Ingredients
Method
Preheat oven to 500. Using a vegetable peeler, zest orange, then loosely chop the zest. Then cut orange into quarters (no need to peel rest of orange). Rinse the ducks again thoroughly, and then dry them completely using paper towels. Rub some good olive oil on your hands, and then rub the bird with lots of salt and pepper. Do the inside and outside of the bird. Then stuff each bird with 2 quarters of the orange, 2 garlic cloves, 2 onion quarters and one sprig rosmary. Throw in a few cranberries if you have any lying around. Then, using cooking twine, tie the legs together tightly.
Put ducks in a large roasting pan and brush with melted butter. Roast ducks for about 30-35 minutes, or until skin is crispy. If you like them well done, roast for a couple more minutes. Never more then 40. Then remove ducks from pan and allow them to sit on a seperate plate.
Note:I have found that a lower temp for a longer period is better, but the original recipe calls for the 500F.
Place pan over medium high heat on rangetop. Cook until juices are caramalized, about 5 minutes. Pour in Madeira, and scrape off brown bits from bottom of pan using a spatchula. Add chicken stock and orange zest and cook until it is reduced by roughly a third (about 3-5 minutes).
In another small sauce pan, combine sugar and 1 tablespoon water. cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and add vinegar, then add sauce from duck pan. Then cook the sauce for about 5 more minutes.
Pour sauce over ducks and enjoy.
Note:This goes well with wild rice, and spinach salad with crumbled bacon. Also a good red wine or even a scotch.