• One whole duck
• Salt
• Pepper
• One orange
• Lemon juice
• 50ml brandy
• 50ml Cointreau
• 100ml port
• Good chicken stock
• One onion, chopped
• One carrot, chopped
• One celery stick, chopped
• One clove of garlic, squashed
• 50g sugar
• 50ml red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp dried rosemary

Day 1:

To prepare the duck, remove its legs and set aside for confit. Take the top two joints of the wings off and then half-spatchcock the bird by cutting through the backbone half way down and separating it. In a stockpot, sear the wings, the backbone and any giblets with the onion, garlic, carrot and celery. Once well coloured all over and with a little fond on the bottom of the pot, deglaze with the brandy, cover with chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Cook down until reduced by 2/3. Strain and chill overnight.

Meanwhile, put a thick layer of salt in the bottom of one of the pyrex dishes and put the duck breast side down on the salt. Chill, uncovered, overnight.

Day 2:

Preheat the oven to 230c and remove the duck from the fridge. Carefully, with a very sharp knife, score the skin of the breast in a cross-hatch pattern. Don’t cut too deeply, into the meat itself. With one of the very sharp knives you shouldn’t even need to put any pressure on the blade.

For the sauce, take the now solidified stock and scoop the fat off the top. Put half of it in the little metal saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add equal parts orange and lemon juice, the Cointreau, the port and the rosemary. Simmer gently. Meanwhile, add the sugar and about 50ml of water to another saucepan over a medium low heat and simmer. Keep an eye on it once the bubbles become large and glassy – you’re trying to make a kind of caramel so you don’t want it to go too dark. Think deep amber. Add the red wine vinegar, swirl until combined and simmer for a few minutes to thicken before whisking into the sauce. Taste, adjust and keep warm.

Wipe any visible salt and moisture off the duck. Insert a temperature probe into the thickest part of one breast (on the duck, not you). Put the duck on the wire rack and balance it over the big Le Creuset roasting dish in the centre of the oven. I’d just leave the roasting dish where it is and only move the rack if you need to check anything.

Roast at 230c for 8 or 9 minutes then turn down to 180c. Roast until the internal temp hits around 45c. Remove from the oven and set the rack over a dining plate or the roasting dish and let rest for 10 minutes – in this resting time, the internal temperature should come up to around 50-52c. Pour the fat that has accumulated in the roasting dish into the big non stick frying pan and heat over a medium high flame for a few minutes before searing the skin of the breasts one last time to make them super crisp. Rest again for a couple of minutes before carving, slicing and serving with the orange sauce.