Anne Willan

Canard à l’Aigre-Doux

Sweet-Sour Duck with Cherries

Preparation info
  • Serves

    2–3

    • Difficulty

      Medium

Appears in
top 1000French Regional Cooking
French Regional Cooking

By Anne Willan

Published 1981

  • About

In the Limousin where this dish is a speciality, tart cherries grow wild in the hedgerows. Canned tart cherries can be used instead of fresh ones (they need less cooking), but the dish tastes quite different if sweet cherries are substituted.

Ingredients

1.5-kg duck

Method

Set the oven at very hot (220°C/425°F). Season the duck inside and out with salt and pepper and truss it. Heat the butter in a heavy casserole. Lay the duck in the butter on one side and roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Turn it on to the other leg and roast for another 15 minutes. Discard the excess fat from the casserole. Lower the oven heat to moderately hot (190°C/375°F).

Lay the du