Pato a la Sevillana

Pato a la Sevillana is Sevilla's whole duck braised with dry sherry and green olives, a celebration dish that brings together the waterfowl of the lower Guadalquivir, the province's table olives, and the Andalusian wine cupboard. The olives are not decoration. They season the dark sauce and give it the clean, briny edge that marks the dish as Sevillian.

Everything depends on browning the duck slowly enough to render its fat. Turn the bird patiently until the skin is deep brown on every side, then pour off the excess and cook the onion and carrot in what remains. That rendered fat is the floor of the sauce. Rush the browning and you get pale skin, greasy liquor, and none of the depth the sherry needs.

Use Manzanilla de Sevilla olives if you can find them, or Gordal for a plumper, milder bite. Far from Spain, any firm, unstuffed green olive will do if you blanch it first; the finished sauce will be sharper and less delicate. If dry sherry is the difficulty, use the same amount of dry white wine. You lose the sherry's nutty depth, but the braise still comes out properly. No hace falta haber pisado España.

The Margin beside this one says to leave only three tablespoons of duck fat in the pot. That's enough to carry the vegetables and not enough to swamp the sauce. Brown the bird, keep the oven gentle, and wait until the leg yields at the joint. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.