Classic Duck Sauce

Clean onions, carrots and celery. Cut them into rough pieces. Place the two duck carcasses, duck wings and all the vegetables in two roasting pans. Brown them in the oven for 1 hour at 200 °C fan oven. The ingredients should be divided between two roasting pans for maximum browning.

Place the browned duck carcasses, wings and vegetables in a large 5 liter pot. Add water, bay leaves and peppercorns. Simmer the stock at 102 °C for 3-5 hours. 3 hours is okay, but 5 hours gives a little more flavour.

After simmering, strain the stock and remove all the solid parts. Separate the duck fat from the stock and store both in separate containers.

In a 3 liter pot, heat duck fat and add flour or cornstarch. Cook the mixture at 200 °C for 2 minutes while stirring.

Pour the duck stock into the roux and bring it to a boil at 112 °C, possibly lowering the temperature slightly once it boils. Add salt. Reduce the sauce by simmering between 105 °C and 112 °C. The thicker the sauce becomes, the higher its boiling point, so adjust the temperature gradually. Simmer the sauce until it reduces to 1 liter.

The extra ingredients can be omitted and you still get a great sauce. But they give the sauce more depth, richness and flavour. Add cream, red currant jelly, soy sauce and fish sauce for extra flavour.

If the sauce is too thin, you can thicken it with cornstarch mixed with water. Add some of the constarch mixture to the sauce until it reaches your desired thickness. Whisk in as much of the duck fat as you can without the fat separating. You can add more than you think. Often you can use all of it, but it depends on how much fat was on the duck. The duck fat is what gives the classic flavour of a duck sauce. Finally, adjust the sauce with salt and possibly pepper to taste.