Anthony: I didn’t get the memo that this is the Fawlty Towers issue of delicious. Duck a l’orange. Really?

Colin: I wanted to bring in the orange because I grew up on Raymond Blanc’s duck a l’orange and it was a classic.

Anthony: The reason I chose duck is because I reckon nine out of 10 people wouldn’t know how to do duck confit. But if they were to follow some easy steps, they could do it. But you’ve trashed it with orange.

Colin: 2019 is not about being beige. Let’s add some colour. It’s the year of the delicious rainbow of flavour!

Anthony: Isn’t duck a l’orange from the ’70s?

Colin: Will you listen? First I’d make a mix of salt, sugar and a bit of five spice. I’d put in orange zest, I’d put in coriander root.

Anthony: Right.

Colin: Then for six hours or so you cure the duck in the salt. Then we get to your confit – in duck fat if you have a lot of cash and you live in Woollahra, or you can use oil. A good tip here is you can confit, say, 12 duck marylands and keep them in the fat in the freezer ready for next time.

Anthony: They’ll even keep in the fridge for a while. And the fat just melts when you reheat them – it’s delicious. But what about this orange dressing?

Colin: Well the duck is quite rich so you need something like citrus to cut through. It’s like how chocolate and orange works; duck and orange just works.

Anthony: Alright. I am giving up on this argument because at least you are going to confit it. But how are you updating this dish?

Colin: Well, we’ve added a bit of Chinese five spice to the cure and the dressing, so I thought we’d make duck a l’orange with a bit of an Asian twist.

Anthony: I like that, that’s more modern.

Colin: I’m glad you’re finally happy, Basil Fawlty. We’ll serve it with a nice autumn slaw, too.

Anthony: I still think you’re Manuel.

Colin: Que?

See here for Colin and Anthony’s spiced confit duck, autumn slaw, orange dressing.