Where are the origins of canard a l'orange?

Question

and NO, don't tell me France, NO DUH IT'S FROM FRANCE. WHY ELSE WOULD THE NAME BE IN FRENCH? (my friend was doing this qestion before, and it didn't seem to occur to people that 'canard' is french and most people who don't know it's from france wouldn't use the word CANARD)

So will you people please help me find the ORIGINS, as in the city or at least region, and maybe a little bit of history too. (I don't mind a link either.. as long as it's in an 8th grade range)

Answer 1

Beyond Duck a l'Orange The '70s was a dark decade for duckling: From star of haute cuisine, it had fallen to menu cliche. Its reputation, established by French chefs in French restaurants--who introduced Americans to such classics as duck pate, Canard a l'Orange, and Caneton aux Cerises--was undermined by shortcuts, such as lacing the orange sauce with marmalade and corrupting the cherry sauce with cornstarch and sugar.

The original recipe for Canard a l'orange:

1                    duckling

                         salt -- pepper and thyme

    1                    orange -- peel and pulp

    1      C.            hot water

                         juice of 4 oranges

                         peel of 1 orange

      1/3  C.            unsalted butter

    1      Tsp.          sugar

    2                    oranges -- peeled and sliced

    1                    glass port or sherry



Preheat oven to a very hot 450 degrees to get skin nice and

crispy. Rub inside and outside of duckling with salt and

pepper. Place diced pulp and peel (only the orange part of the

rind) of 1 orange and a sprig of thyme into breast cavity and

carefully close with wooden toothpicks. Place prepared duck-

ling, breast down, on a rack in a roasting pan. Fill pan with

1 cup hot water and juice of 2 oranges plus orange peel. After

1/2 hour of baking, turn duckling over and pour juice of 2

oranges over it. Lower heat to 325 degrees and baste duck with

drippings every 5 minutes. Bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.

Orange Sauce: Take sauce from dripping pan. Remove

grease. Add one glass of port or sherry and bring to a short

boil.

Garnish: Melt butter in pan. Add sugar and stir until

caramelized. Now dip thinly sliced oranges (the 2 remaining

ones) in this mixture.

Place duckling on hot platter and garnish with

caramelized orange slices. This is the traditional French way

of preparing duck.

Some History:

Duck a l'Orange

Food historians tell us the practice of pairing of citrus fruits with fatty meat is thousands of years old, likely originating in the Middle East. Examples are found in many cultures and cuisines. The acid in the fruit countacts the fat in the meat, making the dish more enjoyable and digestible. Think: pork & applesauce; goose & cherry sauce, fish & lemon, and duck a l'orange. About oranges.

Ducks have been consumed by humans from prehistoric times forward. They are native to most continents. Recipes evolved according to local taste. Historic notes on European duck cookery are appended to the end of this article. Bitter oranges were introduced, via Spain, in the early middle ages.

As the name suggests, Duck a l'Orange, likely originated in France. Our sources do not specific a particular region/city claiming to be the locus of origin. The Rouen, the center of French duck domestication, is a possibility. On the other hand? 19th century French recipes sometimes specify wild, not domestic, birds. Grand masters of classic French cuisine roasted ducks, noting the practice was revived from earlier times. La Varenne [1651] does not offer a recipe for Duck a l'Orange in his Cuisiner Francois. His duck is graced with a spicy pepper sauce. The earliest French recipes we find conbining ducks and oranges were published in the 19th century.

"From antiquity to our own day, in Europe and elsewhere...a number of such erudite gastronomic revolutions have taken place, the two most important of which, at least insofar as European cuisine is concerned, occurred at the beginning of the eighteenth century and at the beginning of the nineteenth. As we shall see, certain of these revolutions even represented an unwitting step backward: thus the alliance of sweet and salt, of meat and fruit (duck with peaches for instance), which today is regarded as an eccentric specialty of certain restaurants, was the rule in the Middle Ages and held sway down to the end of the seventeenth century: almost all recipes for meat up to that time contain sugar."

---Culture and Cuisine: A Journey Through the History of Food, Jean-Francois Revel, translated by Helen R. Lane [Doubleday:Garden City NY] 1982 (p. 19-20)

A selection of French recipes through time

[1828]

"Ducklings a la Bigarade.

This entree requires plump fleshy ducks: pick empty, and truss them well, with the legs stuck upwards. First roast them under-done, and make incisions in the breast, what the French call aiguillettes; pour the gravy that issues from the duck into the sause, which must be ready made, in order that you may send up quickly; a thing to be particularly attended to. With respect to the appropriate sauce, see sauces. If you are allowed to serve up fillets only, then you much have three ducklings at least. Roast them under-done; when properly done cut them into aiguillettes, that is, four out of each duck; put then into the sauce with the gravy that runs from them, and send up without loss of time, and quite hot. As soon as you have put the aguillettes into the sauce, squeeze a little juice of bigarade (bitter orange) over the whole; keep stirring well, and serve up the fillets in the sauce. This is a dish for an epicure of the dantiest palate. Do not think of dishing en couronne, to give it a better appearance, but send it up in the suce, and they who eat it will fare the better. Mignonette, or coarse pepper, is required in this sauce, and the entree altogether must be highly seasoned. Before roasting the duck, blanche a handful of sage with a couple of onions cut into quarters; chop them; season them with a little salt and pepper, and sutff the duck; by so doing, it will acquire additoinal savour."

---The French Cook, Louis Eustach Ude, photoreprint of English edition published in 1828 by Larey, Lea and Carey:Philadelphia [Arco Publishing:New York] 1978 (p. 248-9)

[NOTE: Ude's recipe employs pepper, similar to La Varenne's.]

[1855]

The Encyclopedia of Practical Gastronomy/Ali-Bab contains a recipe for Caneton Roti, Sauce a L'Orange. We only have a translated copy [Elizabeth Benson:1974, p. 296]. There are no historic notes or recommendations for type of duck (duckling) to be used.

[1873]

Duck

"There are forty-two varieties of duck. One of the best is the musk duck, whose flesh is very delicate...Barbary ducks are the biggest...Rouen ducklings, highly esteemed for their size and other qualities, are produced in this manner. The wild duck is nearly always grilled on a spit. The young wild duck shot at the end of August is called an albran. In September he becomes a duckling and is definately a duck in October. Albrans, which are to an ordinary duck as a partridge to a hen, are broiled on a spit and served on toast soaked in their own juices, to which are added the juice of bitter oranges, a little soy sauce, and some grains of fine pepper. This is a delicate, distinguished dish....

"Wild Duck with Orange Sauce.

Clean and truss 4 wild ducks. Skewer and roast over a lively fire 12 to 14 minutes, brushing them with oil in the process. Salt, slice off the b*****s, and lay them in a flat pan with a little glaze on the bottom. Heat for 1 minute to dry the moisture from the b*****s. Arrange on a platter and pour over them the following sauce: Orange sauce. Take the zest of an unripe orange. Cut it into julienne strips, cook in water, and drain in a sieve. Then put them into a little pot and out over them 1 glass of clear, reduced aspic. Heat. Just before serving, thin the sauce with the juices of 1 lemon and 1 orange."

---Dictionary of Cuisine, Alexander Dumas, edited, abridged and translated by Louis Colman [Simon & Schuster:New York] 1958 (p. 105-6)

[1903]

"Caneton braise a l'Orange--Braised Duckling with Orange

This recipe should not be mistaken for the one for roast duckling served with orange, as the two are totally different. Instead of ordinary oranges, Bigarade or bitter oranges may be used but in this case the segments should not be used as a garnish because of their bitterness; only their juice should be used for the sauce. Brown the duckling in butter and braise it slowly in 4 dl (14 lf oz or 1 3/4 U.S. cups) Sauce Espagnole and 2 dl (7 lb oz or 7/8 U.S. cup) brown stock until it is tender enough to cut with a spoon. Remove the duckling from the cooking liquid when ready; remove all fat and reduce until very thick. Pass through a fine strainer and add the juice of 2 oranges and half a lemon then bring the sauce back to its original consistencey. Complete this sauce with the zest of half an orange and half a lemon, both cut in fine Julienne and well blanched and drained. Take care not to boil the sauce after adding the juice and the Julienne of zest. Glaze the duckling at the last moment, place it on a dish, surround with a little of the sauce and border with segments of orange completely free of skin and pith. Serve the rest of the sauce separately."

---Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery, Escoffier, first translation into Englsih by H.L. Cracknell and R.J. Kaufmann of Le Guide Culinaire in it entirety [Wiley:New York] 1979 (p. 415)

[NOTE: Escoffer also combines duck with cherries and other fruits.]

[1927]

"Duck a la Orange (Canard a l'Orange)

According to different epochs and authors, there are several dishes that deserve this title. Some say that the duck is roasted and accompanied by a bigarade ("bitter orange") sauce: this sauce is a very reduced brown sauce to which orange juice is added, to return it to its original consistency, and then orange peel, cut in julienne, is added. Or, more simply, the juices from roasting the duck are thoroughly degreased and then diluted with ordinary juice; starch is added to make a liaison, then added. As for every roast duck, this method and only be used on a young and tender duck. Other authors suggest braising, which does  

Answer 2

Duck a l'Orange

Food historians tell us the practice of pairing of citrus fruits with fatty meat is thousands of years old, likely originating in the Middle East. Examples are found in many cultures and cuisines. The acid in the fruit countacts the fat in the meat, making the dish more enjoyable and digestible. Think: pork & applesauce; goose & cherry sauce, fish & lemon, and duck a l'orange. About oranges.

Ducks have been consumed by humans from prehistoric times forward. They are native to most continents. Recipes evolved according to local taste. Historic notes on European duck cookery are appended to the end of this article. Bitter oranges were introduced, via Spain, in the early middle ages.

As the name suggests, Duck a l'Orange, likely originated in France. Our sources do not specific a particular region/city claiming to be the locus of origin. The Rouen, the center of French duck domestication, is a possibility. On the other hand? 19th century French recipes sometimes specify wild, not domestic, birds. Grand masters of classic French cuisine roasted ducks, noting the practice was revived from earlier times. La Varenne [1651] does not offer a recipe for Duck a l'Orange in his Cuisiner Francois. His duck is graced with a spicy pepper sauce. The earliest French recipes we find conbining ducks and oranges were published in the 19th century.

"From antiquity to our own day, in Europe and elsewhere...a number of such erudite gastronomic revolutions have taken place, the two most important of which, at least insofar as European cuisine is concerned, occurred at the beginning of the eighteenth century and at the beginning of the nineteenth. As we shall see, certain of these revolutions even represented an unwitting step backward: thus the alliance of sweet and salt, of meat and fruit (duck with peaches for instance), which today is regarded as an eccentric specialty of certain restaurants, was the rule in the Middle Ages and held sway down to the end of the seventeenth century: almost all recipes for meat up to that time contain sugar."

---Culture and Cuisine: A Journey Through the History of Food, Jean-Francois Revel, translated by Helen R. Lane [Doubleday:Garden City NY] 1982 (p. 19-20)