Duck Breast with Orange Sauce

Preparation

1. Pat the duck breasts dry, score the skin in a diamond pattern without damaging the meat, and season all over with salt and pepper. Brush with soy sauce and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, thinly peel the zest from one orange and cut into fine strips. Squeeze both oranges and mix the juice with the orange liqueur. If you like, also cut segments from the peeled fruit.
3. Preheat the oven to 130 °C (conventional). Place the duck breasts skin side down in a large frying pan with no extra fat, add the thyme and fry over medium to high heat until the skin is golden brown and crisp. Then turn and briefly sear the underside too.
4. Finish the breasts on the oven rack for 25 to 30 minutes, until still tender and pink inside, then rest for 5 minutes.
5. For the sauce, pour all but a little of the duck fat out of the pan, melt the butter in it and briefly caramelise the orange zest and sugar.
6. Pour in the orange juice with the liqueur, add the poultry stock and reduce for a few minutes. Stir in the cranberry sauce and season with salt, pepper and chilli.
7. Slice the duck breast on the diagonal and serve with the sauce; dumplings, potato gratin or red cabbage go well with it.

Drink with it

• Red wine · excellent match

  Pinot Noir, lightly chilled

  Red berry fruit and fine acidity support the cranberry and orange and cut through the fat of the skin.

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• Cognac and brandy · excellent match

  Cognac VSOP, neat in a snifter, to finish

  Orange peel, dried fruit and vanilla in the Cognac pick up the sauce with its orange liqueur; duck with orange is one of the classic dishes to go with Cognac.

  Cognac and Armagnac: Two Origins for Brandy ↗

• White wine · good match

  Riesling Spätlese or Gewürztraminer, with some residual sugar

  The residual sugar matches the caramelised orange sauce, and the acidity keeps the fat in check.

• Fruit liqueur · good match

  Orange liqueur on ice with an orange twist, after the meal

  The same liqueur is in the sauce; in the glass it repeats the bitter orange.