Lunch: Caneton au Muscadet

Recipe by /contributors/james-beard This duck recipe is unusually light and delicate.

Ingredients

4 to 5 pound Long Island duckling
Salt, ground ginger, ground cloves
1/3 cup cognac
1 pint Muscadet
2 or 3 small onions stuck with cloves
2 or 3 tiny carrots
2 tablespoons beurre manié
5 or 6 medium sized potatoes
5 tablespoons butter
Freshly ground pepper
2/3 cup sultana raisins

Instructions

Rub the duckling well with salt, a little ground ginger, and ground cloves. Place on a rack in a roasting pan and roast in a 325 °F. oven for 1 1/4 hours. Remove duck from oven and place in a deep iron casserole. Pour warmed cognac over it and ignite. Add Muscadet, onions stuck with cloves, carrots and beurre manié. Blend. Return to oven to cook for 30 minutes, basting duck occasionally with liquid in casserole.
Meanwhile peel and slice the potatoes and brown them well in the butter. They should cook until they are just soft but crisp around the edges and on the outside. Shake the pan from time to time to keep them from sticking on the bottom. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Add the raisins to the duck mixture in casserole and cook for a further 10 minutes, basting once. To serve, arrange duck on a hot platter and surround it with potatoes. Pour a little of the sauce over the duck and serve the rest in a sauce boat.
With this, drink chilled Muscadet.

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