I am very happy to be posting about today’s meal for two reasons.

1) The duck turned out fantastic and tasted wonderful!

2) I can introduce you to a FANTASTIC food blog that has helped me through a few new experiences in cooking.  Say hello to The Hungry Mouse.  It’s a fantastic food blog with gorgeous pictures and wonderful tutorials.

I knew that roasting a duck would be different from roasting a chicken.  I thank my lucky stars for having already known that.  I’ve heard horror stories of greasy meat, rubbery skin, and way too much fat remaining on the bird.  Because of this, I hit Google and The Hungry Mouse was the #1 response I got.  It’s always nice to see a familiar place when asking a question on Google.

Here is the tutorial on how to roast a duck, or rather, the BEST way to roast a duck.  Yes, it’s time consuming, but WORTH it.  My little duck turned out perfect and I have enough duck fat rendered out to make hash browns on the morning of the 26th.

And boy, am I looking forward to that.

Seriously, if you’re considering roasting a duck, CONSULT THAT LINK!  I cannot stress that enough.  That blogger knows her stuff.

If you’ll remember (HA!  I know better…) back in August I made Chicken L’Orange and expressed my desire to make Orange Duck, or Duck L’Orange for the fancy-pants out there.  Again, if you’ll remember (I keep writing that, but seriously, I know better) I overpaid for a smoked duck last year for the Five Days and was unimpressed.  I knew I wanted to try making a duck all on my own and Orange Duck just sounds so fantastic to me.

It was easier than I thought.

I used the exact same recipe that I used for the Chicken L’Orange except I didn’t stuff the duck with anything (it has to cook for over 4 hours!) but the glaze and sauce were the same.  To make your life easier, I am more than happy to provide a simplified version of the recipe so that you may also someday make homemade Orange Duck.

Orange Glaze/Sauce for Duck or Chicken

Simplified by Me

4 oranges

1 sprig tarragon

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 cups chicken stock

4 peppercorns

1 Tblsp. cornstarch

Peel 1 orange and cut peel in thin strips.  Set aside peel.  Juice all four oranges and add juice to discarded peel.

Dissolve sugar in the vinegar in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Simmer for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Add chicken stock, tarragon, peppercorns and salt to taste.

Add orange juice and orange peel.

Baste the bird during the last half hour of cooking twice in 15-minute intervals.  (Consult the Hungry Mouse on how to cook the duck!)

Dissolve cornstarch in a small amount of water and add to glaze.  When thick, pour into serving bowl and serve with the duck.  (You could, and should, strain the sauce before adding the cornstarch, but I couldn’t be bothered with it and it was fine.  The world didn’t blow up.)

Sweet orange-y duck awaits your pleasure.

Once upon a time I took more pictures of the product.  I photographed the before, during, and after.  I’m sorry the quality of the photography has been so poor, but I am going to plead the two small children under school age thing.  I have a 1 year-old who screams at me from a high chair and a 4 year-old who screams at me from my elbow…..pictures aren’t my #1 concern most days.  I’ll get back to it someday.  Just be patient.

I promised yesterday that I would share a recipe for an Orange Martini.  I hate to think that I made the drink to go with the duck so that everything could me matchy-matchy.  That was not the thought process at ALL. The thought process was more like,

“The juicer is out and I have just enough oranges to make a cocktail!  WOOO!”

Simple as that.

And an Orange Martini is yummy.  It’s weird that I like it considering that I find Screwdrivers (Vodka+Orange Juice) to be repugnant reincarnations of stomach acid.

Orange Martini

Who Needs Credit?  It’s a DRINK!

1 oz. vodka

1/2 oz. Triple Sec

2 oz. orange juice (fresh squeezed really is best here or the acid will probably cause painful and horrible death.)  (Just kidding about the death thing.)  (No I’m not.)

Shake with ice and serve over ice.  There’s nothing worse than warm orange juice, let alone a cocktail containing orange juice.

I know martinis are usually served in those angular stemmed glasses.  And I have those glasses and find them to be very posh, but OH MY GOD they are annoying to drink from some days.  Rock glasses work just fine.  I’m not breaking any rules by doing this, and if I am, it’s a stupid rule!

I hope that you notice in that picture that the drink, adorable vintage juicer, and cocktail shaker are sitting on a plywood surface.  This is because we are doing a total kitchen renovation and have been since about July.  It’s a long and terrible process and only crazy people would do this all on their own.  It just so happens that I’m crazy, so if you should notice my kitchen looking rather destroyed in some pictures, it is because of the renovation.

Tomorrow we eat a ham dinner with my mother and Day Five will be on Christmas Day.  You’re probably going to just have to suffer through a bunch of pictures of my husband and children in their pajamas because on Christmas, we have the same breakfast and dinner every year.

Happy Holidays and I hope that you’re enjoying some lovely food of your own!