Kaczka z Jabłkami

The story

Roast duck stuffed with apples belongs to the Polish table for holidays, family celebrations and Sunday dinner rather than to everyday cooking. In 2014 Poland's Ministry of Agriculture added kaczka z jabłkami z Borów Tucholskich, duck with apples from the Tuchola Forest in Pomerania, to its list of traditional products. The entry describes a bird of 1.5 to 2 kilograms rubbed inside and out with salt and marjoram, ideally several hours ahead, then stuffed with tart apples. Cooks there prefer szara reneta, the gray Reinette, because the softer Antonówka falls apart in the oven. Farms there kept ducks in a kaczornik, a duck house of their own beside the henhouse, and because ducks matured faster than geese, they were slaughtered sooner and duck dishes were often made in summer. There the roast duck came with potatoes and boiled white or red cabbage. In Silesia, the regional tourism portal lists duck with apples served with dumplings and young sauerkraut, or with red cabbage, and a sauce made from the roasting juices. Marjoram appears in nearly every version. Other Polish recipes suggest kopytka or szare kluski, both potato dumplings, or plain mashed potatoes. Salt the duck the night before, and the evening itself needs little more than basting and carving.