Festive duck with apples and orange sauce

1

Wash the duck well, clean it of excess feathers, clean out all the insides and be sure to cut off the sebaceous glands (they are located on the top of the tail).

2 Let's prepare the marinade.
Grate the zest of one orange. You only need the top orange layer, without the white part, which is bitter. Squeeze the juice from the same orange. Grate the ginger on a fine grater.
Place orange juice, soy sauce, honey, grated ginger and orange zest in a bowl. Mix everything well.

3 Place the duck in a deep dish and pour marinade on all sides, as well as inside.

4 Cover the dish with duck with cling film and put it in a cool place for 2-3 hours. During this time, the duck will need to be turned over several times so that it is evenly marinated on all sides.

5 Remove the duck from the marinade, peel off the orange zest and ginger.
Mix dry garlic with black pepper and rub the duck well with this mixture, inside and out.

6 Cover the baking dish with foil.
Take an apple, cut out its core and cut into circles.
Place apple slices on the bottom of the pan.

7 Place the duck on the apples.

8

3-4 apples, sour variety, cut into 4 parts. Cut out the core.
Place in a bowl, sprinkle with cinnamon and add a tablespoon of honey. Mix well.

9 Stuff the duck with apples.

10

We pierce the duck's belly with a wooden skewer.

11

Cover the dish with the duck with foil and bake in an oven preheated to 180-200°C for an hour and a half.
After an hour and a half, we take out the duck and pour it with the juice released during frying.

Pour 10-12 tablespoons of juice into a bowl. We will need it for the sauce.

Cover the duck again with foil and place in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
After the time has passed, we take out the duck, remove the foil (we won’t need it anymore), pour the juice over the duck. And put it in the oven for another 20-30 minutes so that it browns.
You can check the readiness of the duck by piercing it in the tightest place near the bone and pressing on the meat. The cooked duck will release clear juice, while the raw duck will release reddish juice.

12

Let's prepare the sauce.

13

Pour the juice released when frying the duck, orange juice, lemon juice, honey and cinnamon into the saucepan. Mix everything well and bring to a boil. When the sauce starts to boil, dilute the starch in water and pour it into the sauce. Bring to a boil again.
If, to your taste, the sauce is not thick enough, you can add another spoonful of starch diluted in water.
After boiling, add pieces of orange pulp to the sauce. Boil everything together for a couple of minutes and remove from heat.

14

Place the duck on a beautiful dish, decorate with fresh vegetables, herbs and serve with orange sauce.

15

Bon appetit!