In defence of duck à l’orange

Duck à l’orange is so deliciously retro, it’s almost a cliché of kitsch. It seems hard to believe that there was a time when it was genuinely regarded as elegant, or subtle-flavoured, let alone exciting; that it wasn’t always a byword for naff.

But as its name suggests, duck à l’orange had chic origins. And perhaps (contrary to its name) Italian ones. The French may have made it one of their defining dishes, but it’s often suggested that it may have Italian roots: brought to the French court by Catherine de Medici when she married the Duke of Orléans, the son of the King of France, in 1533. Catherine brought a brigade of Florentine cooks with her to the French court, and they introduced a host of Italian dishes that became French classics: salsa colla turned into béchamel sauce, carabaccia soup was renamed French onion soup, crespelle were rebranded as crèpes – and papero all’arancia became better known to us as duck à l’orange.