January 2012: Roast duck simmered in Steen's cane syrup … how bad could that be?!

We love duck. But for some reason, although we'll roast a chicken for Sunday dinner at the drop of a hat, we had never tried preparing duck at home. One reason is that good, farm-raised duck can be a little on the pricey side. So it makes sense to have a good recipe to work from. Since this one courtesy of the famed kitchen at La Provence restaurant calls for simmering the whole ducks in Steen's cane syrup prior to roasting, it seemed safe to assume that the results would be delicious. And they were.

Admittedly, this recipe was pretty involved. It requires lots of steps, and is best tackled on a day when you don't have much else to do. we weren't able to find ducks as large as the recipe recommends, but the five-pound farm-raised birds we bought seemed to do just fine. But the bigger and fatter the better, so save the wild ducks in your freezer for another time.

The most exotic-sounding step—simmering the whole ducks in Steen's Cane Syrup prior to roasting—is also the one that makes the results so spectacular. Not only does this step suffuse the ducks with sweet liquid; it also guarantees that they will come out of the oven gorgeous, golden brown and crispy skinned after roasting.

One final note: We found that reducing the sauce, which you'll make using the duck stock and peach preserves, took longer than expected—forty-five minutes or so. So leave yourself plenty of time for this step, and just enjoy the luscious aromas rising from the stove while you make Chef Loos' Perfect Mashed Potatoes to accompany everything.

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