Stephen is co-owner and chef at T&Cake Cafe, Almondbury
This week, it’s into the time-machine, with a return to an old copper-bottomed classic from the haute cuisine years, Canard à l’Orange.
Duck à l’Orange conjures, for me at least, widescreen memories of 1970s bistros, waiters with black waistcoats and starched ankle-length aprons.
The bustle of a busy, popular joint and a menu filled with all those timeless classics like kidneys Turbigo, Coq Au Vin, Sole Bonne Femme and
Crêpes Suzette being flambéed tableside. It was an absolute staple on almost every bistro menu for many years, only fading into history when nouvelle cuisine muscled in on the action with its minimalist zero-fat ‘fish-and-chips-on-the-way-home’ nonsense.
It’s an often well-remembered dish, despite being one that many unscrupulous chefs would knock up in the most cack-handed fashion using little more than a bottle of Britvic and a splash of demi-glace sauce.
The noble duck deserves more respect than this, and a properly-made Canard à l’Orange is a work of incredible beauty; a beautifully tender roast duck, its crisp skin the colour of a well-varnished oak table, carved with care and served with a piquant sauce made with fresh orange juice and zest, rich duck stock and a splash of
orange liqueur.
The key is to keep the sauce quite tart, in order to counteract the fattiness of the duck. I thought I’d have a bit of a play about with the classic recipe, whilst retaining the traditional ideas, and as I had some frozen duck legs to hand, immediately thought of confit-ing them to serve with the sauce – the yielding crisp-skinned flesh would be perfect with that sharp, citrussy flavour. So I set to and cured the legs, as is traditional for the classic confit. It’s a step one can skip, but the resulting legs won’t be half as tender. I use a little sugar in my cure for added flavour, alongside the classic aromatics of thyme and garlic. And I’m pairing this blast from the past with a potato dish also right out of the old school. Pommes Anna is a neat circle of layered thin discs of buttered
potato, which cling together while roasting, forming a crunchy golden crust and a soft, yielding centre, very much like a rösti, but a little more structured.
I remember it being my chosen accompaniment for the lamb dish for my final exam at Leith’s School of Food & Wine. For weeks I tested out my individual pommes Anna, trying to avoid the dreaded ‘stuck slice’ which can adhere to the pan and pull the whole thing apart when unmoulding.
Fortunately, on the day of the exam, I was so obsessed with getting the potatoes right that I produced two absolute beauties; crisp, even and golden all over, perfectly seasoned.
I shall gloss over the fact that I overseasoned my lamb and redcurrant jus so much it had to be rescued with a hastily-diced raw potato (a good tip if you over-salt a sauce is to grate in some raw spud – it absorbs the salt – and pass through a sieve after 5 or 10 minutes).
I passed, thank goodness, and here I am today, so much time down the line, having my first attempt at this wonderful potato dish in well over 20 years. There’s a little less pressure knowing Prue Leith isn’t going to walk in and slide an inquisitive finger through my lamb gravy.
Combine these wonderfully crunchy potatoes with the glorious tender duck and the whole dish comes together.
All it needs is the crisp freshness of a big helping of fresh watercress to scythe through the richness, and we’re whisking ourselves back to the time of gingham tablecloths, Beaujolais Nouveau and Edith Piaf 45s.
A great supper dish, and perfect for chilly nights. Next week, we start a short series of recipes suited to the festive period, with a few twists on yuletide classics.
For the duck legs:
4 Duck legs
800g duck fat
150g Maldon salt
A few sprigs fresh thyme
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
2 tbsps dark brown sugar
For the orange sauce:
The juice and zest of 4 oranges
4 rashers smoked streaky bacon, shredded
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 small carrot, diced
1 stick celery, diced
A little fresh thyme
150ml strong duck stock (or chicken)
150ml Madeira
1 large spoonful marmalade
1 tsp arrowroot
A splash of Grand Marnier, Curaçao or Cointreau
The juice of a small lemon
For the pommes Anna:
675g Desirée potatoes
55g reserved duck fat
Maldon salt and freshly-ground pepper
A little fresh rosemary, very finely chopped
Extras:
Fresh watercress
Method:
First, the duck; rub the duck legs all over with the salt and sugar, and mix with the garlic, thyme and pepper. Place in a bag or tub overnight, to lightly cure the legs. The next day, rinse off the duck legs and pat them dry. Heat the oven to 150ºC / Gas 2. Melt the duck fat in a suitable heavy casserole-style pan and pop in the duck legs. Cook, undisturbed for 3½ to 4 hours, until the meat is tender.
Remove carefully from the fat and drain well. Collect all the fat together and store for future use. It will keep for many months.
Next, start the pommes Anna; peel the potatoes, trim into neat cylinders (but only if you’re feeling fancy) and slice on a mandolin or with a very sharp knife into slices a few millimetres thick.
Heat the oven to 200ºC / Gas 6. Brush a round baking tin or shallow oven dish with a little duck fat and lay the potatoes in a neat overlapping pattern, seasoning and drizzling with more duck fat as you go.
Set the pan over a medium heat and allow the potatoes to cook a little. Move the pan around occasionally. You just have to guesstimate how well they’re doing here, but don’t worry.
Pop a lid on the potatoes, or cover with foil, and bake for 45-50 minutes, until they are completely cooked, then remove the lid and cook again until golden and crisp. Keep warm until you’re ready to serve.
For the gravy, fry the bacon until golden and crisp. Add the vegetables and cook until soft and translucent, then raise the heat to add a little colour. Pour off as much of the fat as possible, then add the Madeira and reduce the liquid by half.
Add the stock, the marmalade, the orange juice and the thyme, and simmer for about half an hour, before straining into a clean pan. Reduce again by about a third, until the sauce is deep and rich.
Slake the arrowroot in the lemon juice and whisk into the sauce to thicken, adding the orange zest just before serving for peak freshness.
Heat the oven to 200ºC / Gas 6. Roast the duck legs for about 30-40 minutes, until they’re sizzling happily, then plate up with a wedge of pommes Anna and a good few spoonfuls of the rich orange sauce. Serve with plenty of fresh watercress and a fruity, light-ish red.
