The Late Great Fred Koss' Purple Duck

Ingredients

Duck

• 2 ducks, quartered and trimmed of excess fat
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Sauce

• 2 (12 ounce) cans purple plums, strained and pits removed

• 2 (12 ounce) cans frozen pink lemonade concentrate
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons grated fresh orange rind
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh lemon rind
• 2 teaspoons powdered ginger
• salt and black pepper
• garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup catsup
• red food coloring, generous amounts

Garnish

• 4 oranges, cut into halves
• 8 slices canned crabapples (rings)
• 8 maraschino cherries

Directions

1. 1

   Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. 2

   Quarter 2 ducks and trim all excess fat, pricking skin all over to allow fat to escape during cooking.

3. 3

   Season ducks with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

4. 4

   Place ducks in a roasting pan with a rack and bake for 1 hour at 400 degrees F, checking occasionally to make sure meat doesn't burn.

5. 5

   When ducks have roasted for 45 minutes, begin making the sauce.

6. 6

   In a food processor or blender, combine the sauce ingredients except for red food coloring and blend until smooth.

7. 7

   Pour mixture into saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes.

8. 8

   When ducks have roasted an hour, carefully set aside the duck pieces, remove the fat from the pan drippings and add drippings to the sauce and simmer an additional 5 minutes, adding food coloring to achieve preferred color.

9. 9

   Back in the roasting pan, place each duck quarter on half of an orange and pour the sauce all over.

10. 10

    Decrease oven temperature to 300 degrees and roast the ducks for an additional 2 hours, basting every 15 minutes.

11. 11

    Transfer roasted duck quarters to large serving platters, and garnish platters with the baked oranges topped with crab apple rings and maraschino cherries, and accompanied with saffron rice.