Recipe from Greg Sonnier
Adapted by Pableaux Johnson
- Total Time
- 5 hours 45 minutes
- Rating
- 5(184)
- Notes
- Read community notes
The New Orleans raconteur Pableaux Johnson scored this recipe from Greg Sonnier of Gabrielle restaurant in the Mid-City neighborhood back in 2004, calling it a reflection "of the dual nature of New Orleans cookery." Inspired by the haute cuisine of K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen, where Mr. Sonnier got his start, it also takes more than a bow toward the city's legendary street food tradition of gravy-soaked po' boys laden with French fries. At the restaurant, Mr. Sonnier served the dish over shoestring potatoes. Home cooks can substitute mock frites or hash browns. Either way, the interplay between the moist meat, luscious sauce and crisp potatoes is nonpareil. (Sam Sifton) —Pableaux Johnson
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Ingredients
Yield:2 to 3 servings
- 1pound yellow onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
- ½stick unsalted butter, melted
- 15-pound duck, rinsed and patted dry
- Salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 2large rosemary sprigs
- 2cups fresh orange juice
- 1cup dry sherry
- ½cup soy sauce
- 2medium carrots, peeled and julienned
- 4ounces cremini or white button mushrooms, trimmed and sliced thin
- 2tablespoons unsalted butter
- 17-ounce jar roasted red peppers, rinsed, drained and cut into strips
- 2fresh chives, cut into 1-inch lengths
- Hash browns (see recipe)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Heat oven to 500 degrees. In a large bowl, toss onions with melted butter. Season duck inside and out with salt and pepper. Place rosemary sprigs inside duck's cavity and then tightly pack with buttered onion mixture.
Step
2
Place duck in medium-size roasting pan, and roast for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees and cover pan loosely with foil. Roast for about 4½ hours, draining fat every hour.
Step
3
Remove pan from oven and carefully discard as much fat as possible with a ladle. Add orange juice, sherry and soy sauce. Return pan to oven and roast uncovered for 30 minutes. Transfer duck to a platter and let cool slightly. Pour pan juices (about 4 cups) into a saucepan, discarding any pieces of skin. Skim off fat and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add carrots and reduce to 1½ cups, strain and keep on the side. In same pan, sauté mushrooms with 2 tablespoons butter until brown. Add red peppers and briefly sauté, then add reduced sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm over low heat.
Step
4
Remove onions and rosemary from duck's cavity. Remove meat from bones. Place skin from duck breasts onto cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees until skin starts to foam, about 5 to 10 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 200 degrees and place meat in oven to keep warm until serving.
Step
5
Cover bottoms of individual plates with sauce and top with either pasta, shoestring fries, hash browns or unsalted potato chips. Place a generous amount of duck meat on top, then garnish with crispy skin, vegetables and chives.
Ratings
5
out of 5
184
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Cooking Notes
Patrick K
This is a great recipe. The high heat 250C for 10mins crisps the skin and seals the duck perfectly; and then 5 hours at 150C makes for very tender duck. The last half hour with a wonderful orange juice, sherry, soya sauce, mix makes for a magical sauce reduction. Removing the fat every hour makes for a 200-300mls of duck fat for roast potatoes another day, and removes it from roasting in its own fat. The effect is a very French style of roast duck to which we added a more French potato mash.
Nancy
What is great about this low heat long cooking is that the duck meat (after 4.5 hours +) falls off the bone and all the duck meat is used. It doesn't dry up like turkey or chicken. I didn't need to drain the fat every hour as I set the duck on a grate. The recipe isn't explicit in what to do with the carrots or onions, toss or use? I used them along side the duck when serving. I used fresh bell peppers (sautéed) rather than jarred, and it worked. The sauce needs a long time to thicken.
Jane Rice
Four 1/2 hours? Really???
gale
Yes, indeed.
Mariana
Used only the roasting technique of this recipe. Very tender and tasty! - 24 hrs. before baking: Season and stuff with apples, prunes, rosemary sprig, bay leaf and 4 peppercorns; truss the bird (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2leEwcDhXo), score breast skin (w/o touching the meat!!).- Bring to room temperature, uncovered, before roasting. - Roast following recipe instructions EXCEPT check temp. after 4 hrs (70-71 centigrades), it may be already done. - Before carving, remove skin and crisp.
Loved It!
Made this today as described. Loved it. It's really all about the sauce -- used decent sherry from the liquor store and squeezed the oranges myself. Worth the effort!
Vafa
This is a winner. First time we made duck and we couldn’t believe how tasty, moist, and fall-off-the-bone the duck turned out. Have some nice baguette on hand to sop up those nice juices!
marli
Whatever you do, don’t skip the crisping of the skin. Incredible.
Mariana
Used only the roasting technique of this recipe. Very tender and tasty! - 24 hrs. before baking: Season and stuff with apples, prunes, rosemary sprig, bay leaf and 4 peppercorns; truss the bird (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2leEwcDhXo), score breast skin (w/o touching the meat!!).- Bring to room temperature, uncovered, before roasting. - Roast following recipe instructions EXCEPT check temp. after 4 hrs (70-71 centigrades), it may be already done. - Before carving, remove skin and crisp.
Maureen M.
Could this be made ahead until step 4 and then finished another day?
Sarah A
It's pretty hard to overcook a mushroom. I would sautee them a bit longer at the end. Otherwise, lovely recipe!
Alan
Oh, my god! Do not discard the fat. It's liquid gold that can be used later for pan frying or sauteing anything.
Samantha
Yum! I did this in two stages: fully roasted the duck the day before and made the beginning stage of the sauce; the next day, skimmed the fat off and finished the sauce, reheated the duck and crisped the skin. I also roasted potatoes in the fat and sauteed collards in the fat as well. I increased the roasting time because my duck was 7lbs, but in the end I don't think that was necessary. The sauce was very nicely balanced. Definitely a keeper of a recipe!
Karma
I will admit I was very skeptical about the amount of cooking time in this recipe; however, decided to follow it as written (minus the red peppers). It is absolutely STUNNING! I've never had such tender or moist duck in my life--at home or in fine dining restaurants. Absolutely incredible! Served with rice pilaf and oven-roasted root veggies. Well worth the time and the duck carcass made a great stock!
Taryn
I’m confused why this is a 5 star recipe. Concept is great (slow roasting followed by separating the skin and then crisping it in the oven), however I found the sauce to be awful and I ended up throwing it away. Not sure where I went wrong there. Duck skin tasted like bacon after crisping in oven. I also pulled my duck out once it hit 150 which only took about 2.5 h, but I’m not sure if my duck was smaller. Will repeat again but with a different sauce recipe.
Ruth
I am in total agreement with Johan-meh, and I am so bummed to report that. It is a long recipe, but we set aside all of Valentine's Day to do it and were really excited about it. It was a lot of work for little flavor, so it was disappointing. But we had some outstanding wine to have along so that was good.
Johan
I just proved to myself once again that duck really isn’t worth the trouble. There seem to be folks who really like duck; I keep thinking that I should but every time, “meh”. The sauce was fine; the duck was moist. But ... meh.
Holly M
So very good! 5 hours + in the oven. Was perfect. The sauce was wonderful too. i moved the duck from the roasting pan to a new one before adding the sauce makings to keep the fat as low as possible. Saved all the fat for potatoes later on! Made this with a skillet scalloped potato dish. Would not at the peppers next time. We were find without them.
John
Does this recipe really call to "discard" duck fat?
Don
What would be a substitute for the peppers in this recipe? I live with someone who, for health reasons, cannot eat peppers.
lee
Leave 'em out.
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