Serves 4
1 4½- to 4-pound duck
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1½ cups homemade chicken stock or canned broth
¼ cup Madeira
4 Italian sweet sausages
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cut off the duck’s cavity fat and wing tips. Season the body cavity with salt and pepper.
3. Put the duck in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a heavy saucepan. Add the shallots and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the stock and Madeira and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. After the duck has roasted for 30 minutes, remove it and cut it into quarters. Place the quarters in a heavy casserole. Pour the sauce over the duck, cover, and place in the oven. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and roast for 45 minutes.
6. Fifteen minutes before the duck is done sauté the sausages until they are golden brown. Quarter the sausages and serve them with the duck.
Serving Suggestions: Zucchini Robinson and Watercress and Orange Salad with Puréed Scallion Dressing.
Serves 4
1 5-pound duck
2 quarts water
½ cup honey
1 cup hoisin sauce (available in Oriental grocery stores)
8 scallions
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
⅔ cup hot water, or as needed
Peanut oil
1. Cut off the fat from the duck’s body cavity opening.
2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Stir in the honey. Put the duck in the water and roll it over to coat it completely. Immediately remove the duck, drain, and cool slightly.
3. Tie a piece of kitchen string around the neck fat or under the wings and hang the duck up. The easiest place is from a kitchen cabinet knob. Place a bowl under the duck to collect any drippings. Let the duck hang for 4 hours, or put a fan on the duck for 2 hours to dry out the skin. This procedure is essential for a successful Peking Duck.
4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
5. Put the duck on a rack in the oven with a roasting pan containing 1 inch of boiling water resting on the floor of the oven directly below the duck. Roast the duck for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until it is tender and the skin is very crisp and golden brown.
6. Meanwhile, pour the hoisin sauce into a serving bowl, cover, and set aside.
7. Prepare the scallion brushes by cutting off each root end and all but 1 inch of the greens. The scallion should be about 3½ inches long. Cut through 1 inch of both ends of each scallion; turn and cut through the same length at the opposite angle. Separate the layers with your fingers and put the scallions in a bowl of ice water. Cover and refrigerate. (The ends will curl up.)
8. Then make the pancakes: Combine the flour and water in a large bowl to form a soft pliable dough. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes, cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
9. Roll the dough into a circle ¼ inch thick and cut with a 2-inch cutter. Reshape the dough and make more 2-inch rounds. The dough should make 10 to 12 pancakes.
10. Brush oil lightly on top of half of the circles. Place the unoiled circles on top of the oiled ones and roll out to about 6 inches a pair.
11. Heat a wok or skillet and lightly cook the double pancakes quickly, about 15 seconds per side, until they are light brown. Separate the pancakes, cover, and wrap in aluminum foil.
12. When the duck is cooked, remove it from the oven to a carving board. Put the pancakes, still in the foil, in the turned-off hot oven. Drain the scallions and pat them dry with paper towels.
13. To carve the duck, first cut off the legs using a circular motion to separate them from the body and set them aside. With kitchen scissors, cut off the crisp skin from the breast area, sides, and back. Cut the skin into even rectangular pieces. Scrape off and discard any fat. Set the skin aside. Cut the breast halves off the duck and cut into ½- by 1-inch pieces.
14. Put the meat on a warmed serving platter with the drumsticks. Decorate the platter with the crisp skin pieces and scallion brushes. Serve with the hoisin sauce and pancakes.
15. To serve, let each guest take a pancake and a scallion brush. The brush is used to spread hoisin sauce over the pancake. Then the scallion brush is put in the center of the pancake with a piece of crisp skin and a piece of meat. One end of the pancake is turned up over the ingredients and the pancake is then rolled up or folded envelope-style.
Serving Suggestions: Chinese Velvet Corn Soup, Mixed Vegetables with Fine Egg Noodles, Bibb lettuce salad, and Fresh French Apple–Hazelnut Tart with Frangelico Whipped Cream.
Serves 4
Giblets from a 5-pound duck
4 chicken wings
1 bay leaf
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1 medium-sized onion, coarsely chopped
1 large turnip, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
6 sprigs fresh parsley
½ teaspoon dried thyme
10 whole black peppercorns
2 teaspoons salt
1 quart water
1 5-pound duck, cavity fat removed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Peel of 1 orange
6 navel oranges
1 lemon
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 cups duck stock (recipe above)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons Grand
Marnier or Cointreau
¾ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Prepare the Duck Stock: Put all the ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 1¼ hours.
3. Cut the wing tips off the duck and add them to the stock. Season the body cavity well with salt and pepper. Put the whole orange peel in the cavity. Prick the duck all over, except for the breast area, with the sharp point of a knife.
4. Put the duck in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and roast for 1 hour, or until the juice from the thigh area runs clear when pricked and the skin is golden brown.
5. Meanwhile, peel the outer orange skin from 2 of the oranges and the lemon. Squeeze the juice from the fruit into a bowl. Also squeeze the juice from the peeled rind in the duck’s cavity into the bowl.
6. Cut the zest into fine julienne strips. Put the strips into 2 cups of boiling water in a saucepan and cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Set aside.
7. Peel the skin and white membrane from the remaining 4 oranges and cut each into sections. Set aside.
8. Melt the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. When it begins to turn light brown, whisk in the vinegar. Remove the pan from the heat and add the combined orange and lemon juice. Strain the stock and add it to the orange mixture.
9. Dissolve the cornstarch in the Grand Marnier and stir into the liquid. Boil and whisk until the sauce thickens slightly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and remove from the heat.
10. Transfer the cooked duck to a carving platter.
11. Pour out the fat from the pan. Add the wine to the pan and bring to a boil, scraping up any particles in the bottom of the pan. Immediately strain the liquid into the sauce and bring to a boil. Whisk the butter into the sauce.
12. Carve the duck and arrange it on a heated serving platter. Garnish the duck with the orange strips and orange sections. Spoon a few tablespoons of the sauce over the duck and serve the remainder in a sauceboat.
Serving Suggestions: Minnesota-style Wild Rice, Red Cabbage and Cranberry Sauce, and buttered green peas.