We want to warn you right away that this article is intended for novice cooks who are too early to tackle the preparation of baked duck stuffed with apples, or another complicated recipe. Let's start small - prepare duck legs. The recipe is simple, so beginners in cooking can use it.
Preliminary preparation
You will need two medium-sized legs. First of all, they should be prepared for baking. To do this, remove excess fat, use a sharp knife to make several cuts on the skin, taking care not to damage the meat. Thanks to this simple procedure, it will be better to melt fat, and the leg will become rosy and very attractive. Now we rub the prepared semi-finished products with a mixture of salt, thyme, pepper (spices are taken to taste). Then they should be wrapped in cling film and left for two hours at room temperature. If time permits, leave your workpiece in the refrigerator all night.
Duck legs in the oven
Now your workpieces need to be well washed with running cold water, dried with paper towels, put in a roasting pan or on a baking sheet and sent to a warm oven (one hundred and fifty degrees) for two hours. Since duck meat is stiffer than chicken, duck legs in the oven should be baked for a longer time on low heat. In the second hour of baking, pour them several times with fat from a baking sheet.
Sauce making
To make your dish tasty and original, you need to prepare a special sauce. To do this, mix two thirds of a glass of raspberries, orange zest and its juice in a blender (one small fruit is suitable), add two teaspoons of wine red vinegar, one tablespoon of dry wine, four teaspoons of sugar. Finely chop one but large clove of garlic and fry it a little on duck fat. Then we introduce it into the raspberry-orange mixture. The resulting mass is brought to a boil, stirring constantly. The sauce should decrease in volume by a third and slightly thicken. Now you can add whole raspberries, simmer for another thirty seconds, add pepper and salt to taste, and remove from heat. Ready, baked legs pour sauce. For a side dish, a light salad of fresh vegetables is best.
How to cook duck legs with apples
We hope that you have mastered one of the simplest cooking recipes. Now you can move on to more complex. You will need four legs, two to three green, sour apples, dried rosemary (two teaspoons), pepper and salt to taste.
As in the first recipe, cut off excess fat, pepper and salt the meat, wrap it in parchment or cling film and leave it to marinate for several hours. Then we heat the oven to two hundred degrees. We make several cuts on the skin and put the legs in a baking dish. Empty areas on a baking sheet are filled with apple slices. Cover with foil and send to the oven for an hour. Fifty minutes later, we take out the dish, pour fat from the mold and return it to the oven for another ten minutes, but without the foil.
Serve duck legs with lingonberry sauce, mashed potatoes and baked apples.
Marinated duck leg
We want to offer you another great recipe. The main thing in it is the marinade, original and perfectly suited to duck meat. Cooking it is not at all difficult. To do this, finely chop onions, do the same with garlic, chop black and allspice in a mortar into powder. Put all the marinade ingredients in one bowl, add olive oil (3 tbsp.), Honey (2 tbsp.), Dry oregano (one teaspoon), fruit vinegar and salt to taste. Mix well, thoroughly lubricate the leg with the resulting mass. Put it in the refrigerator for two to three hours. Then remove the whole marinade from it, put it in a baking dish, add vegetable oil, and for forty-five minutes send it to the oven, heated to two hundred degrees. You can serve with any side dish thus cooked duck legs. The recipe is quite simple, but we hope you enjoy it.
Duck leg confit
A traditional, classic French recipe. Take a leg weighing about two hundred and fifty grams, rub it with coarse salt and refrigerate for about forty-eight hours. Then the salt must be completely cleaned.
Put five hundred grams of duck fat, garlic, thyme, pepper, and duck leg in a deep pan or pan. Simmer it for at least two hours on low heat. Thus cooked duck meat can be stored for a very long time in the refrigerator. Before serving, just fry it until golden brown in a pan.
Stuffed duck legs
Many housewives prefer not just to fry, steam or cook meat, but also to cook something original and interesting from it. If you like duck legs, the recipe for making them can be a little complicated.
Take the four duck legs. If necessary, thaw them, cut the femoral part and carefully, using a sharp knife, cut the meat and tendons around the joint. This way you’ll make the “pocket” you need for stuffing. Rub the legs with pepper and salt, put them in the refrigerator. Dice the onions in small cubes, heat the olive oil and fry it in a pan over medium heat for about five minutes, then add four to five chopped porcini mushrooms to it (you can use mushrooms or oyster mushrooms) and fry for another five minutes, stirring constantly. The filling is ready. Remove it from the fire. Leave half for buckwheat, and divide the remaining portion into four parts and stuff the prepared legs.
Each pocket can be sewn with thread or fastened with toothpicks. Lay the legs in a heat-resistant form, add a liter of boiling water into it and put it in the oven for one and a half hours at a temperature of one hundred and fifty degrees. While the legs are baked, cook buckwheat, mix it with the onion-mushroom mixture. Serve the legs with buckwheat porridge and baked sauce.
We use a slow cooker
Today, many housewives prefer to cook in a slow cooker. This choice is justified - the dishes are cooked quickly, tasty and look very attractive in appearance. Duck legs in a slow cooker are very easy to cook. Judge for yourself. Fried washed and dried legs without adding oil in a slow cooker with the lid closed on the Baking mode for fifteen minutes on one side. Next, salt and pepper it, turn on the "Extinguishing" mode for an hour and a half. We take out the finished duck, and put the onions, carrots and potatoes in the slow cooker, add water, mix well, put the duck on top, turn on the “Pilaf” mode and cook until the potatoes are ready.
Today you learned how to cook duck legs easily and very tasty. Choose a recipe for yourself, experiment, replace ingredients, delight your loved ones with delicious and original dishes.