Also Caneton rouennais, Canard au sang, Pressed duck, Rouen duck
Duck roasted rare, carved at the table, with a sauce made from its carcass crushed in a press and thickened with its own blood and liver.
What makes it canard à la rouennaise
A Rouen duck, not bled.
Breast roasted very rare and carved thin.
A sauce of the pressed carcass, blood, liver and red wine.
Where it comes from
Rouen ducks were traditionally killed by smothering rather than bleeding, so the blood stays in the meat — which is darker and richer for it. The sauce, made by pressing the carcass and thickening the juices with blood, red wine and Cognac, is the point of the dish.
It's a show in the dining room, with a silver duck press. A Paris restaurant made it famous, numbering each duck served, but the bird and the method come from Rouen.
How it varies
At home
Without a press: the duck roasted rare, with a sauce of red wine, shallots and puréed liver.