Duck meat, composition, benefits and harms, low-calorie duck dishes. Can a child eat duck meat, benefits and harms?

Well-cooked duck meat will complement any festive table. But no matter how the duck is cooked, whole or in pieces, its meat remains tasty and satisfying. It is somewhat digestible faster than beef and pork, despite its perceived toughness.

Calorie content and composition

Duck meat contains:

  • B vitamins and vitamins A, C, E, D, K;
  • Macroelements;
  • Microelements.

All the vitamins present in it, each in its own way, perform a unique positive function for the normal functioning of the body.



Useful properties

In addition to taste, duck meat also has beneficial properties. Many of these properties come from duck fat. When consumed in a certain amount as food, the body is cleansed of carcinogenic substances and the complexion improves. The presence of enzymes in duck fat allows you to regulate metabolism.

What else could be the benefit of duck meat? Vitamin A, found in duck meat in decent quantities, improves the condition of the skin and visual function of the eyes.

The medical view of duck meat is practical. In their opinion, this product is simply necessary in the diet of a person with physical or nervous exhaustion. Restoration of the body occurs due to revitalization immune system proteins.


In meat domestic duck contains betaine and choline in large quantities, which contribute to the construction of cell membranes. Their presence in the body is vital. This type of meat is also useful for anemia.

For those wishing to lose weight, the presence of domestic duck meat in the diet is strictly contraindicated, but it is quite possible to combine weight loss with eating meat wild duck.

Green salad combined with duck meat promotes rapid absorption of essential nutrients by the body useful substances preventing fat from accumulating.

Harmful properties

Main harmful property when eating duck meat is the amount of fat entering the body, since fat is a source of cholesterol, which contributes to the disorder natural processes in blood vessels. It is also contraindicated for people who are overweight or obese. Separating the skin from the meat part of the carcass will slightly reduce the fat content, but will not lead to the desired result.

The second harmful property of duck is its toughness, which makes digestion much more difficult, putting a lot of stress on the digestive system. For healthy person this factor will not cause any trouble, but for people suffering from liver or gastrointestinal diseases, eating duck can cause significant harm.

When eating duck meat, the benefits and harms of this consumption must be clearly compared. After all, the harm directly depends on the presence of chronic diseases and the amount of meat consumed.

How to select and store a duck carcass

To please your guests with delicious and juicy duck meat, it is not enough to buy a duck carcass in the supermarket and simply cook it. Only the right duck meat combined with delicious recipe will allow you to get the desired result.

In large chain stores it is very rare to find this type of product from a domestic manufacturer. Therefore, it is preferable to buy it on the market, based on the following knowledge about the appearance of a fresh carcass:

  • Shiny, yellowish surface;
  • No stickiness on the skin;
  • The cut of meat is bright red;
  • Average fatness;
  • Elasticity of the skin.

Too large carcasses are characterized a large number fat, which when cooked will add an unpleasant taste to the entire meat. Thin individuals in finished form will turn out dry and tough.


It is optimal to buy a young duck carcass - no older than six months, and a broiler - no older than three months. Older birds produce a specific sound when finished bad smell. You can determine the approximate age of a bird by its beak, legs and the appearance of its fat. Juveniles have yellow legs, a soft beak and clear fat that is best seen under the tail.

The elasticity of the skin is determined by pressing with a finger. Fresh meat tends to quickly restore pressure dents.

It is possible to examine the appearance and determine the above indicators only on an unfrozen product. When defrosting a carcass, you must initially leave it in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then defrost it at room temperature.

When chilled, the duck carcass can be stored at 0 or -4 degrees for about 3 days. More if necessary long-term storage, you can use freezing. When frozen, its shelf life can reach up to three months at -15 degrees. A freezing temperature of -25 degrees will allow you to store the product for about a year.

When preparing a delicious duck dish, be it stewed, fried, baked, salted, grilled or steamed, remember high calorie content duck and do not abuse the quantities of its absorption. At proper preparation and in certain proportions, duck meat is used as a prophylactic against many ailments.


Duck meat belongs to the category of products, the beneficial and harmful properties of which directly depend on the amount eaten. This is a fairly nutritious food, which at the same time can cause difficulty in digestion. However, in any case, poultry meat is much easier to digest by the human body than beef or pork.

The benefits of duck meat

This type of meat belongs to the category dark varieties. It contains many vessels, and the fibers are stiff. That is why this product is useful for those who have anemia and certain disorders nervous system.

Since duck is classified as a waterfowl, its meat is quite fatty. Most of this substance is found under the skin. Therefore, if you want to make meat dietary, you should remove the skin. In addition, duck fat contains a lot of omega-3 acids, so consuming this product is suitable for normalizing the functioning of the heart, blood vessels and brain.

In addition to omega-3 acids, duck meat contains many minerals and vitamins. This product is rich in vitamins B, A, K, E. Of course, by consuming only duck meat, daily norm Vitamins are difficult to obtain, but the correct selection of other products will give your body everything it needs.

The benefit of duck meat also lies in the fact that it has an excellent effect on male potency. Due to the presence of fat in it, the human body produces the secretion of the sex glands, as well as male hormones. It is thanks to this that it is possible to stimulate the functioning of the male reproductive system.

The benefits of duck meat are also due to high content squirrel. This product is not easily absorbed by the body, but is very valuable source beneficial amino acids. In addition, duck contains twice as much vitamin A as other types of meat. Thanks to its presence, it is possible to improve vision and skin condition.

Duck meat is rich in proteins, and therefore doctors recommend its use to those people who are physically or mentally exhausted. For those who face stressful situations, duck meat helps strengthen the nervous system. In addition, duck meat is considered a powerful biostimulant that helps strengthen the nervous system.

This product should also be included in your diet during seasonal exacerbations of viral infections. It is also useful for people who are constantly engaged in mental work. Duck meat is simply irreplaceable for athletes.

Duck liver has particular benefits. It contains pantothenic acid, which normalizes metabolic processes in the body. Due to the presence of retinol and the optimal composition of amino acids, this product becomes extremely beneficial for men's health.

There is a lot of betaine and choline in duck. Thanks to the presence of these substances, cell membranes are formed, and therefore they must be present in the body. In addition, duck meat contains a lot of riboflavin. It also contains folic acid and carotene.

Although duck fat is very different unusual taste, it is incredibly healthy because it contains enzymes that have atherogenic properties. Thanks to their presence, it is possible to cleanse the body of carcinogenic substances.

Duck meat for weight loss

People who dream of getting rid of extra pounds, should give preference to wild poultry meat. It contains a minimum of fat. Domestic duck meat contains quite a lot of fat, so it is difficult to include it in the category of dietary products.

If you combine duck with green salad, then this will speed up the absorption of nutrients, while fats simply will not be able to accumulate. Diets that are based on separate meals, also allow the use of duck in the diet.

Harm of duck meat

The most harmful property of duck meat is its fat content. Even if you peel it from the skin, the calorie content will still be quite high. Therefore, duck meat is contraindicated for people who are obese or have large number overweight. Additionally, duck fat is a source of cholesterol, which can cause blood vessel problems.

Also, the harm of duck lies in its toughness and difficulty in digesting. Therefore, such meat is suitable only for those who do not have problems in functioning digestive system. If you have any diseases of the digestive tract or liver, it is better not to eat duck.

Duck meat has many useful properties, because it contains many useful substances. This product can be used as a preventive measure various diseases. However, it is imperative to take into account its contraindications in order to maintain good health for a long time.

Duck's tender meat with a crispy skin has made it one of the most popular birds in cooking. It is prepared as independent dish or added to others as an ingredient. Regardless of the option chosen culinary processing Duck retains its juiciness and unique delicate taste.

History and geography of the product

The familiar poultry originates from the wild mallard duck. Its domestication by humans began a millennium BC, and this process was completed in the 5th century. BC the ancient Greeks raised wild ducks under nets. Domesticated mallard ducks were also very popular in China and Japan, from where they spread throughout the world.

The ancestors of modern domestic ducks on the American continent are considered to be small birds of this family that lived on the island of Yucatan since pre-Columbian times. A wild species of South American duck, which is still found in Paraguay and Brazil, became the basis for the development of the musky variety. Due to the prevalence of the bird in the wild, many countries on different continents have their own species of domestic duck.

About the popularity of duck meat valuable product nutrition can be judged from a variety of historical evidence and archaeological finds discovered by scientists. Images of this bird are found during excavations in cultural layers of the 8th century. BC In the famous Karelian-Finnish epic "Kalevala" duck egg called the basis of the Universe. Residents of the Russian North often gave the shape of a duck to kitchen utensils, for example, ladles and bowls, widely known in folk crafts.

Types and varieties

The meat of both wild and domestic ducks is consumed. Their differences lie in the size of the carcasses, fat content and flavor of the meat. The weight of each bird varies depending on gender within 2-4 kg. Drakes are usually larger than females, and domestic birds are larger and fatter than wild birds. Moreover, artificially bred ducks are characterized by early maturity; they grow and gain weight faster than those living in natural conditions.

Duck meat also differs depending on the age of the birds. Young ducks are very tender and cook faster, but older ones have more meat, and its taste has many shades. The choice depends on the dish being prepared and personal preferences.

There are more than 80 breeds of domestic ducks in the world, differing in growing conditions and timing, appearance, nutritional properties meat. All birds of this species are divided into three large groups:
1) egg-laying;
2) meat;
3) meat and eggs.
The last two subspecies are more popular, since ducks are still inferior to chickens in egg production. They also include in a separate group musky breeds, for their external resemblance to turkeys, they are often called indo-ducks.

Meat-type birds are distinguished by their large size and early maturity. With proper care, they can reach required weight. These breeds include the world famous Peking, Khaki Campbell, Moscow White and Gray Ukrainian ducks. Egg birds are lighter in weight, but upon reaching sexual maturity they lay eggs well. Meat-egg breeds bred by crossing, for example, Rouen and Black White-breasted ducks, combine the advantages of both subspecies.

Useful properties

Duck meat is valuable nutritious product, having a balanced composition. In it, in addition to the traditional meat products proteins, contains saturated fatty acids (Omega-3 and Omega-6), ash, choline and many vitamins (E, A, PP and groups B). Duck is also rich in beneficial minerals: fluorine, chromium, molybdenum, cobalt, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, copper, zinc, iron, iodine, chlorine, sulfur, calcium, magnesium and sodium. At the same time, there is quite a lot of bad cholesterol fatty meat less in duck than in pork.

Thanks to fatty acids, eating duck has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the cardiovascular system. Twice the vitamin A content of chicken helps strengthen vision and improve skin condition. A large set of B vitamins supports the nervous system, and choline and betaine from duck meat are involved in fat metabolism and the formation of cellular structures.

Taste qualities

Duck meat is a dark type. It is characterized by a red-brown color and greater fat content compared to other birds, which does not allow it to be classified as dietary products. However, the special juiciness and tenderness of duck meat has won it many fans all over the world.

In terms of taste, duck is generally similar to most other poultry. But, like each of them, it has its own unique flavor and aroma. Baked is especially delicious whole carcass duck with crispy skin. The specific duck smell, which not everyone likes, is easily masked thanks to various fillings that can be used to stuff the bird before baking.

Also, the freshness of the meat is important for the taste of duck dishes. IN freezer poultry should not be stored for more than 3 months. Fresh or defrosted duck must be sold within 3 days.

Use in cooking

Duck meat is very popular among chefs. The duck is prepared whole or cut into pieces and stuffed various fillings. Duck maybe a separate dish or used as an ingredient. Duck meat:
boiled
stewed,
fry,
baked
grind into mince
salted
grilled or steamed;
added to snacks and salads.

In kitchens different nations There are many recipes for duck dishes. It makes delicious soups (cabbage soup, borscht, solyanka) and main courses (roast, pilaf, stew). Tender duck fat is great for frying. Duck meat goes well with vegetables, various cereals, mushrooms and even fruits. Wines go well with it sweet and sour sauces. The most popular in the world is the classic baked duck with apples and business card Chinese cuisine - "Peking duck".

Ducks are very popular in China and other countries Southeast Asia, where they are grown by many families living in rural areas. In our country, duck is in less demand compared to chicken. Many will be surprised to learn that duck meat is considered much healthier than meat chicken. So what is the benefit of duck meat, what beneficial nutrients does it contain, and is it really harmful, as some nutritionists claim. Read the answers to all these questions in this article.

Many of us prepare duck for the New Year or Christmas table. On ordinary weekdays, a duck is not often seen in family menu. There are a large number of dishes that can be prepared with this type of meat. Take, for example, the recipe for duck with oranges. But many consider her fat and little healthy dish, which you can afford to eat only a couple of times a year.

However, this is fundamentally wrong. Duck meat is considered a delicacy. It was consumed 4,000 thousand years ago, and the first mention of cooking duck dates back to the Yuan Dynasty in ancient China.

The duck family is quite extensive and includes more than 100 species. Most modern duck breeds are descended from the wild mallard or musk duck. Modern duck breeds are divided into:

Egg and meat;

Beijing;

Black white-breasted;

Gray Ukrainian.

The average domestic duck, depending on the breed, weighs from two to 3.5 kilograms. Drakes - on average three to four kilograms.

What are the benefits of duck meat?

Most of us love duck meat for its taste. But few people realize that in addition to animal protein, it also contains other beneficial nutrients. Duck meat contains:

Minerals: selenium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, sodium, iron, potassium, calcium and others;

Vitamins: riboflavin, niacin, thiamine, pantothenic acid, vitamin B 6, B12 and others;

Monounsaturated fats;

Polyunsaturated fats;

An important part of poultry meat is vitamins. Vitamin B 3 or niacin helps metabolize fats and lowers bad cholesterol (LDL). 100 grams of meat contains almost half of it daily norm from recommended consumption.

Vitamin B 5 and B 12 are involved in maintaining the functions of the nervous system. Vitamin B 5 is involved in the transmission of nerve signals. While vitamin B 12 protects nerve cells from damage.

Iron is involved in the process of hematopoiesis, the transfer of oxygen and other nutrients to various organs and tissues of the body.

Duck meat is a rich source of zinc and selenium. Both of these minerals play a role in enzyme function and activate enzymes that are essential for healthy cellular metabolism.

Zinc improves immunity, and selenium helps in proper functioning thyroid gland. 100 grams of meat contains a quarter of the daily requirement of an adult man and woman.

Protein in duck meat, like any other meat, contains everything necessary for a person amino acids. Protein is needed for the immune system, maintaining tissue and skin regeneration. 100 grams of domestic duck contains 18 grams of protein, and the breast and legs contain Peking duck as much as 28 and 29 grams, respectively.

Many people are interested in whether duck meat is dietary and how many calories it contains. No, duck meat cannot be classified as dietary meat. This high-calorie product. Much depends on the method of preparation and presentation of the prepared dish. Calorie content of meat duck breast without skin can be 200 or a little more calories. Whereas cooked with skin already contains more than 300 calories.

Benefits of duck meat

Duck is rich in flavor and nutrients. It costs more than chicken. But including it in your diet can provide health benefits.

Selenium has antioxidant properties and may protect the body from free radicals and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, oncology.

Iron can help prevent anemia.

Phosphorus helps convert food into energy and is needed for a strong skeletal system.

Our body also needs copper. It is an important mineral for both physical and mental health.

Calcium may help prevent osteoporosis.

Eating duck meat will benefit your skin and hair. Riboflavin and niacin are important for maintaining healthy skin. Omega-6 and Omega-3 are excellent support for hair growth and skin regeneration.

In addition to the above, it should be noted that duck meat is important in the diet of people whose work involves high energy costs and nervous stress.

Harm of duck meat

Undoubtedly, duck meat should be on every person’s diet menu. It is nutritious and healthy. But not everyone can afford to include it in their diet. Duck meat is not recommended for:

Overweight and obesity;

Aggravation chronic diseases stomach;

Liver diseases;

Diseases of the pancreas.

However, this meat contains a lot of fat. We must not forget about cholesterol. A 100-gram serving of meat cooked with skin contains about 70 milligrams of cholesterol, and without skin – 75 milligrams. While daily norm consumption, according to nutritionists, is within 300 milligrams. Therefore, if you suffer from heart or vascular diseases, have increased content cholesterol, you should limit your consumption of this type of meat.

When cooking, you should give preference to stewed or baked duck and exclude foods high in cholesterol from your menu. It is better to cook duck without skin.

Having high cholesterol can cause it to deposit on the walls of blood vessels, which can increase the risk of heart disease.

How to choose a duck

Duck can now be bought not only at the market, but also in the store. If possible, it is better to buy poultry.

Ducks are slaughtered in the fall. There is a lot of choice on the market at this time. When purchasing, first of all you need to pay attention to the skin. It should be shiny, with a slightly yellowish tint, thick and with a layer of fat.

There should be no stickiness on the skin of the duck, the meat should be dense and elastic. When pressed, it quickly returns to its original shape.

It is worth paying attention to the color of the meat itself. Duck meat is a red meat and its color should be bright red, not brown or dark red.

How to cook duck

There are many recipes for cooking duck. Every kitchen has its own national recipe. This meat can be subjected to all types of heat treatment: frying, stewing, baking, grilling.

Most often, the duck is baked whole, stuffed with apples or oranges. Acid makes meat softer and tastier. In this case, the skin is not removed so that the meat does not lose juices and is removed before serving.

To keep the meat tender, you can marinate it before cooking by adding lemon juice to the marinade.

There is no need to add fat or oil when cooking. The duck has enough of it. When baking, as a rule, the meat is poured with its own juice.

When frying duck with skin, you need to make small cuts in the skin and fry first on the side where the skin is. In this case, most of the subcutaneous fat will melt away.

Traditionally, duck is served with cranberry sauce. It goes well with many stewed vegetables: cabbage, parsnips, beets, carrots, mashed potatoes, rice.

That's all about the benefits and harms of duck meat. Now you have enough reasons to buy the carcass of this bird and enjoy the delicious taste of the meat.

About the benefits and harms of duck meat, how to choose and store

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Will turn any dinner into a holiday. From China came the tradition of baking a Peking duck carcass and preparing broths with herbs and vegetable roots on the bones. According to an old legend, it is the ratio of cold and heat in meat that is beneficial for the health of the body, so each province has special cooking secrets.

Diet cuisine French Provence offers dietary option- Muscovy duck food, which tastes like game. It is a mistake to refuse duck because of its fat content, because for cooking it is enough to remove the skin to start experimenting with delicious dishes.

When comparing the benefits and harm to the body, moderate consumption of the product and the absence of serious diseases of the digestive tract should be taken into account. When compared with other types of meat, duck contains a complex of beneficial amino acids, vitamins and high quality protein.

Useful components:

  • Vitamin A helps increase the body's defenses and becomes a barrier against the penetration of infection through mucous membranes.
  • Vitamin B1 prevents the development of depression and fatigue, activates appetite, and normalizes falling asleep.
  • Vitamin B2 is involved in lipid metabolism, strengthens the structure of hair, nails and skin.
  • Nicotinic acid activates the removal of harmful cholesterol from the body.
  • Iron increases hemoglobin levels, improves vital signs of patients with anemia and chronic fatigue.
  • Zinc and selenium ensure stable functioning of the thyroid gland and improve immunity.

Dishes from it are recommended to be consumed by bodybuilders to build muscles, children for normal development and older people to prevent the development of dementia. Duck is also useful product with nervous and physical stress, pain or weakening of the body.

The dishes should not be consumed by obese people, so as not to provoke even greater weight gain. The meat has tough fibers, so it is not recommended to consume it if you have indigestion or liver disease.

Benefits of duck fat

Duck fat has useful qualities, although it is often thrown away by housewives as unnecessary. The excess calorie content of the product is undeniable, but the harm only appears when fat is abused. Moderate consumption has a positive effect on organs and systems and activates the immune system.


Useful qualities:

  • The amount of useful poly- and monounsaturated acids in the composition is equal to olive oil.
  • Preparations based on duck fat are used for weight loss.
  • To melt duck fat, a low temperature is required, and therefore its components are not retained in the body.
  • Helps build muscle mass.
  • Removes carcinogenic compounds.
  • Normalizes metabolic processes.

Poultry is often overfed, which results in an obese carcass. Excess fat should be trimmed off the duck for cooking and then stuffed apple slices. Not everyone will like it specific smell duck fat, so it’s better to use a different dressing for the side dish.

Chinese soup

Although the meat contains huge amount useful substances, but is contraindicated in dietary nutrition due to the high percentage of fat content. Duck should not be consumed when on a diet or when allergic reaction body for meat.

If there are no contraindications, then it is useful to cook periodically various dishes from broiler poultry. Offers the most recipes Chinese cuisine, because it is here that they can serve several thousand variations of baked, boiled or fried duck.

Chinese recipe soup

Ingredients:

  • 2.5 liters of water will require 1 kg of Peking duck
  • 3 tomatoes
  • 3 slices ginger root
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • grated carrots
  • 2 sour plums
  • chopped dried mushrooms
  • some leaves Chinese mustard or pickled

First, boil the duck in water for half an hour, after which the remaining ingredients, except tomatoes, are added. Leave to simmer for at least three hours over low heat. Chopped tomato slices are dipped into the soup shortly before the end of cooking and salted to taste.

Beneficial characteristics of meat

Duck meat satisfies hunger for a long time and has a set of valuable vitamins and microelements.


Beneficial influence meat:

  • promotes the production of blood cells responsible for the amount of hemoglobin in the blood
  • localizes inflammation on the skin
  • strengthens bone tissue and blood vessel walls
  • activates mental performance
  • normalizes metabolic processes
  • removes carcinogenic compounds from the body

It is recommended to eat duck meat for people whose activities involve increased mental activity and nervous overstrain. Thanks to thiamine, energy reserves are released, so carbohydrates are converted into energy.

In some cases, you should stop using the product. Contraindications are associated with difficult digestibility of meat fibers and excessive fat content of meat:

  • Tough meat fibers will not harm people in excellent health. But in the presence of liver diseases and gastric tract will lead to disruptions in the functioning of the body.
  • Fat activates the formation of cholesterol, which clogs blood vessels. If you are prone to obesity, it is better to choose dietary varieties meat.

You should compare the pros and cons of using the product for yourself.

If there are no health problems, then duck dishes will decorate the table and help normalize the mental and protective forces of the body.

Differences between poultry and wild birds

Duck meat is red-brown in color and has a high fat content. Thanks to its juiciness, it allows you to prepare a variety of delicious dishes, although the most popular is the baked carcass stuffed with berries, fruits or cereals.


The taste of domestic meat differs from wild species. Products poultry more fatty and high-calorie, therefore tender in taste. Wild duck meat is tough, almost devoid of fat, and has a characteristic fishy smell and taste. It will have to be processed for a long time before cooking, and there is also a risk of helminth infection. Such meat should not be given to children and those with gastrointestinal diseases.

The largest selection of ducks is in the autumn, when you can choose a fattened fresh carcass. Pay attention to the nuances:

  • Most pronounced taste qualities possesses a young bird. She is recognized by her yellow legs and soft beak, a transparent layer of fat. As birds age, their fat becomes more saturated yellowish in color.
  • Fresh carcass has yellow skin appears shiny. When cut, the meat stands out with a rich reddish color.
  • When you press on the skin, a tubercle is formed, which quickly flattens out. If the hole remains for a long time, then this indicates an expired product.
  • Duck carcass should not be stored in the refrigerator for longer than three months. After defrosting, the dish should be cooked within three days, otherwise the meat will spoil.

Secrets of processing duck carcass:

  • The frozen food is transferred from the freezer to the general compartment of the refrigerator for a day, after which it continues to defrost in the room.
  • Before cooking, make cuts or punctures with a knife to drain excess fat.
  • A few hours before cooking, the carcass is marinated in lemon juice or the skin is rubbed with coarse salt.
  • For education delicious crust The duck is doused with boiling water before cooking.
  • When frying, it is not advisable to add fat; the carcass already produces its own fat.
  • When frying, pour fat over the carcass, which flows into the frying pan;
  • If you want to stuff a carcass, you should not pack the filling tightly, because it increases in volume during the cooking process.

Every kitchen in the world has its own cooking secrets. delicious duck. The most common recipe is a carcass with oranges or apples, which add piquancy and tenderness to the meat. Traditionally to roast duck served sweet and sour cranberry sauce, decorated with a side dish with boiled carrots, parsnips, mashed potatoes or rice.

When consuming any type of meat, moderation must be observed. Duck-based dishes will bring a lot of positive energy, supply the body with valuable compounds, promote health and good mood. There are an abundance of cooking recipes that allow housewives to show creative talent and amaze guests with masterful cooking.

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