Duck

BORDEAUX The juniper berries are an earthy contrast to the sweet prunes — a prized regional product — in this dish. Serve roasted sliced potatoes and sautéed mushrooms alongside. What to drink: Red Bordeaux or a varietal blend of Cabernet and Merlot.

My recipe was adapted from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I've changed the meats (a lot) and the seasonings (a bit). I've also tinkered with cooking times and sequence.

This duck recipe is unusually light and delicate.

Ken Hom likes to dry his duck the traditional way: He hangs it in front of a fan at cool room temperature for 1 day. In keeping with U.S. food-safety standards, we've adapted his technique for the refrigerator, with excellent results. The Pekin (Long Island) duck available in the U.S. has a thicker layer of fat than the French variety, but we were still able to roast away most of the fat layer, leaving mahogany-colored crisp skin. Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 3 1/2 days

A refined version of a New Orleans classic. Ask the butcher to remove the backbone and quarter the duck.

Active time: 1 3/4 hr Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

You can use good, strong chicken stock for this recipe instead of homemade duck stock — it won't be as rich, but it's better than not cooking the dish at all as it is heavenly!

Sautéeing duck foie gras is not hard to do, but be careful; otherwise, you'll end up with a puddle of very expensive melted fat.

Marinate the duck two days ahead.

(Suprêmes de Canette à la Coriandre, Endive Braisée, Sauce Aigre-Douce à l'Orange) See how to grate citrus.

The ultimate Danish holiday dish from chef Torben Jensen of Gråbrødre Torv 21 restaurant.

This impressive dish is served at Le Cirque 2000 in New York. Order two 5-pound fresh ducklings from a butcher. Ask the butcher to cut each duck into two boneless breasts, two leg pieces, and two thigh pieces. Reserve the carcasses for making the sauce. You will probably need to order the rendered duck fat as well.

Once esteemed as a preservation method, cooking and keeping duck in its rendered fat results in meltingly tender, moist, and extremely flavorful meat which can be used in a variety of simple preparations. Sear the duck legs in a hot skillet or shred the meat and add it to salads, or, perhaps best of all, make duck rillettes. Just remember the duck must be salted a day before you plan to cook it.

One of the dishes that introduced Americans to French food. This version calls for duck breasts and a simple reduction sauce.

The rare breeds of Rouen Clair and Duclair from Stone Church Farm (845-658-3243) are small, tender, and have a low fat content, which makes them preferable to commercially available birds. We recommend the aged ducks, which have a richer taste. Order them two weeks ahead to allow preparation and shipping from the farm and request that the necks be removed. Since this recipe calls for a fair amount of soy sauce, it is important to use a brand with well-balanced flavors (such as Kikkoman).