General principles of cooking
The worthy place of duck in the culinary diocese is due to the universal qualities of this product, which can be baked, fried, stewed, boiled or included in almost any dish: appetizer, salad, soup or even dessert (for example, foie gras).
Each national cuisine has its own history of creating poultry treats.
Thus, Peking duck has been known since the Sunn Dynasty (13–14 centuries AD). French culinary creations became famous for treats made from carcasses baked in cider in Normandy style or exquisitely decorated in Rouen style. Since ancient times, Slavic peoples have served all kinds of dishes made from the meat of waterfowl on festive tables. No wonder in Rus' they said that if a bird is on the table, then there is a holiday in the house.
It is possible to create a truly tasty duck dish only if you take into account the following useful information:
- Meat cooked in the oven will turn out juicy and soft if the product has not been frozen, so it is recommended to use a chilled carcass.
- In order for meat food to acquire a rich taste, it is necessary to correctly calculate the time of heat treatment of the duck: for 1 kg of meat in a whole carcass it will take approximately 45 minutes.
- The carcass should be properly thawed from the freezer. To do this, you need to take it out, hold it for a day on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, then keep the product at room temperature. It is strictly not recommended to defrost poultry under water or in a microwave oven - the fibers are destroyed during such express methods, and the dish becomes tough and dry.
- Duck meat is close in texture to game, so it is advisable to marinate the carcass before baking.
Technological features have separate methods for preparing holiday treats in the oven, in foil, in a sleeve, which must certainly be taken into account when executing recipes.
Carcass preparation
Particular attention should be paid to this stage of the technological process, since it is at this stage that the taste of the future dish is established.
Preparing the bird includes the following steps:
- The purchased duck should be scorched with a burner fire or a special burner to remove the remnants of small hairs and feathers.
- To make this work easier, there is a little trick: the carcass needs to be treated with flour, then the skin needs to be rubbed with force with a towel. It is better to remove the remaining “stumps” using tweezers.
- After this, you should cut off the tail, the odorous coccygeal glands of which have an unpleasant specific “aroma”.
- Now you need to remove excess fat, as well as any remaining offal, so that when baking the meat does not acquire a bitter taste.
- And it is also necessary to cut off the tips (phalanxes) of the wings, which do not have much nutritional benefit, and when baked can become charred, ruining the visual appeal of the dish.
The ends of the animal’s legs, as well as the wings left by those who like to “crunch,” should be wrapped in foil, which will not only prevent them from burning, but will also have an aesthetic effect when serving the treat to the table.
Stuffing
When performing this stage of poultry preparation, which directly affects the formation of the flavor bouquet of the dish, you must adhere to the following recommendations:
- To provide the meat with juicy properties, it is recommended to use sweet and sour apples, ripe oranges, ripe lingonberries or cranberries as fillings.
- When stuffing poultry, you should consider the compatibility of the components used. Thus, ingredients such as prunes with rice, homemade sauerkraut, porridge, potatoes, quince, mushrooms with couscous, fruits and other vegetables are recognized as non-standard options.
- It is recommended to place the filling in large quantities, since during heat treatment the products significantly decrease in volume.
- When filling the belly, you must remember that the place through which the filling was placed must be sewn up with culinary thread or secured with toothpicks. Only under this condition will you get a stuffed duck.
In order for the spices used (star anise, ginger, oregano, cinnamon, pepper mixtures, cardamom, other compounds) to reveal their aromas, they should first be ground in a mortar along with a pinch of salt, then left for several minutes, after which the carcass should be evenly treated with the aromatic composition.
Duck pieces with oranges in the oven
Duck with oranges in the oven (the recipe is intended for everyone who prefers portioned cooking of poultry) turns out equally tasty both as a whole and when baked in pieces.
Ingredients
To prepare the dish you will need the components indicated in the table:
List of products | Number of recipe ingredients |
Sunflower oil | for form processing |
Whole duck or parts | 2 kg |
Liquid honey | 100 ml |
Spices | 2 tsp. |
Oranges | 2 pcs. |
Dijon mustard | 4 tbsp. l. |
Coarse table salt | 2 tsp. |
It is useful to replace sunflower oil in the recipe with an olive product; French seasoning can be replaced with simple but high-quality sweet mustard.
Step-by-step cooking process
Sequence of cooking steps:
- First you need to start making the sauce. To do this, you need to peel the oranges, cut the pulp into cubes, and place them in a bowl.
- After this, you need to add liquid honey, Dijon mustard, selected spices, a pinch of salt to the fruit, then mix the sauce well.
- Next, you need to scorch the bird with the fire of the burner, remove all remaining entrails, cut off the tail and excess fat, and rinse the duck thoroughly.
- Now you need to dry the carcass with paper towels, use a sharp knife to divide the bird into portions, and place them in the orange-honey mixture.
- The products placed in the sauce should be mixed with your hands, then cover the dishes with cling film and place the preparation in the refrigerator for 7 hours.
- At the next stage, you have to grease the baking sheet with oil, spread the prepared meat on a sheet, pour the remaining marinade over it, and then send the product for 40–50 minutes. into an oven heated to 180°C.
- In 20 minutes. After the duck starts baking, you need to take it out, pour the marinade over it again, then continue the process.
Duck with oranges in the oven
All that remains is to transfer the finished treat to a serving dish, decorate it with sprigs of fresh herbs, and serve the food hot.
“Royal duck” with oranges and prunes
For this recipe we will need:
- duck – a whole carcass (preferably rustic);
- oranges – 500 gr;
- apples - several pieces;
- prunes – 200 gr;
- garlic - one head;
- adjika vulgaris. You can buy from any company you like;
- We will also need some soy sauce, black pepper and sweet chili sauce.
Step-by-step recipe for duck with oranges in the oven:
- Let's get started. First, let's prepare the duck. Remove internal fat. It comes off easily. We don't need it in the recipe, otherwise it will melt and all will leak out anyway. This way you can then melt it and cook on it. For example, fry potatoes.
- Next, we check to see if there are any giblets left in the duck. Usually sellers put them inside. We turn it over and remove the so-called tail or fat gland, it is located on top of the tail. Tail can give the finished dish an unpleasant taste. Therefore, it is advisable to remove it. The duck carcass is ready! The next thing we need is to cut the apples.
Cut the apples into quarters. Remove the core. In the classic recipe, apples and prunes should be present in the duck. Place the apples separately. Now let's cut the orange. - It's best to cut the oranges into rings because we'll be placing them on top. So far we have 2 oranges and 2 apples. If it's not enough, we'll add it.
- Now let's prepare the so-called marinade. For the marinade we need garlic. Squeeze the garlic through a press. One head will be enough. Our duck needs to be given a garlicky flavor, the so-called “spicy flavor”.
- The duck must first be soaked for a day in brine per 1 liter of water and 1 tablespoon of salt. Therefore, we will not salt the duck anymore. Take 1 teaspoon black pepper. Grind black pepper in a mortar. Whole peppercorns ground in a mortar give a sharper taste and aroma. We don’t grind it too finely into the flour. We send to the garlic.
- We will also need 2 tablespoons of sweet chili. Sweet chili sauce can be used in many recipes for cooking duck with oranges in the oven.
- Let's take a little vegetable oil, literally 2 tablespoons. The duck is already fatty, and the oil is just needed to bind our spices.
- Stir all the spices and add 1 more teaspoon of adjika so that the duck with oranges is not quite spicy, but in moderation. We also add a little bit, literally 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.
- Next, mix everything until it becomes a mushy mass; there is no need to make it liquid. That's it, we have prepared the putty. Take the duck and turn it over on its back.
- Take 2 spoons of the prepared marinade inside, coat everything inside thoroughly and stuff it with apples and prunes. Fill the carcass quite tightly. Add a couple of orange slices there. Add the remaining prunes. The duck is stuffed!
- Now we need to coat the top of the bird carcass. We take our putty and apply it on top of the entire carcass. We coat everything carefully on both sides, do not miss the legs or tail. Turn the bird over and coat the back side. We recommend using gloves when stuffing duck.
- After coating the duck with sauce and stuffing, you can leave it for 1 hour so that the bird marinates better. Then we will bake it in the sleeve.
- After one hour, take a baking sheet and line it with parchment paper. This must be done so that if our sleeve leaks, the baking sheet will not burn.
- We measure the sleeve. Pinch it at the back with a toothpick. We place the duck in the baking sleeve, the main thing is to carefully insert the bird carcass into the sleeve without tearing the sleeve.
- To do this, take the duck by the legs and begin to put on the sleeve. The sleeve should be wrapped first so that the outside does not get dirty. Otherwise, it will then burn in the oven and smell unpleasant.
- It is best to bake the duck breast side down. This way, all the juices from the apples will saturate the breast, and the breast will not remain dry.
- All the fat that will flow out and form in the bag is necessary to give the meat juiciness; our duck with apples in the oven with oranges will be imbued with flavor in this fat. Then take the oranges and place them on top. During the baking process, they will release juice, and the duck will be soaked in this juice.
- Now let's close the package. We close it, but do not tighten it quite tightly, so that the resulting vapors can escape from the bag and our bag does not burst prematurely. Let's take it and place it diagonally so that it fits in the oven.
- Now we send the duck to the oven, heated to 190 degrees, and pre-bake for 1.5 hours. Then you need to look at the duck and turn it breast side up.
A side dish of potatoes goes perfectly with duck:
- Take a potato and cut it into halves. Can be cut into quarters;
- take 1 spoon of coriander;
- 0.5 teaspoon black pepper;
- 1 heaped teaspoon of salt.
We will need this to salt the potatoes. Let's change everything quickly. Sprinkle on top of the potatoes. Take a little vegetable oil and pour over the potatoes. And mix it all thoroughly. Mix and place around the duck, maybe right under the bird’s carcass so that it doesn’t roll around. First you need to lay out 3 layers of foil. There will be duck with oranges in the oven with potatoes.
Pour in the remaining oil and spices. Now we’ll make a tray out of foil so that nothing leaks anywhere. And top the potatoes with more oil that has been rendered from the duck.
Cover with foil and place in the oven at 200 degrees. In half an hour the dish will be finally ready! You will get a wonderful duck with oranges in the oven and a side dish for it.
Duck fillet with oranges
In this recipe, skin-on breasts taste best. It is better to replace dried thyme with a fresh plant that has a brighter aroma.
Ingredients
To prepare the treat you will need:
- oranges - 2 pcs.;
- thyme - 30 g;
- table salt - 10 g;
- duck fillet - 500 g;
- pepper - 6 g.
Step-by-step cooking process
Description of preparation steps:
- First, you should process the parts of the carcass, wash them and dry them with paper napkins, then make diamond-shaped cuts on the skin with a knife.
- Now you need to process the peel of citrus fruits on the middle cutters of the grater, without affecting the white layer.
- The prepared fillets should be grated with the resulting orange zest, pour the juice squeezed from 1 fruit over the product, sprinkle the breasts with thyme, and leave the carcass parts for 15–20 minutes. marinate.
- Next, fry the meat on both sides in a non-stick frying pan for about 5-7 minutes.
- After this, place the browned pieces on foil, pour the remaining marinating mixture over them, then send the pieces for 15–20 minutes. into an oven heated to 220 °C.
Place the hot food on a serving plate and leave the meat portions for 2-3 minutes. “relax”, after which you can start tasting the aromatic food.
Duck with oranges and apples in the oven
To make the evening unforgettable, strictly follow all the steps specified in the recipe. For cooking, choose not the largest bird. The ideal weight of a whole duck is 1.8-2 kg, then it will have time to bake well.
Take:
- Duck – 2 kg.
- Oranges -2 pcs.
- Apples, sweet and sour - 2 pcs.
For the marinade:
- Juice from 1 orange - 80 ml.
- Zest of 1 orange - 1 small spoon
- Soy sauce - 80 ml.
- Honey - 2 large spoons.
- Mustard - 2 small heaped spoons.
- Salt to taste (I take 0.5 - 1 small spoon.)
For coating:
- Dry garlic or garlic powder - 2 teaspoons.
- Pepper mixture or ground black pepper – 1/2 teaspoon.
- Honey - a teaspoon for coating at the end of baking.
Step by step recipe:
Rinse the bird thoroughly and dry with paper towels. Trim the tips of the wings, or wrap them in foil to prevent them from getting burned in the oven.
Make the sauce. Cut the zest from the orange and squeeze out the juice. Be sure to strain it through a sieve, removing the pulp and grains. To extract more juice from the fruit, first roll it on a board while crushing the citrus.
Pour orange juice and soy sauce into a bowl. Toss in the citrus zest. Salt the marinade.
Add honey, mustard. Stir the mixture thoroughly until it has a homogeneous consistency.
Pour the marinade over the duck carcass and pour some into the belly. Then use your hands to coat the top of the bird, spreading the marinade over the entire surface.
Wrap the container with duck in cling film. Place on the refrigerator shelf to soak. Marinating time is at least 10-12 hours. Ideally, you should keep the meat for a day. During this time, turn the carcass over to the other side a couple of times so that the duck is well soaked. I advise you to prepare the bird the evening before the day of baking.
Mix dry garlic with pepper and grind.
Rub the duck carcass on all sides. Don't forget to season the belly from the inside.
Prepare the fruit. Rinse two apples and one orange, cut into thick slices along with the peel.
Fill your belly with fruit slices. Secure securely with skewers to prevent them from falling out. Do not try to stuff the duck tightly; you risk damaging the skin of the bird.
To be sure, tie the skewers with cooking string.
Cut the second orange into slices, as in the photo.
Up your sleeve
Duck with oranges in the oven (the recipe is intended for baking in a cooking bag), prepared using the presented method, will retain the maximum amount of healthy fatty acids, vitamins and minerals in the meat.
Ingredients
To create the dish you will need:
- ripe oranges - 2 pcs.;
- duck - 1 kg;
- lemon - ½ fruit;
- small carrots - 1 pc.;
- prunes, figs - 2 pcs.;
- small sour apple - 1 pc.;
- red and green chilies - 1 pc.;
- cane sugar - ½ tbsp. l.;
- Dijon mustard - ½ tbsp. l.;
- paprika, herbs, dry wine - at your discretion.
Step-by-step cooking process
Sequence of preparation steps:
- First, you need to carefully process the duck, then make shallow cuts on the skin of the bird on both sides.
- Now you should squeeze the juice from 1 orange into a bowl, add mustard, brown sugar, table salt and paprika to it, then mix the composition well.
- After this, you need to lubricate the carcass with marinade outside and inside, and leave the product in this form for 1 hour.
- Next, you need to divide 1 sweet orange into small slices, cut the sour apple into not very large slices.
- Place the processed fruits in a bowl, add chopped carrots and chopped chili pods to them.
- Figs and prunes must be doused with boiling water, chopped into small pieces, and added to the fruit and vegetable mixture.
- At the next stage, you should put the prepared filling into the duck, fasten the skin around the neck and in the place where the food is placed with skewers.
- The decorated carcass must be placed in a culinary sleeve, coarsely chopped oranges should be placed here, then both edges of the bag should be secured with clips.
- It is necessary to make several punctures on the top of the film with a toothpick (if such slits are initially absent in the sleeve) to allow steam to escape, and then send the workpiece to an oven heated to 170 °C for 1.5–2 hours.
- When the duck is ready, you should carefully cut the bag, pour the resulting juice into a saucepan, add wine to it, then heat the mixture until a mixture with a thick consistency is obtained.
- The carcass should be returned to the oven, the heating intensity should be greatly increased, then cooking should continue until the product is golden brown.
It is not recommended to use the convection or grill function during baking in the sleeve.
In foil
The duck, placed in metal-like paper, will languish in its own juice, which is why the finished treat turns out to be especially tender and juicy.
Ingredients
To create the dish you will need:
- vegetable oil - 90–100 ml;
- apples and oranges - 2 pcs.;
- duck - 2 kg;
- garlic cloves - 5 pcs.;
- coarse salt - 1 tsp;
- chili pepper and allspice powder - 1 tsp each.
Step-by-step cooking process
Sequence of cooking steps:
- First, you need to remove the zest from 1 orange, excluding the white part of the fruit from getting into it. Otherwise, the marinade will be bitter.
- To the resulting shavings you need to add 5 chopped cloves of garlic, sunflower or olive oil, red and black peppers.
- Next, you need to cut the apples into large slices, put them in a separate container, add 1 tsp to the fruit. garlic marinade and 2 tbsp. l. oil, pour in the juice from 1 orange slice, then mix the mixture well.
- Now you need to spread the pre-processed duck with chili sauce, then place the orange cut into slices on foil, folded in 3 layers.
- At the next stage, you need to stuff the duck with spiced apples, after which you need to place the carcass on slices of citrus fruit, tightly close the edges of the foil, and leave the bird in this form for 5-6 hours.
- After this, you need to send the workpiece for 30 minutes. into an oven heated to 250 °C, then reduce the oven temperature to 200 °C, continue the process for 2 hours.
- At the end of cooking, you should remove the bird, remove the rendered fat from the packaging, then return the opened product to the oven to form a golden brown crust on the carcass.
The resulting dish can be served with pancakes, mustard sauce or garlic croutons.
How to bake a whole duck with oranges in foil
This recipe uses foil as an alternative to the sleeve. The aroma of orange and baked apples will immediately lift your spirits