Stuffed Duck Breast with Cabbage and Dumplings
Almost every Austrian family has its own Christmas tradition. Christmas Eve differs from family to family; however, many cannot imagine Christmas without the delicious aroma of a succulent roast duck floating in the air. In general, Austrians are always really fond of eating duck.
- Prep
- 42 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 39 min
- Total
- 2 hr 21 min
- Servings
- As written in source
- Difficulty
- Advanced
Timings are approximate — worked out from the method, not measured in a test kitchen.
Ingredients
Quantities are retained as written by the source and do not scale automatically. Tap an ingredient to check it off as you go.
Cooking instructions
Procedure
Put the shredded cabbage and the minced onion into a large bowl.
Procedure
Combine vinegar, salt, and sugar in a separate bowl and pour the mixture over the cabbage.
Procedure
Cover the salad, and refrigerate it for several hours before serving.
Procedure
Preheat the oven to 200°C. If not already done, disembowel the duck, remove the clumps of fat from the tail, and rinse the whole bird carefully.
Procedure
Grease the bird with butter all over, and season it generously inside and out with salt, pepper, and marjoram.
Procedure
Stuff the duck with the peeled apples and make sure to close it appropriately. This will give a wonderful taste to the finished dish.
Procedure
Put the duck breast-side up into a roasting pan that is deep enough to hold the rendered fat, and roast it at 200°C for around 15 minutes.
Procedure
Take out the duck, baste it, turn it breast-side down, and roast for another 15 minutes. Continue to do so every 15 minutes. It takes roughly an hour to roast 1 kg; thus, you may prepare yourself to leave the duck in the oven for about 2½ hours.
Procedure
About 20 minutes before the end of the roasting process, put some more butter on the duck in order to obtain a crispy skin. The duck is ready to be served when its skin is richly browned and crisp.
Procedure
Turn off the oven and let the duck rest for another 10 minutes.
Procedure
Put the bread cubes into a large bowl and pour milk over them; use more or less milk depending on how dry the bread is.
Procedure
Melt the butter in a pan, and mix it with the eggs and the remaining ingredients in a bowl. Add to the bread mixture.
Procedure
Use your hands to squeeze the bread mixture through your fingers until it is smooth and sticky. If the dough is too loose, add 1–2 tablespoons of flour to firm it up.
Procedure
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and form small portions of the dough into balls.
Procedure
Drop the dumplings carefully into the water and let them simmer for about 30 minutes until they are light, firm, and well risen. Remove them with a large spoon. Alternatively, form the dough into a roll, wrap it into a wet dishtowel, and firmly tie up both ends. Then, put it into the pot and let it simmer for about 30 minutes.
Procedure
Remove the apples from the duck, then carve it as desired. Put the dark brown gravy into an extra cup for serving.
Procedure
If you have cooked the dumpling mixture using the towel method, remove the large dumpling from the dishtowel, cut it into generous slices, and arrange them nicely on a plate. Otherwise, transfer the drained cooked dumplings to a dish.
Procedure
Serve the duck and dumplings hot, accompanied by the cabbage salad and a fruity red wine.
Photo: The original uploader was Refrotsrella at English Wikibooks. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0 · Photo source and licence
Wikibooks contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ · Adapted; quantities retained as written. · Original source
Read it through first
Skim all 18 steps before you start — it is the difference between cooking and firefighting.
Scale it
Use the quantities listed in the original recipe. Adjust them manually if making a different batch size.
Storage
Cool completely, then keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.
Reheating
Reheat gently with a splash of water in a covered pan, rather than blasting it, so nothing dries out.
Approximate values per serving. Worked out from the ingredient list — treat them as a guide, not a measurement.
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