Duck with sauerkraut and apples in the oven

We clean the duck carcass from dirt, singe it, if necessary, and rinse it thoroughly in water. We place the carcass in salty cold water (for five liters of water - three tablespoons of salt) and leave for a couple of hours. Then we rinse the carcass again and dry it well. Preparing the marinade for the poultry. To do this, mix liquid honey, mustard, soy sauce and black pepper in a small container. Mix everything thoroughly together until smooth.

Lubricate the duck outside with the prepared marinade and process it well from the inside. We leave the carcass to marinate for a while, while we are busy with the filling.

While the duck is pickling, peel 2 apples, rinse, cut into quarters and cut out the seed pods. Then we cut the quarters into medium-sized slices. We squeeze sauerkraut with our hands from excess liquid. In a bowl, mix cabbage, apple wedges, washed and dried raisins and juniper berries. The filling is ready.

Place the prepared filling in the cavity of the pickled duck. We chop off the abdomen with toothpicks so that the filling does not fall out. We pierce the surface of the duck in several places. We place the bird in the sleeve. In the sleeve we make a couple of punctures for steam to escape. We place the duck in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for an hour and a half. After this time, we cut the sleeve and open the surface of the duck. We lay out whole apples, washed and pricked with a toothpick, around (the remaining three). Cut the head of garlic crosswise into two parts, which we also put next to the carcass. We return the duck to the oven and continue to bake it for another hour. periodically open the oven and pour the fat released into the carcass.

To prepare the sauce, place the cranberries in a bowl and puree with a blender until smooth.

Place the cranberry puree in a saucepan. Add about half a glass of liquid that came out when the duck was baked (collect it from the mold with a spoon during baking). Also add granulated sugar, salt to taste and rosemary. Bring the resulting mixture to a boil on the stove and boil for ten minutes. The sauce should thicken as some of the moisture evaporates. Do not forget to stir the mass so that there is no burning.

We take out the finished duck from the oven.Place it on a serving platter. We lay out baked apples and garlic around. Serve the prepared cranberry sauce separately in a saucepan. An ideal side dish for such a duck is mashed potatoes or baked potatoes.