Braised duck with sauerkraut
Bulgarian recipe of braised duck with homemade sauerkraut.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 whole duck or 4 large duck legs and 1 duck carcass
- 1 large head Bulgarian sauerkraut or fresh cabbage or prepared sauerkraut
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- 10 peppercorns
- 5 green onions chopped
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- pinch sugar
- 2 Tbsp paprika or red pepper
Instructions
- Break down the duck into pieces, reserving the carcass.
- Remove as much excess fat and skin from carcass and duck pieces as you can. Reserve.
- Put the carcass in a pot of cold water. Add peppercorns, cinnamon, star anise and peppercorns. Bring to a simmer.
- Over a low flame, render the pieces of removed fat and skin. Leaving a couple tablespoons of fat in the pan, pour off excess duck fat and reserve for future use. Discard the gristle.
- Place the duck pieces skin side down in the rendered duck fat and saute over medium heat until well browned on all sides.
- Remove browned duck pieces to an over-proof dish; reserve the fat in the skillet.
- Bring a large of pot of water to boil. Meanwhile drain a large head of homemade sauerkraut, remove the core and rougly chop. Put in the boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain.
- Put the drained sauerkraut into the skillet and stir to coat with fat.
- Strain the carcass and solids from the stock and remove from heat; reserve the carcass. When cool enough to touch, pull all the cooked meat from the bones and put into the skillet with the sauerkraut.
- Add chopped green onions, tomato paste, paprika and a pinch of sugar on the sauerkraut. Stir well to combine.
- Add a cup of the duck stock to the sauerkraut and cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour the sauerkraut mixture over the duck pieces in the baking dish. Cover and put in 350°F oven for 1½ hours.
- Serve duck pieces on a bed of sauerkraut.