Ducks Unlimited

On Tuesday we rounded out our poultry lesson with Canard (Duck) a L'Orange.  While cleaning out the insides of chickens, ducks, and guinea fowls doesn't really bother me,  I cannot exactly proclaim that it is my favorite thing to do.  So, here's to not having to stick my hand up a poultry cavity for a while!  First, however, are the photos of my last encounter: the duck.

Starts out the same as all the other birds.  Flambee over the fire.

Beheading.

And French manicure.  I must admit - those webbed feet are decidedly cuter than the other birds' feet and thus I felt a bit worse hacking them off, but I got over it fairly quickly.

The only thing I can tell you about this is when breaking down a duck try hard (really hard) not to accidentally cut into it's butt glands.  It's not a pretty sight.

Next I went after the thighs.

Then the breast.  Doesn't that kind of look like a mini t-shirt or am I still sleep deprived from last week?

Stuff the bird with ground duck meat, shallots and something else I quite frankly can't remember.

Sew the thigh back together.

Saute the thighs.

Throw in the garnish and the pieces of the duck's neck.

Then put the thighs back in the pan with some stock and put into the oven.

Next brown the breasts before popping them in the oven to finish cooking.

Now, it's time to tackle (something LSU football should learn to do) the "a l'orange" part of the recipe. 

Remove the bitter taste of the pith from the orange rind.

Make the sauce: start with a copper pot and cover it with sugar.  Put it over the heat and don't go anywhere!

The sugar slowly disappears.

And turns into caramel.

It can go from a beautiful caramel to burned in less than half a second, so make sure to stand by and be ready to pull it off the heat at the right time.

Throw in some Grand Marnier and then release your inner pyro.

Drop the orange rind into the sauce.

And Voila!  Canard a L'Orange.