Easy Christmas Duck

English recipe

Ingredients
(for one whole duck, about 2.5–3.5 kg) 🦆

• 1 whole duck, fully thawed
• Coarse salt + freshly ground black pepper
• 2–3 apples, quartered
• 2–3 onions, quartered
• 200–300 g dried prunes (optional)
• (optional) a bit of butter or duck fat for sautéing the filling

Instructions 🥄

1. Remove the duck from the fridge in good time so it reaches room temperature before roasting. Wash and pat dry both inside and out. Generously rub salt and pepper inside and outside the duck.
2. Prepare the stuffing: In a frying pan, sauté the apples, onions, and optional prunes briefly in butter or duck fat until the onions soften. Let cool slightly.
3. Fill the duck cavity with the apple-onion (and prune) mixture. Secure the opening with kitchen twine or skewers.
4. Place the duck on a rack over a roasting pan. Preheat the oven to 120 °C (about 250 °F) (conventional oven).
5. Roast the duck slowly in the oven for about 4–5 hours (roughly 1.25–1.5 hours per kilo), or until the internal temperature in breast and thigh reaches ≈ 75 °C (≈ 165–170 °F).
6. Occasionally spoon some of the rendered duck fat over the duck skin — this helps keep the meat moist and gives the skin a nice golden crispness.
7. Once cooked, let the duck rest at least 15 minutes before carving. This makes the meat juicier.

Serving suggestions 🍽️

Carve the duck into portions and serve with traditional sides such as boiled or roasted potatoes, red cabbage, gravy made from the pan drippings, and cranberry or lingonberry sauce.

Notes / Tips 💡

• The low-and-slow roasting method gives tender meat and crispy skin — and it’s forgiving even if you’re not a very experienced cook.
• If using a fan/ convection oven, or roasting more than one duck at a time, you may need to adjust slightly (e.g. 115–120 °C if two ducks share the oven).
• If you want a more festive flavour, you can optionally add herbs (e.g. thyme), citrus peel or spices — but the simple recipe works perfectly well on its own.

Enjoy 🦆