One of the benefits of being Canadian is that our Thanksgiving happens when there's still a good deal of sunlight.
This year, we decided to make Thanksgiving special by having the local turkey smoke a duck... or two.
I don't have pictures hand now, however will include them when I get access to them.
Brine/no brine .. length of cooking.. instructions were all over the place. About the only thing that I found
was to hot smoke the duck. Small surprise there. Most people only smoked the breast pieces, so I took a couple
of sources and merged the instructions which follow.
(I've included instructions in both English and Metric so that everyone can use their method of choice)
Duck Brine - Prepare ahead so it can cool.
1L/1Qt Apple Juice
1/4 C Salt
3+ Tsp Peppercorns, cracked
1+ Cloves Garlic, crushed
Crushed Bay Leaf ( Optional)
Mix together the juice, salt and most of the peppercorns and garlic. Heat if necessary. If you're a dumbass and forget to wash out/off
the birds, bring this to a boil, remove the foam and boil for 5 minutes before cooling. Reserve the left over peppercorn and garlic to apply to the skin.
This was enough brine for 2 ducks with a little left over for either cooking the gizzards in, or reducing for a sauce or glaze.
The birds sat in the brine overnight, approx 10 hrs.
I started up the smoker and once it was ready to go, added a combination of alder chips and some blackberry canes
that we cut back earlier in the year. If you don't have black berry canes handy, fruit wood/lightly flavoured wood
are recommended for duck.
They were on the grill for a total of 4 hrs, and were turned over halfway through the process.
The meat was still a touch on the pink side, so I would suggest cooking them for another 30-45 mins, unless you
like the meat a touch on the rare side. The meat was not greasy and was wonderfully tender, and has great flavour
from both the alder and blackberry smoke.
... pictures will follow...
Duane.
This year, we decided to make Thanksgiving special by having the local turkey smoke a duck... or two.
I don't have pictures hand now, however will include them when I get access to them.
Brine/no brine .. length of cooking.. instructions were all over the place. About the only thing that I found
was to hot smoke the duck. Small surprise there. Most people only smoked the breast pieces, so I took a couple
of sources and merged the instructions which follow.
(I've included instructions in both English and Metric so that everyone can use their method of choice)
Duck Brine - Prepare ahead so it can cool.
1L/1Qt Apple Juice
1/4 C Salt
3+ Tsp Peppercorns, cracked
1+ Cloves Garlic, crushed
Crushed Bay Leaf ( Optional)
Mix together the juice, salt and most of the peppercorns and garlic. Heat if necessary. If you're a dumbass and forget to wash out/off
the birds, bring this to a boil, remove the foam and boil for 5 minutes before cooling. Reserve the left over peppercorn and garlic to apply to the skin.
This was enough brine for 2 ducks with a little left over for either cooking the gizzards in, or reducing for a sauce or glaze.
The birds sat in the brine overnight, approx 10 hrs.
I started up the smoker and once it was ready to go, added a combination of alder chips and some blackberry canes
that we cut back earlier in the year. If you don't have black berry canes handy, fruit wood/lightly flavoured wood
are recommended for duck.
They were on the grill for a total of 4 hrs, and were turned over halfway through the process.
The meat was still a touch on the pink side, so I would suggest cooking them for another 30-45 mins, unless you
like the meat a touch on the rare side. The meat was not greasy and was wonderfully tender, and has great flavour
from both the alder and blackberry smoke.
... pictures will follow...
Duane.
