Ducklings, with Oranges

Prepare two ducklings as for an entree (No. 178). Line a saucepan or a braziere (Fig. 134) with carrots, onions, fragments of fat pork, slices of ham and raw veal, a bunch of parsley garnished with thyme and bay leaf, mushroom peelings and melted fat pork. Lay the ducklings over, the breasts upper-most and pour on a pint of stock (No. 194a); cover and reduce the liquid slowly and completely, then remoisten with half stock and half champagne or white wine, and let simmer until thoroughly cooked. Strain the stock, remove its fat, despumate and reduce it to a half-glaze; take out a fourth part of it and to the remainder, add the blanched and shredded peels of two oranges; let cook again for fifteen minutes. Peel two oranges, free of all pith, remove the pulp between each section and take out the seeds, then add this to the sauce; dish the ducklings, cover with a quarter of the sauce kept aside and surround with two medium oranges cut in four. Serve the sauce separately at the same time as the ducks, or else substitute an orange sauce (No. 511).