
Crispy Duck Crown with Bigarade Sauce recipe
Bigarade sauce is a French orange sauce originating from Provence and is a classic accompaniment for duck. The sauce can be made in advance and reheated when ready to serve.
Ingredients
For the duck
- 2 Gressingham duck crowns
- 4 tbsp clear honey
- Pinch of salt
For the sauce
- 1 lemon
- 3 oranges
- 45g light brown sugar
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- Rapeseed oil for frying
- 4 duck wings
- 700ml duck or chicken stock
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Method
Preparing the sauce (this can be made in advance and re-heated when ready to serve)
- Pare the zest from the lemon and two of the oranges and set aside. Squeeze the juice from the lemon and all the oranges and set aside.
- Place the sugar and wine vinegar into a fairly deep frying pan and allow to dissolve over a low heat. Turn up the heat a little and continue to cook until you have a deep golden caramel.
- Heat another frying pan, add a splash of rapeseed oil and quickly brown the duck wings. As soon as the vinegar syrup has formed a caramel, add the citrus juice together with the browned duck wings. Continue to cook for a few minutes giving the pan a good shake before pouring into the stock. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer gently for 45 minutes – skimming the surface as necessary to remove any scum.
- Meanwhile, cut the citrus zests into fine julienne, add to a pan of boiling water and blanch for one minute before draining thoroughly.
- Pass the sauce through a fine sieve into a clean pan and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the zests and the sauce is ready to serve.
Preparing and cooking the duck
- Place the honey and a pinch of salt into a saucepan with four tbsp of water. Bring to the boil and then turn off the heat (don’t reduce the liquid otherwise the glaze will become too syrupy and might burn).
- Paint the glaze over the duck crowns and set aside for 20 minutes.
- When ready to cook, pre-heat the oven to 200°C/Gas mark 6. Place the duck crowns breast side up on a rack in a roasting tin and roast in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes before lowering the temperature to 180°C /Gas mark 4. Continue to roast for a further 30 minutes until the skin is crisp and deep golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes before carving.