Roasted Duck Breast, Bitter Orange Sauce ‘Bigarade’, Glazed Vegetables

Yes, I do have a passion for duck, and in my youth, each time I travelled to France, this is a dish I ordered without fail whenever it was available on a restaurant menu. A French classic, ’Canard a l’orange’, even though the Italians like to take credit for it, as they do with a number of French dishes they claim were bequeathed to France by the Medici court …

… Today you will rarely come across a ‘Roasted Duck Breast, Bitter Orange Sauce “Bigarade”, Glazed Vegetables’ on any menu outside its own country, especially since it is somewhat of an acquired taste, the ‘gaminess’ of the meat accented, rather than subdued as with duck confit.

It is nonetheless not only delicious for those with a taste for the bird, but also a terrifically majestic dish, the bitter sweet orange reduction, Sauce ‘Bigarade’ a perfect contrast to the earthy flavour and bouquet of the meat , which when properly cooked has the ideal texture of tender yet firm.

The turned and glazed vegetable accompaniment sustains the duet of sweet and salty tastes that define and distinguish the dish.

Turning vegetables is a skill I have never been able to master, just like using chopsticks, and so I am going to show you how to half turn them as neatly as possible, but I suggest you take proper instruction from YouTube if you want to perfect the technique.

YIELD: 4 COVERS

• 16 turned carrots & 16 turned potatoes (it isn’t possible to give exact weights as each carrot and potato will yield a different number of turned pieces, depending on size and skill)
• Enough water to cover the vegetables in a pot
• 60g butter
• 45g caster sugar

First peel your potatoes and carrots and cut each into batons as shown below (STEPS 1, 2 & 3). Then using the turning knife, round off each of the edges, preserving the surface of one side (STEPS 4 & 5). Don’t worry if they appear jagged, they will even out during the cooking process. Place them in a pot, pour in enough water to just cover the vegetables, add the sugar and butter (STEP 6), bring to a boil and then simmer until the vegetables are ‘al dente’ (STEP 7).

Then lift the vegetables out of the liquid using a slotted spoon (STEP 8), and reduce the liquid to a glaze, i.e. till it is beginning to burn around the edges of the pot (STEP 9). Take it off the heat and return the vegetables to the pot and toss in the glaze (STEP 10). Reheat gently and reduce further just before serving.

FOR THE SAUCE BIGARADE

YIELD: 4 COVERS

• 3 oranges (180-200ml juice)
• 1 to 2 lemons (30ml juice)
• 3 cups chicken stock (dissolve 4 knorr cubes in 2 litres of hot water and then measure out 3 cups)
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar

Please note that if you are using packaged orange juice, as I frequently do, then you must halve the quantity of the red wine vinegar and granulated sugar, which is called the ‘gastrique’, else the sauce will be too sweet.

STEP 1 is to prepare the gastrique i.e in a saute pan, over low heat, cook the sugar with the vinegar until reduced to a dark syrup (IMAGE 2).

Then add the stock, orange and lemon juice (STEP 3), bring to a boil (STEP 4), then reduce heat and let simmer for about 45 min to 1 hours or until you achieve a coating consistency (IMAGE 5). Reheat gently before use.

FINAL COOKING AND FINISHING OF THE ‘ROASTED DUCK BREAST, BITTER ORANGE SAUCE BIGARADE, GLAZED VEGETABLES’

And now onto the ‘piece de resistance’, the Duck breast; in keeping with the 4 portion recipes for the vegetable accompaniment and sauce, you will need 4 duck breasts, but I am simply showing you how to do one for the purpose of precision and detail. I get my duck breast from a supplier called Foodsmith, located in New Delhi and who imports them from Thailand.

STEP 1 is to prepare a ‘mirepoix’ i.e. a trivet of potatoes and carrots, or just potatoes, cut into half inch potato cubes, on which the duck breast will finish cooking in the oven. Chop the vegetables up into cubes and place in a saute pan with some oil, cook lightly and reserve until use. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Then place your duck breast on a chopping board and gather the rest of your ingredients with which you will marinate the duck i.e. 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic + 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh or dried mixed herbs + 1 teaspoon olive oil per duck breast (STEP 2). Then with a sharp knife, score the fat of the breast without cutting into the flesh (STEP 3). Next, marinate the duck by rubbing the flesh side with the three ingredients (STEP 4).

Then sear the duck breast skin side down in a non-stick saute pan brushed lightly with cooking oil, pressing down with a spatula (STEPS 5 & 6). In the meanwhile, begin heating the vegetable mirepoix.

Then flip the duck breast, let it cook flesh side down for about 15 seconds (STEP 7) and then lift and place it onto the heated mirepoix and place the pan straight into the oven for 10 mins in order to achieve a perfect ‘medium’ degree of cooking (STEP 8). Remove from the oven and place the breast on a chopping board (STEP 9). Let it rest a few minutes and then slice. Unfortunately the fat of the Thai duck breast do not achieve a crisp edible consistency, so I remove the layer of fat before slicing. It is very simple to do.

Mount the vegetables as shown below (FINAL IMAGE), in a criss cross pattern, crown with micro-herbs, overlap the slices of duck half in a half moon shape, slather them with the sauce, and drizzle some sauce around the plate.

Above: Final Image