Got a good duck recipe ?

The kids want duck on Christmas so duck they will get. Before I go to the cookbook, does anyone here have a nice recipe that isn't too demanding of my meager skills?

Here you go, but you have to start tomorrow. Merry Christmas.

SLOW ROASTED DUCKLING WITH ORANGE SAUCE:

Duckling(s)
Orange juice
Orange peel (zest)

Take a duckling (or as many as your oven will hold) and clean it up. Remove neck and giblets from cavity, excess fat from tail area, tail, neck flap, and outer two joints of wings. Thoroughly wash and dry inside and out. Reserve parts except fat for stock. Render and reserve fat for comfit. Pour half cup of orange juice over and into each bird. Rub into skin. Sprinkle with orange peel and place on a rack in shallow roasting pan in a 225 degree oven for seven hours. Don’t baste or disturb in any way, but be sure temperature stays stable. Oven thermometer recommended. Remove from oven and cool on another rack. When cool, wrap in foil and refrigerate at least overnight, or freezer until needed. When ready to serve, thaw if frozen, cut into serving pieces (quarters or halves), place cavity side down on rack in roasting pan, and cook at 450 degrees for twenty minutes. A baking dish of stuffing can be finished along side the pan of duck. Serve on bed of wild rice stuffing, and top with generous amount of orange sauce.

ORANGE SAUCE (for each duck)

1 C Orange juice
1 tbl Sugar (or pkt of Stevia)
1 tbl Cornstarch
1 tbl Sherry

Dissolve cornstarch in sherry. Add to orange juice with sugar and bring to boil. When thick and clear, it is ready to serve.

[Robin Garr]

Marcella Hazan's hair-dryer duck! No sweets, no fruit, and glassy skin almost as good as Peking Duck. I wrote up my evolved version of it in a Wine Advisor FoodLetter a while back. I've made this quite a few times, and there are no real gotchas that I can think of.

http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvis ... 1124.phtml

Thanks Carl and Robin - your input will help Liz and I decide what to do.
Merry Christmas!

[Jenise]

Jon, no recipe per se, I have nothing written down that is, but my favorite duck prep is a copycat version of the best duck I ever had at a left bank bistro in Paris called Chez Gregory. I basically roast a duck much like Robin describes, then make a brown sauce/gravy out of the fond in the bottom of the roasting pan (simply add water and flour, plus a bit of white wine) and then finish it with a handful of fresh blueberries. What the pop of those sweet/tangy little berries do for your red wine match is nothing short of amazing. Always serve it over pan-fried potatoes, which is how it was served in Paris. Good luck, no matter what you do!