Are you going to bake a duck? These tips will help you make it tender and roasted.
How to choose?
First, you should pay attention to the age of the bird. For baking, you need to purchase young ducks, up to 1 year old.
Age is determined by the appearance of fat - the older the duck, the more intense the color of the fat layers.
The fat of young birds is almost transparent, while in older birds the fat is almost yellow.
Second, look at the paws and beak. Not all duck carcasses are sold with these "spare parts", but if they are available, you should take a closer look.
The beak should be clean and shiny, and if it is still flexible and slightly soft, in front of you is a young individual, whose meat will be particularly tender.
About the paws. The webbing on the duck's feet should be intact and not overdried, and the toes on the feet should be easy to move apart.
A young bird has yellow legs - otherwise it is an old duck.
Frozen or chilled?
The second is better, since it is possible to check the freshness and age. But this advice is for in-store shopping. If you take a bird from a private trader or a farmer, then you can buy frozen, provided that you are sure of the date of slaughter of the bird.
What color is the meat of the duck?
The carcass is difficult to consider by this criterion, since it is intact and covered with skin. Still, the meat should be uniform from light to dark pink.
If the skin is pinkish-yellow without damage, bruises and dents, it is not sticky, and when you press your finger on the poultry meat it does not deform - you must take it!
Important! Too thin or too fat duck - both are bad! In the first case, after baking, only dry fibrous something will remain from the meat, and in the second - the duck will turn out to be too fat and... almost no meat.
How to prepare a duck?
You only need to defrost the bird in the refrigerator for a day or more.
After removing the offal, remove part of the neck, cut off the tail and wings.
Internal fat should also be removed, there is already enough fat in the duck.
Then rinse thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels.
The duck can be scalded with boiling water before marinating to tighten the skin and redden evenly. Either prick with a thin knitting needle or make cuts with a sharp knife.
How to marinate?
Yes, whatever you like and what spices you have! Only you don't need mayonnaise and butter. There is a lot of fat in duck and without them.
Ideal - lemon or orange juice, mustard, honey, soy sauce, dry white wine, a mixture of aromatic spices.
Duck is pickled up to 1.5 days. The fillings are put in before loading the duck into the oven!
How and how much to bake?
Duck carcasses are baked in foil or sleeves. Even if baking takes place in a deep baking sheet or in a roaster, these vessels still need to be covered with foil for the first hour of baking.
This is necessary so that the inside of the poultry is baked and the oven is cleaner.
Roasting 1 kg of poultry takes at least 1 hour. The readiness of the duck is determined using a long sharp knife - if transparent juice flows out when pricking, then the duck can already be taken out of the oven.
That's all the secrets.
Good luck to you! AND... holiday greetings!
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