

Prepare the duck as described at beginning of recipe; dry thoroughly, season cavity with salt and pepper, and add the orange peel. Truss wings and legs to body and close cavity. For accurate timing, duck must be at room temperature.

If you are roasting the duck on a rotary spit, use moderately high heat. For oven roasting, preheat to 450 degrees and set duck breast up on rack in roasting pan; after 15 minutes, turn oven down to 350 degrees, then turn duck from one side to the other every 15 minutes. Basting is not necessary. Note that the meat of the duck roasted in the French manner is juicy and cooked to just under the well done stage. To tell when the duck is done, prick thickest part of the drumstick deeply with a fork: the juices should run faintly rosy to clear yellow.

Continuing with the sauce; the orange segments

• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• The 2 cups of duck stock
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot blended with 2 tablespoons port
• The rest of the orange peel, and the oranges

Blend the sugar and vinegar in a small saucepan, swirl over heat to melt sugar completely, and then boil rapidly until mixture is a caramel brown. Remove from heat and beat in half the duck stock; simmer, stirring, to dissolve the caramel. Remove from heat and beat in half the duck stock; simmer, stirring, to dissolve the caramel. Remove from heat, pour in rest of the duck stock, and blend in the arrowroot mixture. Add orange peel and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes; carefully correct seasoning. The sauce will be lightly thickened, and clear. Shortly before serving, cut white part of peel off oranges, and then cut the oranges into neat, skinless segments-if done too far ahead, segments will not taste fresh. Refrigerate in a covered bowl until serving time.

Final assembly and serving

When duck is done, place on serving platter and discard trussing strings; keep it warm in turned-off oven until ready to serve. Spoon fat out of roasting pan, pour in the port wine, and scrape up all the coagulated roasting juices with a wooden spoon. Pour mixture into sauce and bring to a simmer, adding orange liqueur. Taste carefully; Add drops of bitters or lemon juice if sauce seems too sweet. Just before serving, remove from heat and swirl in butter, a tablespoonful at a time. Decorate breast of duck with orange segments and pile the rest of the segments at either end of the platter; spoon with a bit of sauce and peel over duck, pour rest into a warm sauceboat, and serve.