Cooking secrets
- Before cooking, inspect the surface of the carcass for feathering. Burn the existing “stumps” over a gas burner.
- If the bird is frozen, defrost it in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf.
- Do not use a microwave oven or water for defrosting, otherwise the dish will turn out dry and tasteless.
- The meat will not be tough, dry or too fatty if you bake a young bird. Therefore, choose an individual weighing no more than 2-2.5 kg.
- The specific smell of duck meat can easily be smoothed out by an aromatic marinade, in which it is advisable to soak the duck for at least 3 hours. Also, when cutting up the bird, remove the rump, where the scent glands are located.
- The duck is stuffed with apples, citrus fruits, dried fruits, cereals, vegetables, and mushrooms.
- Sew the stuffed belly with thread so that the filling does not fall out during baking.
- When roasting, the duck will not dry out if you pour the juice and fat over it, or cook it in a cooking sleeve or food foil. Then the carcass will be juicy and tender.
- The time it takes to bake a duck in the oven depends on its size. But on average, 1 kg of poultry requires 45 minutes, plus 20 minutes for browning.
Duck for the New Year - 35 delicious homemade recipes
The most solemn and festive duck for the New Year is, of course, baked whole in the oven. Here you just need to choose the appropriate design option and the products used. For example, someone wants to cook duck in oranges or apples. The other is stuffed with buckwheat, rice, cabbage. The third one is baked in dough, with sauce, on a pillow. There are so many recipes that it’s dizzying. But there are also options with duck breasts, fillets, and legs.
The five most commonly used ingredients in duck recipes for the New Year:
Product | Calories kcal per 100g | Proteins g per 100g | Fats g per 100g | Carbohydrates g per 100g |
Duck | 405 | 16 | 38 | 0 |
Honey | 400 | 0.8 | 0 | 81.5 |
Apples | 47 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 9.8 |
Pepper | 26 | 1.3 | 0 | 7.2 |
Oranges | 36 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 8.1 |
How to choose the right duck for a New Year's dish
The skin of the bird should not have any spots, and its color should be as light as possible, without yellowness.
It is better to inspect the surface of the carcass for protruding feathers. If the manufacturer did not care about the presentable appearance of his product, then it is unlikely that he monitored it during the growing process.
Look at the fat layers. If their color is dark, then the bird is already old, which means it will be tough.
Feel the bones of the carcass. If they seem soft, it means the duck is young, everything is fine.
Check for smell. Any strange, unpleasant smell from meat indicates that something is wrong.
The young bird will also not be too heavy. The optimal weight of the average duck is 2-2.5 kg.
How to make duck meat more tender
Almost any poultry meat can be made more tender and softer.
The first, easiest and most reliable way is to boil it in salted water before further cooking. At the same time, it doesn’t matter what exactly you are going to cook: stew, casserole, roast or a whole duck.
The second, no less difficult, is pickling. Any marinade suitable for poultry or barbecue is suitable. It is also good because it helps get rid of the peculiar duck flavor, which not everyone likes in such meat. Even simply coating the carcass with mayonnaise or vegetable oil, wrapping it in a bag and leaving it in the refrigerator overnight helps significantly.
The third method is stuffing. The juicy filling makes the duck just as juicy, imbuing it with juices and aromas. Apples and citrus fruits are especially good in this regard.
Five of the lowest-calorie New Year's duck recipes:
Name of the dish | Cooking time | Calories kcal per 100g | User rating |
Salad with apple and dried duck breast | 15 minutes | 132 | +24 |
Duck breast with orange sauce | 45 min | 148 | +40 |
Duck breast in honey-soy sauce with oranges | 1 hour | 169 | +90 |
Assorted assorted lamb, pork, duck, beef | 4 hours | 192 | +66 |
Whole baked duck with fruit | 1 hour 40 minutes | 249 | +81 |
In some cases, the situation with tough meat can be saved by foil and a baking sleeve. First, it is better to “pack” the duck well in them. And then, 15 minutes before the end of cooking, tear the packaging and periodically pour the rendered fat over the meat.
Advice:
It is best to trim all the fat from the back of the duck. And add it to the baking dish in separate pieces if the cooking process requires it. For example, when you need to baste a carcass with fat.
Duck baked with oranges
A tasty and aromatic baked duck stuffed with oranges will decorate the festive table on a magical New Year's Eve.
- Calorie content per 100 g - 369 kcal.
- Number of servings: 1 duck for 6 persons
- Cooking time - 3 hours
Ingredients:
- Duck - 1 carcass (2.5-3 kg)
- Salt - 1 tsp.
- Soy sauce - 100 ml
- Oranges - 3-4 pcs.
- Ground ginger - 1 tbsp.
- Orange juice – 100 ml
- Honey - 50 g
- Ground black pepper - 1 tsp.
Cooking duck baked with oranges:
- Squeeze 100 ml of juice from one orange, and cut the remaining oranges into 4-6 parts.
- Mix soy sauce with orange juice, honey, ginger and pepper. Add a little salt.
- Stuff the washed duck with oranges and brush with marinade.
- Place it in a baking sleeve, place it on a baking sheet and place in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 2-2.5 hours.
With apples and juniper
The method described below produces very aromatic and tender meat, covered with an appetizing crust and soaked in its own juice. To prepare duck baked in foil with apples, you will need:
- Gutted bird carcass.
- 8 juniper berries.
- ¼ lemon.
- 1 tsp. black peppercorns.
- 2 lavrushki.
- ½ tsp each salt and ground pepper.
- Clove of garlic.
- 2 apples.
- 4 sprigs of parsley.
The top of the washed and dried carcass is rubbed with salt and ground pepper. Part of the available lemon, berries and bay leaf are stuffed inside the bird. Torn parsley, peppercorns, chopped garlic and pieces of apples are also sent there. The whole thing is wrapped in foil and placed in the oven. Cook the duck at 180 degrees for about an hour and a half. Fifteen minutes before the end of the process, it is freed from the foil and lightly browned.
Baked duck in the oven with potatoes
Stuffed duck with potatoes will take center stage on the holiday table. The tubers are soaked in duck fat and are juicy and tender.
Ingredients:
- Duck - 1 carcass
- Potatoes - 1 kg
- Mayonnaise - 3 tbsp.
- Honey - 1 tbsp.
- Garlic - 1 head
- Mustard - 1 tbsp.
- Salt - to taste
- Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp.
- Ground black pepper - 1 tsp.
Cooking baked duck in the oven with potatoes:
- Rub the duck thoroughly on all sides with salt and pepper and crushed garlic (3 cloves).
- For the marinade, mix mayonnaise, honey, mustard and coat the bird with this mixture.
- Peel the potatoes, wash them and fry the whole tubers in a frying pan in vegetable oil until a nice crust appears. Season them with salt, the remaining chopped garlic and sprinkle with your favorite herbs.
- Stuff the duck with potatoes and sew up the cut on the belly.
- Pour 100 ml of water into a baking dish, place the duck there and place it in a preheated oven at 220°C for 2 hours. Water it with dripping fat every half hour.
With salt and spices
This is one of the simplest recipes for duck in the oven in foil. Any housewife who claims to be an experienced cook should know how to bake such a bird. To do this you will need:
- Duck carcass.
- 2 tbsp. l. butter or vegetable oil.
- Salt and ground pepper.
The washed bird is dried with paper towels and freed from the glands located in the tail. Then the inside is rubbed with a mixture of salt and pepper, and the top is greased with oil. The drumsticks are tied with thread, and the duck itself is wrapped in foil and sent to the refrigerator. After a couple of hours, it is baked in a hot oven and served with fresh vegetable salad.
Roast duck with apples
A classic recipe and simply a real treat - duck with apples, baked in the oven.
Ingredients:
- Duck - 1 carcass
- Apples – 500 g
- Salt - 0.5 tsp.
- Ground black pepper - 0.5 tsp.
- Water - 0.5 tbsp.
Preparing baked duck with apples:
- Wash the apples, remove the seeds and cut into 8 pieces.
- Rub a clean and dry duck with a mixture of salt and pepper on all sides.
- Fill the duck's belly with apple pieces and sew it up with thread.
- Place the duck in the duckling pot, tummy down, pour in water, cover with a lid and place in a preheated oven at 200°C.
- After 30 minutes, reduce the temperature to 180°C, remove the lid and pour the resulting juice over the duck.
- Send it further to bake for 2 hours, periodically turning over and pouring juice over it.
Dumplings - a Czech side dish for baked duck
In the Czech Republic, baked duck is usually accompanied by two types of dumplings and stewed cabbage.
Ingredients:
- milk – 250 ml;
- flour – 500 gr.;
- sugar – 1 tsp;
- yeast – 20 g;
- salt – 1 tsp;
- oil – 2 tbsp;
- egg.
Preparation:
- Stir sugar and yeast in slightly warmed milk.
- Cover with a lid and leave in a warm place for a quarter of an hour.
- Add sifted flour, egg, salt and vegetable oil to the dough.
- Knead a fairly stiff dough and let it rise for about an hour.
- Place the dough on the work surface and divide into four parts.
- Form into small bars.
- Steam the dumplings or boil them in salted water for twenty minutes.
- Pierce the finished bread dumplings in several places with a wooden skewer, cut into portions and serve with pieces of baked or stewed duck.
- The remaining dumplings can be stored in the freezer, and defrosted and steamed before use.
In the Czech Republic, this side dish is also served with goulash or baked fish.
Duck stuffed with buckwheat
Roasted duck in the oven, stuffed with buckwheat. The resulting bird is tender and juicy, and the grain is imbued with the aromas of spices and juice, making it crumbly and tasty.
Ingredients:
- Duck - 1 pc.
- Buckwheat - 2 tbsp.
- Mustard beans - 2 tsp.
- Ground black pepper - 1 tsp.
- Ground coriander - 1 tsp.
- Dry Italian herbs - 2 tsp.
- Ground ginger - 1 tsp.
- Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp.
- Lemon juice - 0.5 tsp.
- Bay leaf - 2-3 pcs.
- Salt - to taste
Cooking duck stuffed with buckwheat:
- Boil buckwheat in salted water until half cooked.
- Crush the bay leaf with your hands and mix with salt (2-3 tsp) and all the ingredients for the marinade.
- Wash the duck and dry it with a towel so that it is as dry as possible.
- Then coat it with marinade on all sides and stuff it with buckwheat. Secure the edges of the abdomen with toothpicks or sew with thread.
- Place the duck in the baking sleeve and place it in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
- After this time, send the duck to the oven to bake at 180°C for 2 hours.
Poultry stuffed with rice
Any novice housewife can easily prepare this beautiful holiday dish. To bake stuffed duck you will need:
- Poultry carcass weighing 2.5 kg.
- A glass of wild and long rice mixture.
- 2 large onions.
- 10 duck livers.
- 4 cloves of garlic.
- 2 green apples.
- 1 tsp. ginger powder.
- 2 tsp. dry white wine, soy sauce and flower honey.
- Salt and ground cinnamon.
To ensure that you get a soft and tasty duck baked in foil, the washed carcass is pierced in several places, doused with boiling water and dried. It is then filled with boiled rice mixed with fried garlic, onions, apples, liver, salt and spices. The bird's belly is carefully sewn up with thick thread, and the carcass itself is rubbed with a marinade made from heated wine, soy sauce, ginger powder, salt and pepper. The stuffed duck is placed on a wire rack set in a baking tray filled with a small amount of water and covered with foil. Bake the dish at moderate temperature for at least an hour.
Duck in a duck pot with tarragon
The younger the duck, the better in this recipe. For 1.5 kg of poultry you will need a glass of broth, 50g. butter, 2 tbsp. starch, tarragon.
Cook in a bowl on the stove. First fry the carcass in oil on all sides. Pour in broth, salt and pepper. Add tarragon sprigs and simmer covered over low heat. You can stew it in the oven. If the broth boils away, add it as needed.
Place the finished duck on a plate. We use the remaining juice as a base for the sauce. Strain. Pour starch into it. Stir. You can pour it over immediately, or serve it in a gravy boat. Decorate the dish with tarragon sprigs.
Stuffed with buckwheat or apples
Cook crumbly buckwheat porridge in water. Chop duck or chicken giblets. Chop a medium onion and fry. Add the giblets, salt and pepper and simmer covered for a quarter of an hour. Mix with buckwheat. The minced meat is ready. (By the way, minced turkey is made in the same way)
Rub the duck with salt and pepper. Stuff with minced meat. Sew the edges of the belly with thick thread. Coat with sour cream and fry in the oven on a baking sheet.
It is also prepared with apples. It just starts with apple slices. Sour varieties are used, Antonovka is better. Cut into small pieces, cut out the core and insert into the internal cavity of the bird.
You can also put apples outside. They will be baked in duck juice.
There are a lot of recipes for preparing delicious duck. I took the most classic ones. It’s also delicious to cook duck with prunes, potatoes, and noodles. It is baked in a sleeve, under foil. Fry in pieces in a frying pan.
Delicious unusual meat deserves to be on our table more often. Let it be a little hard to digest. You just need to remember this and lighten the dish with vegetables, do not overuse oil, and remove excess fat. And enjoy!
Garnish for duck
Nowadays, chicken is most often used to prepare various meat dishes, since the meat of this bird is the most affordable option. But dishes made from duck meat are also very nutritious and tasty: it is amazingly tender and simply melts in your mouth immediately. Just what to serve as a side dish for duck? This question worries many housewives. The side dish can be quite varied. For example, you can serve rice, potatoes, buckwheat or peas prepared in a special way with the bird. We offer you several recipes for side dishes for duck, and you can choose the most suitable and tasty one for yourself.
Buckwheat side dish for roast duck
Ingredients:
- buckwheat – 1 tbsp.;
- water – 2 tbsp.;
- champignons – 200 g;
- onion – 2 pcs.;
- butter – 10 g;
- vegetable oil – 3 tbsp. spoons;
- spices.
Preparation
We wash the buckwheat, fill it with cold water, put it on the fire, bring it to a boil, add salt and cook for 20 minutes. Without wasting time, wash and process the champignons, cut them into 4 parts. Chop the peeled onions into thin half rings. Saute the mushrooms and onions in a frying pan in vegetable oil for about 25 minutes. Season the side dish with salt and pepper to taste and mix. When serving, season the finished crumbly buckwheat porridge with butter, place it on portioned plates, place the mushrooms on top and serve with the duck.
Side dish for Peking duck
Ingredients:
- wheat flour – 1 tbsp.;
- boiled water;
- chicken egg – 2 pcs.;
- green onions – 20 g;
- vegetable oil - for frying.
Preparation
Now we’ll tell you which side dish goes best with Peking duck. This dish goes perfectly with thin hot pancakes, lightly fried in vegetable oil. So, mix wheat flour with water and break eggs into it. Beat the mixture until it becomes a liquid dough. We wash the green onion feathers, shake them off, chop them and pour them into the dough. Now fry the pancakes in a heated frying pan in a small amount of vegetable oil.
After this, place the sliced poultry meat on the prepared pancake, pour over any sauce, serve the dish and enjoy the Peking duck prepared according to the classic recipe.
Side dish for baked duck
Ingredients:
- carrots – 2 pcs.;
- rice – 0.5 tbsp;
- white cabbage – 500 g;
- vegetable oil;
- spices.
Preparation
Wash the rice, dry it and place it in a frying pan or deep saucepan greased with vegetable oil. Peel the carrots, grate them on a coarse grater and add to the rice. Cook over low heat until golden brown. Then add a small amount of water and bring everything to a boil.
During this time, wash, dry, chop the cabbage into thin strips and add it to the rice and carrots. Mix everything, cover with a lid and simmer, periodically adding water so that the dish does not burn. At the very end, add some salt and pepper to taste and when the side dish is completely ready, place it on a plate with the duck.
Garnish for duck with oranges
Ingredients:
- boiled water – 5 tbsp.;
- butter – 30 g;
- dry crushed peas - 2 tbsp.;
- salt - a pinch.
Preparation
So, to prepare a delicious side dish for duck, take dry crushed peas, wash them, and soak them in water for 1 hour. Then we wash the beans again, pour them into the multicooker bowl and pour boiling water over them, adding salt to taste. On the device, set the “Stew” mode, close the lid and cook for about 2 hours. Add a piece of butter to the finished pea puree, mix and serve as a side dish for duck with oranges.