Duck in Orange Sauce with Homemade Napkin Dumplings and Red Apple Cabbage

Wash the cabbage, quarter it and cut out the stalk. Slice or cut the cabbage into fine strips. Peel and halve the onions and cut into fine strips. Heat the lard in a large saucepan. Sauté the onions until translucent. Stir in the red cabbage and spices. Stir in the wine, vinegar, sugar and approx. 1 teaspoon salt as well. Bring to the boil and stew covered for approx. 1 hour. Stir every now and then and add some water if necessary so that nothing burns.

Finally, peel the apples, quarter them, core them, dice them and after about 15 minutes fold them into the red cabbage. Stir in the jelly. Season the cabbage with vinegar and sugar.

Heat the milk lukewarm. Dice the rolls and place in a large bowl. Pour milk over it, soak for about 30 minutes. Peel and finely dice the onion. Sauté in hot butter until translucent. Wash and chop the parsley and add to the rolls with the eggs and onions.

Season the dumpling mixture with approx. 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and knead by hand. Then let it rest for 30–40 minutes. Important: For the napkin dumpling recipe, the mixture should be soft, but not liquid!

Place the dumpling mixture of the consistency described in the center of a damp tea towel. Shape into a thick roll with moistened hands, leaving approx. 10 cm free at the ends of the towel. Then wrap the mixture loosely in the cloth and tie the ends of the cloth tightly together with kitchen thread. Bring plenty of salted water to the boil in a large roasting pan. Put the dumpling roll in it so that it is covered with water and let it simmer over a low heat for about 30 minutes.

After the cooking time, lift out the dumpling roll, unwrap it and cut it into slices with a knife or string. To do this, place the thread around the roll and pull it crosswise.

For the duck breast with brandy orange sauce, preheat the oven to 220 ° C. Cut the duck skin into a diamond shape with a sharp knife, being careful not to cut into the meat. Season all around with salt and pepper.

Peel shallots and chop finely. Melt the butter in a saucepan and steam the shallots in it until soft. Deglaze with brandy and fill up with orange juice. Stir in honey until the sauce has a syrupy consistency. Take off the stove. Then peel and fillet the orange.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the duck in it (skin side down) for 4-5 minutes until most of the fat has been removed from the duck skin. Skim off this fat and turn the duck. Fry with the skin side up for another 5-7 minutes until the duck is done but is still pink in the middle. The internal temperature should be approx. 68 ° C. Remove from the pan and let rest for about 5 minutes.

Before serving, remove the skin and cut the duck breast into slices. Serve with the sauce and the filleted orange wedges. Sprinkle with the grated orange peel and serve.