French Duck and Orange Sauce (Canard à la Bigarade)

The 'duck à l'orange' is reclaiming its maiden name - this classic French dish uses duck breasts for fast, elegant French flavour.

Duck à l’Orange saw its mass-cultural peak in the 1960’s, becoming a household staple and a usual suspect on date-night bistro menus. The true origins of this dish became obscured by theatrical flambées, dashed of expensive cognac and high-end refinement - when it’s roots are actually much more humble. No flames, no (expensive) booze, no fuss. And if you wanted to be really fussy, you’d find that duck and orange was originally an Italian concept, brought to France by Queen Medici’s brigade of chefs from Italy. Classically, this dish goes by a maiden name: ‘Canard à la Bigarade’. Duck with a Bigarade Sauce. ‘Bigarade’ just refers to the sour oranges from Provence that are traditionally used to make this sauce. The base of this sauce is a ‘gastrique’, a classical French technique which combines sugar and vinegar to make a sweet-sour flavour treatment for French sauces. Instead of the traditional vinegar, I use lemon juice to approximates the sour ‘bigarade’ oranges. To make this more weeknight-friendly, use duck breasts. I’ll give you the full walkthrough for making crispy-skinned, blushing duck breasts. However once you try this phenomenal flavour pairing you may want to graduate to duck legs or a whole roast duck - perfect for autumn or even the Christmas table. Let’s go!