How to bake a duck in the oven

Duck meat is healthy and, although very fatty, is considered dietary. Duck is used in many classic recipes. For the festive table, the duck is baked whole. The bird looks very appetizing, attracting attention with an ideal crisp and spreading breathtaking aromas.

Pick your recipe

You will need

Oven baked domestic duck
- 1 carcass of a domestic duck;
- 5 cloves of peeled garlic;
- 1 lemon, sliced;
- table salt of medium grinding;
- ¾ cup balsamic vinegar;
- freshly squeezed juice from 1 lemon;
- ¼ cup of honey.
Chinese domestic duck
- 1 carcass of a domestic duck;
- 6 peaches;
- 2 teaspoons of medium ground sea salt;
- 2 teaspoons of the traditional Five Spice mixture;
- 2 teaspoons of Sichuan pepper;
- 2 tablespoons of honey;
- 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar;
- 6 tablespoons of hoisin sauce;
- 3 tablespoons of sesame oil;
- 1 tablespoon of fried sesame seeds.
Oven baked wild duck
- 1 carcass of a wild duck;
- ½ cup orange juice;
- ½ cup of honey;
- 2 glasses of dry red wine;
- 1 cup of soy sauce;
- 6 minced cloves of garlic;
- 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard;
- 3 tablespoons of chopped rosemary leaves;
- 300 g pitted prunes;
- 5 small apples;
- salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Instruction manual

Oven baked domestic duck

Ideal for baking is a bird weighing from two to three kilograms. There is a lot of juicy meat in such a duck; it can easily be placed on a baking sheet or in a chicken bowl. A bird with such a weight is not yet so old that it affects its taste. If your bird got you frozen, then you will have to take care of it in advance. The duck should thaw on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator within 20-24 hours. Get the carcass out of the package is not necessary. Offal should be removed from a fresh or thawed duck, if necessary, scorch the carcass, remove the feathers with tweezers. Rinse the carcass under running water and wipe it dry with paper towels both outside and inside. Domestic duck meat is less rigid than wild poultry, so pickling a carcass is optional.

Place the duck carcass on the work surface and apply a diamond-shaped incision with a sharp knife. You need to incise the skin and fat, but not the meat. Chop off the extreme phalanges of the duck wings. Generously rub the bird with salt, inside and out. Put lemon slices and garlic cloves in the poultry cavity. Fold the legs of the duck so that they cover the cavity inside the bird, bind them together with culinary twine or a strip of foil folded several times.

Place the carcass of the bird upside down in a deep baking pan with a rack. The rack is needed in order to allow the fat to drain into the pan. Put the duck in the oven preheated to 180 ° C and bake for about an hour until the bird is lightly browned. Turn the duck side down and bake for about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix ½ cup balsamic vinegar and lemon juice in a small bowl. Turn the bird again, breast-down, and coat with the whole mixture. Bake for another 40 minutes, repeating the coating procedure every 10 minutes. When this step is completed, add another 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and honey to the remaining mixture. Continue to bake the bird with the breast up, lubricating it also every 10 minutes, but with honey glaze. The bird will be ready in about 40 minutes. She will have a crispy crust. Remove the duck from the oven, cover with foil and let the meat rest for 15-20 minutes. Remove garlic and lemon from the poultry cavity, cut the twine or foil from the legs and serve the bird to the table.

Chinese domestic duck

Peking duck is the most famous, but not the only way to cook this bird in the Chinese style. There are simpler recipes. Place the prepared carcass of the bird on the working surface, prick it with a fork, trying to pierce only the skin and fat, but not the meat. Place a whole peach inside the bird, carefully fill in the excess fat and tie the legs together. Rub the duck with a mixture of Sichuan pepper, salt and a traditional mixture known as five spices. Place the carcass on a baking sheet, breast down and bake in a preheated oven to 140 ° C for 3 hours.

Remove the stone from the remaining peaches, after cutting them into halves. Put in a roasting pan with a slice down. Mix honey, vinegar, Hoisin sauce, 3 tablespoons of water and sesame oil, pour peaches, sprinkle with sesame seeds. Remove the duck from the oven and place it on the prepared peaches, but now breast up. Preheat the oven to 200 ° C and bake the bird at the lower level for another 30-40 minutes, until the peaches are soft and the bird is covered with a golden crisp.

Oven baked wild duck

Wild duck meat is less fatty, with a distinctly sweetish-bitter aftertaste of game. It is tougher than poultry meat and often significantly “gives” to fish, so before cooking a wild duck needs to be pickled. Marinades are prepared on the basis of red wine, balsamic vinegar, citrus juice, with the addition of various spices. This recipe uses a mixture of red wine and orange juice, chopped garlic, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, honey and chopped rosemary leaves. They should be mixed in a bowl and leave the marinade to infuse for 10-15 minutes. During this time, you should prepare the bird, ridding the carcass of offal and feathers, washing and drying it. Rub the prepared duck with marinade inside and out and place in a tight bag made of food-grade polyethylene. Tie it and put the bird in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.

Prepare the filling for the bird. Rinse offal and discard them in a colander, allowing excess fluid to drain. Apples, sour fruits of later varieties are best suited, peel, remove the core and cut into cubes. Grind the prunes. Cut into small pieces of offal. Mix everything and season lightly with salt and pepper. Start the carcass, fasten the skin over the cavity with toothpicks, fold the legs and fix them with twine or foil. Put the duck in the bag and in the refrigerator again and leave for another 3 hours. Remove the duck from the refrigerator and let it stand for another 30 minutes at room temperature.

Wrap the prepared carcass in several layers of foil, put it on the baking sheet with the breast up and place in the oven preheated to 260 ° C. Bake the bird for about 30-40 minutes, then reduce the heat to 160 ° C and cook the bird for another 2-2 ½ hours. Remove the bird from the oven, carefully remove the foil, retaining the melted fat and place the bird to bake again until golden brown, increasing the heat to 200 ° C. To prevent the duck from burning, periodically pour fat on it.