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Danish Christmas duck

Recipe by: Nikolaj Juel
Serves: 4

Procedure

For preparing duck stock in the roasting tray

Take the duck out of the fridge 1 hour before cooking. Clean it, pluck out any remaining follicles, and pat it inside and out with kitchen roll. Mix salt and freshly ground pepper in a bowl and rub the duck with it inside and out.

Fry the red onion in a little olive oil until soft. Add the apples and prunes and season with salt and pepper.

Stuff the duck with the apples, prunes and red onions. Don’t press the stuffing in too much, and save some for the roasting tray. Close the opening with a couple of meat skewers.

Put the duck offal, carrots, celery, red onion, the rest of the apple and prune mixture, bay leaves and thyme in the roasting tray, and place the tray directly under the duck. Fill the tray halfway with water and place in the middle of your Morsø Gas Grill.

IMPORTANT: Make sure there’s always liquid in the tray. If there’s no liquid, the fat can cause flare-ups in the grill.

Put the duck on a spit and place it on the rotisserie of your gas grill. Let the duck roast at low to medium heat.

Leave to roast for 2 hours. Baste the duck with the liquid from the tray every half hour.

Then raise the temperature to 150 degrees and continue roasting for another hour.

Keep pouring the liquid from the tray over the duck every half hour. If necessary, put a roasting thermometer in the duck and keep an eye on the core temperature. Let the duck roast until the core temperature is about 74-75 degrees.

Check if the duck is done with a meat skewer. The juice that runs out must be clear.

Remove the duck from the spit, place it on a large chopping board and strain all the contents of the tray into a transparent bowl. Put the bowl of strained stock and fat in the fridge, carve the duck and arrange it on a serving dish. Cover the duck pieces with foil and a clean cloth until you serve them; they’ll stay warm.

Remove the fat from the duck stock and prepare the Christmas sauce.

Boil the duck stock and add 500 ml of cream. Bring the cream to a boil and season with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Rosemary potatoes 

Place the potatoes in a bowl with the rosemary, garlic and olive oil. Season well with salt and pepper and mix well.

Put the potatoes in an ovenproof dish and place in a hot Forno for 35-45 minutes until they’re golden and delicious.

Baked pumpkin 

Place the pumpkin wedges in a bowl with the chilli, sage and olive oil. Season well with salt and pepper.

Mix everything well and place the pumpkin wedges in an ovenproof dish.

Place the dish in a hot Forno for 35-45 minutes, until the pumpkin wedges are soft with slightly burnt edges.

Braised red cabbage 

Put the red cabbage, balsamic vinegar, sugar and spices in a pot. Squeeze the orange over the cabbage. Let the cabbage simmer over low heat for 2 ½-3 hours. Season with salt and pepper.

Ingredients

  • 1 duck, approx. 3 kg
  • 1½ tbsp of salt
  • 1 tsp of black pepper, freshly ground

Stuffing for the duck

  • 4 apples, diced
  • 200 g of prunes
  • 3 red onions, sliced into wedges

For preparing duck stock in the roasting tray

  • Offal from the duck
  • 4 carrots, roughly sliced
  • 5 celery stalks, roughly sliced
  • 1 leek, roughly sliced
  • 2 red onions, roughly diced
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 5 stems of fresh thyme
  • 1 litre of water to fill the tray halfway

Rosemary potatoes 

  • 1 kg of potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters.
  • 2 sprigs of rosemary
  • 8 whole garlic cloves in their skins.
  • 2 tbsp of olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Baked pumpkin 

  • 1 Hokkaido pumpkin, sliced into wedges.
  • Half a chilli, cut into strips
  • 5-6 sage leaves
  • 2 tbsp of olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Braised red cabbage 

  • 1 red cabbage, finely sliced
  • 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
  • 3-4 tbsp of sugar
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 4 cloves
  • 1 star anise
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Juice of 1 orange
  • Salt and pepper