Description
Duck à l’Orange is a classic French dish featuring a whole roasted duck with a luscious, balanced orange sauce. The recipe involves roasting the duck to crispy perfection and preparing a rich sauce made from a reduced stock, caramelized sugar, vinegar gastrique, and fresh citrus juices, resulting in a harmonious sweet and tangy complement to the rich, flavorful meat.
Ingredients
Scale
Duck
- 1 whole duck (about 5 pounds; 2.25kg)
- Vegetable oil, for drizzling
- Kosher salt
Vegetables for Stock
- 1 medium carrot, diced
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 large celery rib, diced
Stock and Sauce Base
- 2 quarts (2 liters) brown beef or brown chicken stock (see note)
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) tomato paste (optional)
- 4 ounces (115g) granulated sugar (about 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- Zest of 1 navel orange or 2 bitter oranges, cleaned of any white pith and cut into a fine julienne
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) fresh navel orange juice or 1/4 cup (60ml) bitter orange juice
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (omit if using bitter orange juice)
- Freshly ground white or black pepper
- 2 tablespoons (30g) cold unsalted butter
- Cornstarch or arrowroot (optional, only if needed)
Instructions
- Spatchcock the Duck (Optional): Use poultry shears to remove the backbone by cutting along both sides of the spine from the cavity to neck ends, then flip the duck and press down on the breast to flatten it. This allows for more even roasting.
- Prepare Duck and Trimmings: Trim excess skin around the neck and cavity, remove wingettes and wing tips at the joint, leaving the drumettes connected. Remove neck and any giblets from the cavity. Refrigerate trimmed wing ends, neck, and spine until ready to make the sauce; reserve giblets and trimmed skin for another use or discard.
- Prick Duck Skin and Parboil: Using a sharp paring knife, prick the skin all over without cutting into the meat, especially where the skin is thickest. In boiling water, and wearing heavy kitchen gloves, dip the duck into boiling water for 2 minutes to tighten the skin. Remove and let water drain off before transferring breast side up to a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Season and Dry: Season the duck all over, inside and out, with kosher salt. Refrigerate uncovered for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours to dry the skin for better crisping.
- Roast Duck Trimmings and Vegetables: Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). On a rimmed baking sheet, arrange the trimmed wings, neck (and backbone if spatchcocked) with diced carrot, onion, and celery. Drizzle lightly with oil and rub to coat. If using, rub tomato paste over duck and vegetables for color. Roast, stirring occasionally, until browned about 25 minutes, taking care not to burn.
- Prepare Stock: Add stock to a large saucepan and bring to simmer. Transfer roasted duck trimmings and vegetables to the stock. Pour some boiling water onto the baking sheet to scrape up browned bits and add to stock. Simmer gently until reduced by half, about 1 to 2 hours, skimming off any scum or fat.
- Strain and Further Reduce Stock: Strain stock through a fine mesh sieve, discarding solids. Transfer to a smaller saucepan and continue simmering until reduced to about 1 cup (225ml), 1 to 1.5 hours, skimming as necessary. Set aside.
- Roast the Duck: Increase oven to 450°F (230°C). Roast duck on wire rack over baking sheet for 30 minutes (expect some smoke). Then reduce oven to 300°F (150°C) and continue roasting until an instant-read thermometer reads about 175°F in the thickest parts (about 45 minutes if spatchcocked, 1 hour if whole). Remove and let rest.
- Make the Gastrique: In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1/4 cup water over medium heat. Stir until boiling, then simmer without stirring until syrup turns a very light honey color (about 6 minutes), swirling occasionally. Continue cooking until deep amber (1 to 4 minutes longer).
- Add Vinegar Safely: Remove from heat and add red wine vinegar in very small increments, carefully swirling to prevent boil-over. Once calmed, add remaining vinegar more quickly while swirling. The caramel may seize but will dissolve back.
- Simmer Gastrique: Return to medium heat, bring to boil, then reduce to simmer for 2 minutes. Stir if needed to dissolve hardened sugar. Set aside.
- Blanch Orange Zest: In a clean small saucepan, bring about 1 cup water to rolling boil. Add orange zest and cook until softened (about 2 minutes for navel orange zest, 15 minutes for bitter orange zest). Drain and set aside.
- Reheat Duck Before Serving: Return duck to oven for 5 to 15 minutes to reheat and crisp skin depending on how cool it became after resting.
- Prepare the Sauce: Add citrus juices to reduced stock, bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring often. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer gently until sauce coats the back of a spoon (about 5 minutes).
- Adjust Sauce Flavor: Add gastrique 1 teaspoon at a time to taste until a balanced sweet and sour flavor is achieved, usually 2 to 4 teaspoons. Reserve leftover gastrique for other uses.
- Finalize Sauce: Season with salt and pepper. Over very low heat, whisk in cold butter until smooth and silky; do not boil after adding butter. If sauce is too thin, whisk in a cornstarch or arrowroot slurry and simmer gently to thicken.
- Infuse Sauce with Zest: Add blanched orange zest and simmer gently over low heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Serve: Carve duck and serve with the orange sauce spooned on top or alongside for an elegant, flavorful meal.
Notes
- The sauce balances rich duck flavors with a sharp yet sweet orange-based gastrique, designed to cut through the duck’s richness.
- Spatchcocking the duck allows for more even roasting and shorter cooking times but is optional.
- Using tomato paste in roasting vegetables helps deepen the color of the stock but can be omitted.
- The gastrique should be added cautiously to avoid overpowering the sauce—taste frequently during addition.
- Leftover gastrique can be saved and used to enhance grilled or roasted vegetables or other sauces.
- Allowing the duck skin to dry uncovered in the fridge improves crispiness when roasted.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving (approximate, 1/4 of the recipe)
- Calories: 2323 kcal
- Sugar: 41 g
- Sodium: 1525 mg
- Fat: 176 g
- Saturated Fat: 61 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 56 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 121 g
- Cholesterol: 506 mg
