Roast Duck with Serviette Dumplings

Ingredients

• 1 whole duck (2.5 kg, ready to cook)
• Salt
• black pepper (freshly ground)
• 2 onions
• 1 apple
• 1 tsp dried marjoram
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 100 g white bread
• 125 ml lukewarm milk
• 300 g flour
• 0.5 loaf fresh yeast
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 20 g butter
• 250 ml poultry stock (from a can)
• 4 small red apples

Instructions

1. 1.

   Wash and pat the duck dry. Trim off the wing tips and roughly chop them. Rub the duck inside and out with salt and pepper.

2. 2.

   Peel, core, and cube the onions and apple. Mix with the herbs. Stuff the mixture into the duck and secure with wooden skewers. Place the duck breast-side down in a roasting pan, pour about 500 ml water over it, and roast at 180°C for about 2 hours until golden brown. After one hour flip the duck and baste it several times with the stock.

3. 3.

   For the dumplings, cube the white bread and toast it in a dry skillet until golden.

4. 4.

   Whisk the yeast into the milk until smooth. In a bowl combine flour, egg, yolk, and milk; add the yeast mixture and mix into a smooth dough. Fold in the toasted bread cubes. Let rise covered at room temperature for 45 minutes.

5. 5.

   Bring salted water to a boil in a pot. Shape the dumpling dough into about four rolls roughly 4 cm in diameter, wrap each in foil, and drop them into the boiling water. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook for 35–40 minutes.

6. 6.

   Remove the duck from the pan and halve it lengthwise, removing the stuffing. Cut the halves crosswise again and keep warm at 70°C. Degrease the stock thoroughly. In a pot sauté the wing tips in half a tablespoon of butter until browned; deglaze with stock, add the stuffing and remaining stock, and simmer for 15–20 minutes. Strain the sauce through a sieve into another pot, season with salt and pepper, and keep warm.

7. 7.

   Wash the small red apples, slice them crosswise about 1 cm thick. Heat the remaining butter in a large pan and quickly brown the apple slices on both sides; keep warm.

8. 8.

   Just before serving turn on the oven grill. Grill the duck pieces skin‑side up until crisp. Slice the dumplings into thick rounds.

9. 9.

   Optionally separate the breast meat and slice it. Plate the duck with sauce, apple slices, and dumpling rounds on warmed plates and serve immediately.