Duck a l’orange

Much can be prepared ahead of time, so that in the final chapter you roast the duck, you let is sit while finishing the sauce, you cut and serve.

The bird:

• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 (5- to 6-lb) duck
• 1 juice orange, halved
• 4 fresh thyme sprigs
• 4 fresh marjoram sprigs
• 2 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs
• 1 small onion, cut into 8 wedges
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup duck stock, duck and veal stock*, chicken stock, or reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 carrot
• 1/2 celery rib

The sauce

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup fresh orange juice (from 1 to 2 oranges)
• 2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 to 4 tablespoons duck or chicken stock or reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon fine julienne of fresh orange zest, removed with a vegetable peeler

So:

Prepare all the stuff, perhaps make the duck stock

1. Remove the giblets, the neck, the unnecessary skin etc from the bird and boil with some spices into a broth. You will need about a ¾ cups of it to dilute the roasting liquid and perhaps the sauce when finishing it . Otherwise you will substitute with other stock (chicken, knorr tube..)
2. Squeeze juice from the half of and orange and stir together with wine and ½ cup stock. Set aside. This will be required about 30 minutes into the roasting process
3. Cook sugar in a dry 1-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork, until sugar melts into a deep golden caramel. Add orange juice, vinegar, and salt (use caution; mixture will bubble and steam vigorously) and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until caramel is dissolved. Remove syrup from heat

Roast the bird

4. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 475°F
5. Stir together salt, coriander, cumin, and pepper. Pat duck dry and sprinkle inside and out with spice mixture. Cut remaining half of orange into quarters and put in duck cavity with thyme, marjoram, parsley, and 4 onion wedges.
6. Spread remaining 4 onion wedges in roasting pan with carrot and celery, then place duck on top of vegetables and roast 30 minutes.
7. Pour wine mixture into roasting pan and reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Continue to roast duck until thermometer inserted into a thigh (close to but not touching bone) registers 170°F, 1 to 1 1/4 hours more. Turn on broiler and broil duck 3 to 4 inches from heat until top is golden brown, about 3 minutes.
8. Tilt duck to drain juices from cavity into pan and transfer duck to a cutting board, reserving juices in pan. Let duck stand 15 minutes.

Make sauce:

9. Discard vegetables from roasting pan and pour pan juices through a fine-mesh sieve into a 1-quart glass measure or bowl, then skim off and discard fat.
10. Add enough stock to pan juices to total 1 cup liquid.
11. Stir together butter and flour to form a beurre manié.
12. Bring pan juices to a simmer in a 1- to 2-quart heavy saucepan, then add beurre manié, whisking constantly to prevent lumps.
13. Add orange syrup and zest and simmer, whisking occasionally, until sauce is thickened slightly and zest is tender, about 5 minutes.

Serve:

14. Cut and serve the duck on a heated platter, the sauce in a sauce boat (?); I suggest the jasmine rice, but some fancy noodles, perhaps, would be just as satisfying..