Step 1 – Rinse the ducks and pat dry.  Use a needle or sharp knife to prick the skin all over the duck.  The goal is to give the fat holes to render out.  I modified this plan a little by using a sharp knife to cut the skin in a cross-hatch pattern.  This gave us nice cripsy squares of skin after the ducks were cooked, I definitely recommend trying it.

Step 2 – Rub the ducks with olive oil and salt them inside and out.

Step 3 – Preheat the oven to 325°F

Step 4 – Coat the bottom of an oven-safe pan or casserole dish with olive oil, butter, or another kind of fat.  Place celery stalks lengthwise, providing a platform to set the ducks.

Step 5 – Chop some root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc.) into bite-size chunks.  Coat them in olive oil and salt.  Spread the vegetables over the bottom of the oven-safe pan.

Step 6 – Place the ducks on the celery stalks.  As the ducks cook, the fat will render out and soak into the vegetables in the bottom of the pan, imparting a delicious flavor into them.

Step 7 – Place the pan into the oven and let it cook for 90 minutes.  The duck skin should begin to crip and turn a nice golden brown.

Step 8 – Remove the pan from the oven and crank up the heat to 425°F.  Once the oven heats up, place the pan back in for about 15 minutes to make the skin extra crispy.

Step 9 – While the duck is roasting, in a saucepan, mix the sugar and red wine vinegar.  Bring it to a boil, stirring to make sure the sugar dissolves well.  Once it starts to turn from red to brown, begin to mix in the stock slowly.  Once everything is mixed well, remove the saucepan from the heat.

Step 10 – Peel all the oranges, zesting some of the peeling.  Note – it’s easier to zest when the peeling is still on the orange.  Retain the orange peels.

Step 11 – Cut supremes from the oranges.  There are plenty of instructional videos on how to do this, but basically you cut the orange slices out with a knife.  This give you nice clean orange slices with minimal orange pith.

Step 12 – When the ducks are ready, remove them from the oven and place the ducks on a cutting board.  Let them rest at least 5 minutes, then carve the breast meat off.  Slice it diagonally in 1″ thick slices.

Step 13 – Put the saucepan back on the burner and bring to a simmer.  Add in some of the orange peels and 1/2 cup orange juice.  Remove a little of the liquid into a small cup and whisk in the starch.  Once it’s well mixed, add to the saucepan to aid in thickening the sauce.  Note – if you add the starch directly to the saucepan, it will clump up and be hard to mix.

Step 14 – Add in the orange liqueur, orange bitters, and a little salt to the saucepan.  Slowly stir in the butter.

Step 15 – Plate the dish by placing a slice of duck next to an orange supreme, followed by another slice of duck, and continue until the desired amount of meat is plated.  Drizzle some sauce over the duck slices and oranges.  Add some of the vegetables and serve to very satisfied diners!