Duck with cherries and sweet potatoes

• Préparation : 30 minutes
• Cuisson : 180 minutes
• Portions : 8

Ingrédients

• 2 Brome Lake whole ducks of about 2.5-3 kg (5 1/2-6 1/2 lbs)
• 236 ml (1 cup). Brome Lake duck stock or poultry stock
• Salt and pepper
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 236 ml (1 t.) red wine
• 4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in quarters
• 2 cans of 398 ml (13 oz) Bing cherries in syrup

Préparation

1. Remove ducks from their packaging, empty the content of cavities and rinse ducks under cold water. Cut the excess skin and fat on each end of the ducks. Pat dry and place them in a large roasting pan. Refrigerate for 24 hours, uncovered, to dryout the skin (this will make the skin crispier).

2. Remove the ducks from the refrigerator and temper for 1 hour before cooking. Preheat oven to 165 ° C (325 ° F). Salt and pepper the ducks generously outside and inside the cavity, surround with the chopped onion, the duck stock and red wine.

3. Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven. Bake about 90 minutes.

4. Add the sweet potatoes and continue cooking for 60 minutes. Baste ducks frequently with pan juices.

5. Twenty minutes before the end of cooking, surround ducks with the equivalent of 1 can of cherries and 160 ml (2/3 cup) and 2/3 of a cup of their syrup.

6. Ducks are ready when by pricking the joint between the thigh and the breast, the juices run clear or when the internal temperature is 82 ° C (180 ° F).

7. Remove ducks from the oven and set aside 15 minutes, covered loosely with a large sheet of aluminum foil. Skim the fat from the juice in the pan, bring to a boil over medium heat, scraping the drippings and crushing cherries. Stir in left over syrup from the cherries, then reduce by about a third of the volume.

8. Remove from heat and strain the sauce through a sieve. Pour in a gravy serving dish and set aside.

9. Cut the duck into pieces, then place in a large serving platter. Surround pieces with sweet potatoes and decorate with the remaining cherries. Baste the duck pieces with cherry sauce, and serve with the rest of the cherry sauce. Serve with mashed peas.

* Cherries and their juice are added after cooking, to avoid their sugars to burn too quickly during cooking.