Duck à l'orange

This dish was requested as the pièce de resistance for hubby's birthday. The tradition in our family is that the birthday person decides the menu (except for me, I want to be taken out for dinner on my birthday!) & most of the time the person in question comes up with elaborate, time consuming & expensive menus. So duck à l'orange was a reasonable request, since excellent duck is easy to find at the local atélier butcher.
TIP: Before cooking the duck, dry it inside & out with paper towels. By removing excess liquid, the duck will crisp better.
Never throw away the fat drippings from the duck. They keep very well in fridge or freezer and are wonderful in dishes from roast potatoes to scrambled eggs.

The recipe that follows is for about a 10lb or 4.5k duck: if making a smaller one, reduce the cooking times.

Canard à l'orange

1 duck

6 oranges

1 medium onion

1 carrot (optional)

4 tbsp sugar or honey

2 tbsp white vinegar

any orange flavored liquer (Cointreau, Grand Margnier...)

Place duck in hot oven as is (do not add anything to it). Let cook about 1 1/2 hours, draining the fat & putting it aside.

While the duck is crisping, prepare the sauce.

Grate the zest of 2 of the oranges, set it aside in a bowl with the orange liquer.

Remove the zest in peels from the other oranges. With a sharp knife, carefully remove the colored skin of the orange, without taking the thicker white (which is bitter).

Scald all the oranges in boiling water about 4 minutes, set aside to cool.

Slice the peels thinly, just cover them with boiling water until liquid evaporates.

Slice the onion (and carrot) thinly, add to the peels, cover with sugar or honey & vinegar. Let carmelize over medium heat.

Peel the oranges, slice two thinly and add to the zest & liquer mixture. Set aside for decoration.

Chop the remaining oranges and add to the carmalizing sauce. Cook it down.

Splash the orange liquer on the crisping duck. Cook another 10 minutes or so until liquid is absorbed.

When the duck is crisped, cover with the carmalized mixture (this should be done about 3 times during the cooking process) until the duck is cooked (about another 1 1/2 hours).

Just before serving, pour the zest & liquer mixture on the duck, decorate with the sliced orange and put back in the oven another 10 minutes or until excess liquid is absorbed.

Serve with roast potatoes or a gratin.