Duck A L'Orange

Makes 4 servings, but we got more. This recipe was modified from one I saw on the internet. I made many changes. There are 2 parts - the duck and the sauce. Brian and James and Nita all liked it.

Total time is about 2.5 hours; active time is about 45 minutes.

Duck - ingredients:

1 tbsp. sea salt
1 tsp. coriander
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. pepper
1 Muscovy Duck (could use Long Island or Pekin)
1/2 orange cut into 4 pieces
1/2 orange for juice
1 small onion cut into 8 wedges
1/2 cup Triple Sec
1/2 cup stock - either from duck, veal or chicken
1/2 carrot
1/2 rib of celery

Duck preparation:

Preheat oven to 475
Stir together the salt, coriander, cumin and pepper. Pat duck dry and sprinkle spice mixture inside and out. Put orange pieces and 4 onion pieces in the duck cavity.

Squeeze juice from remaining 1/2 orange and mix well with Triple Sec and stock - set aside for later.

Place remaining 4 onion wedges into roasting pan with the carrot and celery; place duck on top of the veggies and roast 30 minutes. Turn on broiler and broil cuck 3-4 inches from heat until top is golden brown - about 3 minutes (I think I did it longer, though, since I like the skin crispy).

Pour Triple Sec mixture into roasting pan and reduce temperature to 350. Continue to roast until duck temperature is 170 (about 1 - 1.25 hours). Let duck stand 15 minutes.

Sauce Ingredients:

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup fresh orange juice from 1-2 oranges
2 tbsp. white vinegar
1/8 tsp sea salt
2-4 tbsp chicken broth
1 tbsp softened butter
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. julienne fresh orange zest - I used a vegetable peeler to get the zest

Sauce Preparation:

While the duck is roasting, cook sugar in a dry 1-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring with a fork until the sugar melts into a deep golden caramel.

USE EXTREME CAUTION HERE!!!

Add orange juice, vinegar and salt - the mixture will bubble, pop and steam vigorously.

Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally until the caramel is dissolved. Remove syrup from heat and set aside.

Final Preparation

Discard the veggies from the roasting pan and pour pan juices through a fine sieve into a 1-2 quart heavy sauce pan. Add enough stock to pan juices to total 1 cup of liquid

Stir together butter and flour and add to the pan juices when they begin to simmer - whisk constantly to prevent lumps. Add orange syrup and zest and simmer, whisking occasionally until sauce is thickened slightly and zest is tender - about 5 minutes.

Serve sauce with the duck and enjoy!