Duck à l’orange

Duck à l’orange

My experience with duck is limited. SURPRISE!

Growing up my Uncle would always make a dynamite duck at his house, but not Duck à l’orange. Elsewhere, my only experience with duck was of the Peking variety. Again no, Duck à l’orange.

I love duck, and I would always get it when we would go out because nothing is quite as satisfying than well prepared duck. I always see chefs having to make Duck à l’orange on cooking shows and they cringe. It’s like the “Jade Monkey” of cooking dishes.

Duck is very rich tasting due to its high fat content (it’s high in all the fats baby! you go on with your bad self duck!), if you opt out of the skin you can make it healthier (but that is really no fun). Why is duck so fatty? Well think about it, if you are a duck you typically live in a cold weather environment so you need to have fat to stay warm and to survive in harsh climates, ergo lotsa fat! That’s also why cold water fish are so high in those “good fats” because if they weren’t they wouldn’t survive. Ever seen butter when it’s cold? It’s hard. Ever seen olive oil cold? It’s still fluid, that’s because of all the unsaturated fats. Sorry for the biochemistry tangent.

Duck is high in protein, vitamin B-6, Iron, and other important minerals. But because of its high fat content don’t make a regular habit of eating it.

Duck à l’orange, is a notorious dish. Notorious usually means a bad thing. And it did in this dish’s case, it transformed into something horrid by the 70’s and 80s. So bad that it was proclaimed by Chef Gordon Ramsay as, ‘The culinary equivalent of flared trousers.’  YAMA HAMA! Gordon laying down the venom!

But I think Chef Ramsay is getting too emotional, pairing meats with fruits are as old as time (cough cough* ancient Persians * cough cough) . Duck à l’orange, specifically seems to find its roots in Europe sometime during the Renaissance. You have a regular old world power tussle over who invented this dish. The Italians claim they created it, while the French say it’s theirs.

The French certainly win the spirit award for proclaiming their love for the dish, so there’s that. Back in the 17th century Louis XIV helped this dish reach superstar levels by helping the spread of fine dining across Europe. Because in 17th Century Europe who didn’t want to eat like the Sun King? He was literally the King of the SUN! Oh Louis, you and your divine right!

The Sun King, being the trendsetter that he was for absolutist monarchs told all his monarch friends about it and before you know it, everyone was eating Duck à l’orange at their royal table.

But just like every good thing, Duck à l’orange’s reign of awesomeness had to come to an end. And oh boy did it ever! In the 60’s Duck à l’orange became so played out and nobody likes being first to the party than foodies. So by the 1960’s they were very annoyed that their cool indie band of a dish that was fostered in the halls of royalty was now being eaten by the “commoners.”

But now Duck à l’orange is making a comeback of the sorts. Celebrity chefs be damned.

Recipe

1 Duck Breast

2 Tsp. Salt

2 Tsp. Pepper

1 Tsp. Thyme

1/8 Cup of White Wine * Optional* Use to deglaze your pan once the duck is cooked.

Sauce

1/2 Cup of Orange Juice

1 Tsp. Orange Zest

2 Tbsp Sugar

1 Tbsp. White Wine Vinegar

1 Tbsp. Butter

2 Tbsp. Broth

Method

Score the skin side of the duck breast ( about three cuts). Place the breast skin side down on a oven safe frying pan, with no cooking oil. Make sure the pan is cold. You want to start the pan cold to allow the fat to render out of the breast (thanks Gordon Ramsay for that tip!)

Start at a low heat, and cook the breast until the skin side is crispy. Now finish it in the oven at 350F for about 15 minutes depending on your preference for doneness.

While the duck is in the oven cooking, heat the butter in a saucepan and then as it foams add all of the other ingredients. Allow the sauce to reduce so it takes a nice glaze.

Once your duck breast has cooked ( you want to cook it like beef, so if you like it medium rare cook it less) Once it’s cooked, slice the duck breast thick after about 10 minutes to allow the juices to stay in the meat. Then brush the glaze onto the breast. Save the fat! It keeps well and goes great on all sorts of dishes.

Enjoy!