The friends I stay with take advantage of my being
there to have me cook things for them that they
wouldn't be inclined to do themselves.

I had a few days with my friend Bonnie, and she
asked me what I would like to fix for her. I said I'd
make whatever she wanted, so she said, and I quote,
"I'd rather you told me what to get, like a duck
and two oranges." So I said "okay, get me a duck and
two oranges." Here's what I did with that bounty.

0. The duck had to be washed, the innard packet
dealt with, and the sauce packet tasted, grimaced at,
and discarded. Why they make you pay duck prices for
high-fructose corn syrup, cornstarch, and natural and
artificial flavorings I don't know (oh, yes, I do).

1. Beginning the cutup process, I removed the breasts
for another meal.

2. I removed the legs for another meal.

3. I removed pretty much all visible fat from the
carcass and rendered it out for cooking grease and
(not incidentally) for the cracklings, which were
delicious.

4. The carcass was roasted for an hour and went into
the pot with assorted vegetable trimmings for stock.

5. The giblets were cut up and combined with assorted
trimmings and scrapings from the carcass. These were
sauteed with about 3 oz of scallion greens, a chopped
carrot, and a handful of Trader Joe's frozen peas
(imported from Austria - these were actually fairly
crummy). This mess got got fried up with some leftover
rice to make duck fried rice, one of the wonders of the
world if made with duck fat. That was meal one.

6. Meal two was duck breast a l'orange a ma facon.

7. Meal three was the legs braised in some of that stock
with soy sauce, a bit of onion, and a carrot.

Duck a l'orange a ma facon
categories: unclassic, poultry, main
servings: 2

2 duck breast halves, excess fat trimmed
3 Tb onion
2 sm ginger coins, mashed lightly
2 sm garlic cloves, mashed lightly
1/2 tangerine, peel only, partially dried
- half slivered and half in one piece
1 orange, juice only
1 c stock, more as needed
1/2 c dry sherry
s, p
white wine vinegar
1 oz brandy or more if you're a pyro

Cook meat in a dry pan over medium-low heat for
20 min or until skin is browned and beginning to
crisp. Flip over the breasts and let brown on
the other side. Remove from the pan and keep warm.

Remove most of the fat from the pan, leaving an
ounce or so. If you are less enthusiastic about
duck fat than I, drain it all off and replace it
with some butter. In whatever fat you use, wilt
the onion, ginger, garlic, and tangerine peel.
Increase heat to medium-high and add orange juice,
stock, and sherry. Reduce sauce to 3/4 c or so.
Remove and discard the big piece of tangerine peel,
the garlic, and the ginger, leaving the slivers of
peel. Taste for seasoning, correcting with salt,
pepper, and/or vinegar (I didn't use any vinegar)
and dilute with more stock if necessary for
consistency. Flame with brandy.

Slice duck, fan on a warm plate, and serve with the
sauce strained over.

Source: moi. 4/29/2018
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