Duck meat is somewhat tougher and drier than chicken meat, and in some cases it has a specific "marsh" or fishy smell, so it needs to be cooked in a special way. For the duck to turn out fragrant and juicy, it is imperative to marinate the carcass in an acid-containing sauce with the addition of your favorite spices and herbs.
Oven-baked duck is a dish ideal for a festive table. And thanks to the marinades, every time the food can be given a new interesting taste. There are many different marinades for duck, but the most popular are those made with vinegar, soy sauce, or lemon juice. Why exactly these ingredients have become favorite among housewives? Because thanks to these components, the duck is soaked with marinade much faster, which significantly speeds up the cooking process.
Peking duck marinade
There are many variations of Peking style marinades, but the most common is the classic one. In the recipe, the main thing is to strictly observe the proportions of the ingredients, then the bird will turn out to be as juicy and aromatic as possible.
Ingredients:
- 5 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of minced garlic;
- a tablespoon of rice vinegar;
- 2 tablespoons of sesame oil (cannot be replaced with other oils);
- a tablespoon of spices (in equal proportions, the root of ginger, anise, cloves and star anise).
Recipe:
Rinse the carcass in cold water, dry, rub with salt (a tablespoon of salt is enough for a bird of two kilograms) and leave for 12 hours.
In a bowl, mix a tablespoon of honey with two tablespoons of soy sauce and coat the duck with the mixture (these ingredients are not listed above, this fact should be taken into account. The fact is that this procedure has nothing to do with the marinade, and you can skip this point altogether).
Mix all the ingredients for the marinade and spread on the inside and outside of the duck. Repeat the procedure every 30-40 minutes. In total, it is necessary to coat the bird with marinade 7-8 times.
Place the pickled duck in an oven preheated to 250 degrees for 35-40 minutes, then turn the carcass over, reduce the temperature to 170 degrees and leave the dish to simmer for another 30 minutes.
Trick: to make it more juicy, you need to place a container of water in the oven.
Marinade for duck with honey and mustard
This marinade will especially appeal to those who like meat with a sweetish flavor. If everything is done according to the instructions, then the bird will turn out to be moderately sweet, with a light mustard speck.
Ingredients:
- 4 tablespoons of honey;
- 4 tablespoons of mustard (whole grain)
- salt and pepper to taste;
- a tablespoon of vegetable oil.
Recipe:
Rinse the carcass, dry and rub with salt and pepper. For a duck weighing 1.5-2 kg, it is better to use no more than a tablespoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper. Leave the carcass in the refrigerator for an hour.
In the meantime, take honey (if it is sugared, melt it in a water bath), mix it with mustard seeds and leave until the end of salting the duck (that is, for an hour).
Spread the duck generously with the prepared mixture, and place in the oven, preheated to 180-190 degrees. The baking time depends on the weight of the bird, for example, a carcass of up to two kilograms should be simmered in the oven for one hour, larger specimens - one and a half to two hours.
Marinade for duck with oranges
Perhaps many have tried duck with apples. But only a few feasted on the bird baked in an orange marinade. If you have never cooked a duck with oranges, be sure to cook it, its extraordinary taste will definitely remain in your memory? and you will want to repeat this dish more than once.
Ingredients:
- a tablespoon of soy sauce;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 2 oranges;
- a pinch of chili;
- a teaspoon of a mixture of herbs;
- salt (to taste).
Recipe:
Rinse oranges thoroughly with a brush, peel off the zest in a separate bowl. Cut the fruit into wedges and squeeze the juice out.
Add soy sauce, zest (the addition of this ingredient is required), garlic, passed through a press, spices (herbs and salt), and chili to the orange juice. Mix everything and let it brew for 15 minutes.
Rinse the duck, dry it and place it in the marinade for 3-4 hours. Turn the bird every 20-30 minutes so that all parts of the carcass are well saturated with the mixture during marinating.
Bake the duck in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for an hour.
Marinade for duck with mayonnaise and kiwi
Since the marinade prepared according to this recipe turns out to be very fatty, either wild duck (it is less fatty) or duck breast should be used for baking, in this case the finished dish will be less nutritious and light.
Ingredients:
- small duck (a little over a kilogram);
- ½ lemon;
- 2 kiwi;
- a tablespoon of soy sauce;
- 3 cloves of garlic;
- a pinch of sugar;
- 100 ml of mayonnaise (it is important that the product is fresh);
- a pinch of ground pepper.
Recipe:
Although the recipe requires a lot of ingredients, there should not be any difficulties with preparing the marinade. After all, all that is required is to mix all the ingredients in a deep bowl (pre-chop the garlic and kiwi, and squeeze the juice from the lemon) and let the mixture brew for 20-30 minutes.
After the specified time, you can coat the bird with marinade and bake in the oven.
Marinade for duck with wine: a simple recipe
To make the duck cooked according to this recipe as tasty as possible, you need to marinate the carcass in wine sauce for at least 6 hours, or better - 12. To add pepper to the dish, you can put hot seasonings in the marinade in the form of mustard or pepper, but if this is not done, the dish will turn out to be more delicate.
Ingredients:
- a glass of red wine;
- ½ glass of water;
- three tablespoons of honey;
- a pinch of pepper and caraway seeds;
- salt (to taste).
Recipe:
In a deep bowl, combine all the ingredients, place the duck in the cooked marinade and let the carcass marinate for several hours. Turn the poultry every half hour (necessary for better saturation of the meat with the sauce).
Marinade for duck to make the meat soft and juicy
To make the dish soft, it is important to use a marinade with a lot of acid. An important factor is the marinating time, because the longer the duck is in the mixture, the more it is saturated with it and remains more juicy during the baking process.
Ingredients:
- 3 cloves of garlic;
- a teaspoon of red pepper;
- 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
- 3 tablespoons of honey;
- 100 ml of grape vinegar;
- 100 ml of dry red wine;
- a teaspoon of salt.
Recipe:
Squeeze the garlic through a press (or grate on a fine grater), mix the resulting gruel with pepper, salt, butter and honey. Whisk everything well until white.
Pour regular vinegar and wine into the mixture, stir. The marinade is ready. Put the duck washed in cold water in it and leave the carcass to marinate for a quarter of a day, not forgetting to turn the duck every hour. Thanks to the large amount of vinegar, the meat turns out to be very tender and juicy, while it does not exude a vinegar aroma at all.
To make the duck dry, it is also important to choose the right temperature for baking the dish. Some housewives think that the longer the duck languishes in the oven, the softer and tastier it will be. But in fact, a long stay of the carcass in the oven dries up the food. Remember, the poultry cooks quite quickly - from an hour to an hour and a half (depending on the weight), this is quite enough for the meat to be completely baked and at the same time retaining all its juices.
Tip: if you want to cook crispy duck, the poultry should be dipped in a saucepan of boiling water for 30 seconds before marinating. This simple procedure has a positive effect on juiciness.
