Duck in the Ardennes


 
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Philip Madden

TVWBB Member
My first large-ish cook was a success! Duck for 32 people. I packed up the WSM and took it down to the Ardennes for the yearly family-in-law extravaganza. The duck was lightly rubbed with brown-sugar, coarse salt, fresh ground pepper and sage and a dash each of onion powder, garlic powder, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg. Smoked fat side up for just over an hour (till about 115F internal) over lump with a chunk of pear and a touch of hickory chips in foil. Had to set the meat aside for a little bit because it was done a bit faster than expected. Then threw it fat side down on the gasser and brushed with a beer jelly (homemade with homebrew) and butter glaze. Served with cranberry sauce, pears poached in a good kriek (sour cherry beer) and croquettes. The uncle also made a very nice sauce with some of the trimmed duck fat, onion, kriek, cream and cranberry.

That was the most meat I have cooked in one time. We only served half a breast per person but in order to fit 16 breasts on I had to take a grate from one of my kettles and add that to the smoker (on feet made from stainless steel threaded rod and some nuts and washers). That worked well and I had room to spare!

We did try to take some photos of the process. Unfortunately while plating up the food for 32 people we forgot to snap a photo of the sliced up duck with all the trimmings.
photos of the cook

thanks for the input from you guys the duck was great. We are already planning next years meal!
 
Well done Philip. Thanks for sharing the pics and info. Your Uncle's sauce sounds really good too!
 
Looks great. I only have one duck under my belt, the results were a bit lack luster (I blame the duck...it came from a freezer case and was pretty cheap). Where did you ducks come from?
 
Sorry for the late reply, long vacation weekend. Normally I get my wild duck from a "game and poultry" butcher across the street from my normal butcher, or from a friend of a friend that hunts. Unfortunately neither had enough duck available when we needed it, so we got the duck from Macro which is like a Belgian Sam's club. The meat was not frozen and it was very fresh, and it was wild duck (not farm raised). I would personally stay away from frozen duck unless you are making duck stew.
 
Like I said it was my first duck, guess frozen isn't the way to go.

I totally missed that you're in Belgium. I was going to look up where the Ardennes where when I saw your location.

I'll have to add you to my list of individuals who can help me with esoteric food questions. I've already acquired a korean, japanese, and vietnamese resource from this from forum.
 
I have to say, this has been my most requested product this year. I have done it quite a few times now. The recipe has slightly changed and I will post it in the recipe section after I cook it again for my wife and her friends on their weekly "girls night" dinner. The nice thing is that you can really stuff a bunch of them in the WSM. I think if I really tried I could get 30 duck breast in there (10 on each of my three grates, with the use of rib racks or homemade racks)... maybe more.

Anyways, I'm posting this to say that if you haven't tried duck breast on the smoker yet.. do it! It is also quick. They only take about an hour to an hour and a half on the WSM and then throw them in a hot skillet (or on a kettle, but watch for flare-ups!) to crisp up the fat side.
 
Philip, I was re-reading these posts and noticed 'in the Ardennes'. Well in the last week my son and I watched a special on TV about the Battle for Ardennes. It clicked. Anyway, the show was a rivetting account of the battles and I would encourage anyone with the interest to watch-on Discovery, I believe. It looks like a delightfully peaceful vacation spot from your pictures.
 
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