Excellent Stuffing for Duck

A sweet-savoury fruit stuffing of the sort that turns up repeatedly in early twentieth-century holiday menus. The recipe assumes you know how to roast the duck, so the useful notes are about quantity, the fruit, and getting the stuffing hot enough.

• QuantityOne and a half cups of crumbs plus two and a half cups of fruit makes roughly 4 cups of stuffing — enough to fill the cavity of a single 4-5 lb duck loosely. Double it if you want leftovers or are cooking two birds.
• CurrantsThese are dried Zante currants, the small black raisin, not fresh redcurrants or blackcurrants. Plump them in hot water or cider for ten minutes and drain, or they will pull moisture out of the crumbs.
• Bread crumbsThe recipe says only 'bread crumbs'; recipes of this kind often intended soft crumbs torn from day-old bread rather than fine dry ones. Dry crumbs will absorb the eggs and go pasty, so coarse fresh crumbs give a lighter result.
• ShorteningIn American usage this means vegetable shortening or lard. Melted butter works as well and tastes better here; duck fat, if you have any rendered, is the natural choice.
• Cooked applesFirm baked or stewed apple slices, cut in dice and cooled before mixing. Applesauce will make the stuffing wet and heavy.
• Getting it hot enoughStuffing packed inside a bird must reach 165F/74C at the centre, and duck cavities sit in a lot of fat. Check with a thermometer. Baking the stuffing separately in a buttered dish is an alternative that gives crisper edges and a drier-skinned duck.
• Glazed applesThe garnish is apple halves or rings cooked in sugar syrup or butter and sugar until translucent and lightly caramelised, arranged around the carved bird. The recipe gives no instructions for it.
• Seasoning"Pepper and salt" is unquantified. Start with a scant teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper for this volume; sage or thyme is a defensible addition, though the recipe leans deliberately toward fruit.