You’ve got me drooling here. Yes, I’ll bet the sauce would be good over chicken, Cornish game hens, even holiday turkey.
I poked around on line and it seems like most orange sauce recipes call for Grand Marnier (talk about “don’t come cheap”). I wonder if orange extract might give it the oomph you seek. Or, perhaps some FCOJ, straight out of its frozen can, un-reconstituted but of course warmed?
This reminds me that Fergus Henderson gives a great recipe for duck neck terrine (yep) in The Whole Beast, which is a worthy purchase in any event.
Yes! So few people (at least, people in the part of the US with which I have experience) seem to appreciate how good some of the extra bits and pieces are! I hate wasting any food at all (really good food is expensive and I don’t have a huge budget), so I am always saving the giblets, eating the celery leaves, stewing the broccoli stalks, etc.
In uni I liked to go to the butcher and just get his specials, things like tripe, necks, sweet breads, etc. The stuff that nobody else eats. Cook it right and that stuff is delicious. I had never really considered them until a Ukrainian friend taught me a really simple recipe for cow neck roasted with root veggies. Yum yum.
Unfortunately, here all that stuff is considered a delicacy and priced accordingly, so no deals. Back to chicken breast and price-reduced pork. 
Haven’t ever looked at that book, but I’ll have to check it out sometime.
[QUOTE=norinew]
seodoa, your recipe sounds good. Problem: this is Cumberland, MD, we’re talking about. We don’t have an Asian grocery! I could search the local large-ish supermarket and see if they have the stuff you mention.
[/QUOTE]
I’m glad to hear that the recipe you went with turned out well for you and yours. If you are a fan of the crispy duck skin, then peking duck is definitely worth a try! All of the drying and sugar washing gives it a really crispy, flavorful skin. I absolutely love it. The hardest-to-find ingredients are all in the sauce, which means that, if worst comes to worst, you can just get some bottled hoisin sauce, which in, central Ohio at least, is sold at most any large supermarket (Walmart, Kroger, Meijer, etc). I have no reason to doubt Cumberland’s will have it, too. Just check the Asian/Oriental section (seriously, though, if you can, try to make the stuff in the recipe, really really good stuff).
If anybody has a duck and an afternoon to spare, I can’t recommend peking duck enough. I’d make some now if my damn oven worked.
Duck Vindaloo - from Madhur Jaffrey’s Ultimate Curry Bible. It’s very, very tasty and a bit easier to make than the Peking Duck, I think (though that looks good! too).
Step one - the spices: Mix and set aside:
[ul]
[li]1/2 tsp ground turmeric[/li][li] 1 tbsp ground cumin[/li][li] 1 tbsp bright red paprika[/li][li] 1 tbsp ground coriander[/li][li] 1 tsp chili powder[/li][li] 2 tsp garam masala[/li][/ul]
Step two - the duck:
Cut the duck in about 12 pieces (standard for fowl in Indian cooking),
brown lightly in 4 tbsp oil in a large, lidded pan (3-4 minutes per side, medium heat).
Remove duck from pan and set aside for now.
Step three - the curry base:
To the hot oil/fat left in the pan add
[ul]
[li] 1 tsp whole brown mustard seeds[/li][li] 1 tsp whole fenugreek seeds[/li][/ul]
When the mustard seeds start popping add
[ul]
[li] A handful of curry leaves (not bay leaves!!) - 15-20 or so[/li][li] 2 onions, finely sliced[/li][/ul]
and fry until the onions turn brown at the edges (this is the secret of good curry-making; always make sure that the onions are well and truly fried)
Step four - adding flavour:
When the onions are golden, add
[ul]
[li] 2 tbsp freshly grated ginger[/li][li] garlic pulp from approx 10 cloves of garlic.[/li][/ul]
Stir and fry for a minute or so. Then add
[ul]
[li] the spice mixture made in step one[/li][/ul]
Stir and fry for 30 seconds. Then add
[ul]
[li] 2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped (or skip the peeling, it turns out fine anyway)[/li][/ul]
and let that cook for a couple of minutes.
Step five - bringing it all together:
Now add
[ul]
[li] The browned duck pieces from step two[/li][li] 120 ml / 4 fl. oz cider vinegar[/li][li] 2-3 tsp salt[/li][li] 1 tbsp jaggery (or cane sugar or maple syrup or whatever you feel like)[/li][li] 475 ml / 16 fl. oz water.[/li][/ul]
and bring to the boil. Cook under lid (at low heat) for 45 mins, stirring occasionally. Then remove the lid partially, turn up the heat a bit and cook for an additional 30 mins or until the duck is tender. Remove as much of the fat as you can before serving.
Step six - mmmmm:
Serve with cumin- and black cardamom-flavoured rice, paratha, chutny and pickles.
This is Jaffrey’s basic duck vindaloo recipe, and it is very, very tasty. I like it a bit more on the spicy side, and often double the amounts of the dry spices, garlic, ginger, and curry leaves. In England vindaloo is often thought of as the hottest of hot dishes, but in reality the real, defining characteristic of this dish is the use of vinegar. If you do like it hot, add 10-15 chopped & ground red chilies with the garlic & ginger paste.