Previously on THE DUCK FOLLIES: I made the mistake of asking der Brucer what he wants for his birthday. He wants duck for dinner. He wants me to cook it. And he's ordered the duck from the local gourmet shoppe.
What he really wants is Duck l'Orange. I'd read him a recipe detailing how it is made at NYC's Four Seasons, a preparation that takes something like three days.
Well, this is all very well, I suppose, but I'm not one to settle for just one recipe to give me a guideline on what I'm supposed to do. So I've been digging through my cookbook collection. I not only have the Four Seasons version, I also have recipes from The Joy of Cooking, Julia Child's version in Mastering the Art of French Cooking (vol. 1), Anthony Bourdain's version, Craig Claiborne's version, James Beard's version, and notes on the sauce from James Peterson's Sauces.
It was finding Peterson's notes that made me realize that I'm dealing with two separate things here. First, there's the roasting of the duck itself (no word as to whether I'm getting a he-duck or a she-duck). The second part of the dish is the sauce.
Roasting, of course, involves several variables. First, there's the weight of the item being roasted. Second, there's the roasting temperature. Then there's the question of whether one pricks the skin of the duck with a fork, to let out all that fat, or whether one scores the skin with a knife, in a cross-hatch pattern.
Since I've used the cross-hatch scoring method before, in roasting beef and pork, I think this is the method I'll use.
There is one unusual technique that the Four Seasons uses that none of the other recipes call for: the Four Seasons ages their ducks in the refrigerator for three days before the actual roasting and serving. This makes sense to me; if you've ever had a steak that has been aged by a fine steakhouse, you'll know the difference this aging can make. Of course, this calls for having enough refrigerator space in which to do this aging. Our main refrigerator is filled with condiments and cheeses and whatnots and everything else. Fortunately, we've a second fridge downstairs, and that's where I'll be aging the bird.
Sauce? That's going to take more study.