Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage

For a long time I'd been flirting with the idea of making oven roasted duck with cabbage. Still, I'd been avoiding getting into a more sophisticated and complex recipe for the sake of convenience. However, the craving was greater so I came up with a variant of mine, for lazy people, starting from the idea that "the duck must sit on the cabbage!" First of all, pick the right duck meat. In our family, when there is a whole duck, there is always fighting over the thighs. Now I prefer to buy only thighs and everyone is at peace. You can combine sauerkraut with fresh cabbage or use just one of them, depending on how sour you like it. Then, I only used basic spices (I tried to use thyme but it seemed to completely cover the taste of meat and everything else, so adjust to taste). I focused on baking it in the oven - for 2 hours, not just to be cooked through, but also baked, with that special "wow" taste. You see, the charm and the special taste are not from the spices, they come precisely from the fact that the cabbage was roasted in the juice and the fat from the duck.

And yes, the duck on the cabbage was perfect, extraordinary even! The cabbage is cooked in the fat released by the duck and it melts in the mouth. This is why the duck is the key ingredient here, it's fattier and it's the perfect choice. I will also post a variant with pork, but make sure that the meat is fattier or you also add oil to the cabbage.

Ingredients
Duck meat
1 kg
a whole duck or only the thighs or the chest
Sauerkraut
500 g
White cabbage
500 g
Onions
1 piece
Tomato puree
300 ml
Salt
1 tsp
Ground black peper
0.5 tsp
and other spices, to taste
Step by step
Step 1

Properly clean and wash the duck meat.

I prepared here the quantity for a double portion, for the next day as well, we are 4 people at the table :)

Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage - Step 1
Step 2

Season the meat with salt and pepper on all sides.

Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage - Step 2
Step 3

Take a deep baking sheet of about 20x30cm and put 500g of chopped sauerkraut.

Here I used my recipe for chopped sauerkraut, but you can also use the recipe for fermented whole cabbage.

Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage - Step 3
Step 4

Add another 500g of simple white cabbage, chopped - squeeze well with your hands with a pinch of salt.

Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage - Step 4
Step 5

Cut an onion into cubes and add it to the cabbage in the pan.

Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage - Step 5
Step 6

Pour over a large cup of tomato bouillon (the juice-like one).

Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage - Step 6
Step 7

Sprinkle with a little ground pepper and other spices, to taste.

Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage - Step 7
Step 8

Toss this mixture very well with your hands and spread evenly in the tray.

Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage - Step 8
Step 9

Arrange the thighs prepared in steps 1 and 2 on top.

Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage - Step 9
Step 10

Cover the pan with foil or a lid and place in the preheated oven at 200C for 1 hour.

Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage - Step 10
Step 11

After an hour, remove the foil, brush the thighs with some juice and fat from the tray.

Return the sheet to the oven, without the foil, for another hour.

Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage - Step 11
Step 12

Now the thighs will start to brown and the cabbage will cook more actively.

Every 20 minutes, remove the tray from the oven and grease the thighs with the fat which is released in the tray.

Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage - Step 12
Step 13

This is what it looks like when it's ready. The duck is well browned and the cabbage is perfectly roasted, without juice in it, tender and soft.

Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage - Step 13
Step 14

Serve with mashed potatoes and some good red wine. The meat and the cabbage are very tender and soft.

Enjoy!

Easy Roasted Duck with Cabbage - Step 14
Quantity: 2 kg (4 servings)
Prep time:
120 min
Difficulty: easy
Ready in: 30 min