Roast Duck with Pears

I first ate this dish at an old coaching inn, The Fonda Siques, in Besalú, a glorious medieval town in the Pyrenean foothills. It was a chilly, autumnal (fall) afternoon and the restaurant was heaving with entire families, from great-grandparents to toddlers, enjoying a long Sunday lunch. I was squashed on to the last small table by the kitchen hatch, amid the relentless bustle of waiters. I watched the spectacularly rotund ladies busying over the stoves in the kitchen while I waited and wa