I bought a frozen duck....


 
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Darin Hearn

TVWBB Fan
Ok I was at Walmart and they have a frozen duckling in the frozen food aisle. It was pretty cheap so I picked it up. I am thinking about smoking beer can chicken style. Has anyone tried that before? What kind of wood is good with duck? Any other tips?

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Though I don't do beer can anything it's not for that reaason that I wouldn't suggest beer can duck--at the very least not without substantial prep. Commercial duck is very fatty. Whatever way you cook it you'll need to plan on catching the rendered fat.

Normally, I bone out the breast and remove the skin from everything but the leg quarters. The skin--with its attached fat--I save in the freezer till I have several, then I render the precious fat, make rilletes of the skin. The breasts I grill, rubbed, to medium-rare.

Anyway, for roasting/smoking: Bring a pot of water large enough to contain the duck to a boil. Meanwhile: Trim all extraneous skin/fat from the duck, i.e., any that's just hanging there--don't remove the skin from the flesh. With a sharp-tined fork or a thin-bladed pointed knife, pierce the skin all over the duck--skin only, don't go into the flesh.

When the water is boiling, dip the duck into the pot and leave it for one minute. Remove the duck, wait for the water to boil again, dip again for 1 minute; repeat once more. Pat the duck dry then place in the fridge, uncovered, to dry out the skin, at least overnight.

Pierce the skin again before cooking. Bring the duck to room temp before cooking. Roast/smoke at 325 for 2.5-3 hours . If the duck is not browning nicely after 2.5 hours, bump the heat up to 375-400 get better color and the skin crisper. Rest the duck 20 minutes after removing it. To get the skin crisper for serving, if desired, heat a quantity of oil till very hot in a pot then ladel the hot oil over the duck skin right before serving.
 
I've tried duck twice on the rotisserie and found the process to be so aggravating that I've not tried again. The first duck looked like a meteor - it caught fire in the grill! The second duck I caught the drippings but even they caught fire in the gas grill. I sat beside the grill the entire time to keep the duck in check. It was good, but not different enough from chicken to make it worth the effort.

Kevin's procedure sounds similar to the Cook's Illustrated method of rendering out fat before cooking. If you follow it you will likely have great success. Without sounding negative, though, is it worth all this effort?!
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Maybe my roasted duck just sucks.
 
Whoops, my mistake. I was thinking of two things at the same time and wrote the wrong one. Duck rilletes, like rillettes made from other meats, is a paste-like mix, in this case made of of duck confit blended with duck fat, armagnac or cognac, aromatics, etc. What I was meant was cracklins, which I often add to rillettes, but also use as a topping for salads, mashed potatoes or include in biscuits.

If rendering fat and inclucing the skin in the rendering, it is easier to remove the skin once the fat has been rendered, remove most of the fat (cool and fridge separately), chop the skin into small pieces, then return to the remaining fat in the pot, increase the heat, and cook till nicely browned and crisp. Drain on paper towels, cool, chop more finely if necessary and use or cool and store. (Crackins can be re-crisped if necessary by reheating. Don't go too long or they can get too hard.)
 
Don't mean to hijack this thread. But, just an fyi:

Don't confuse duckling with a full grown duck as many people do. Duck will yield a huge amount of fat. As for me, I've only roasted ducks in the oven and retained all of the fat to be rendered later on for cooking. Mmmmm mmmmmm, sliced potatos pan fried in a mixture of olive oil and some duck fat with bay leaf, thyme, garlic, s&p and a clove - with hot chinese mustard on the side. Don't be too generous with the duck fat in this recipe.

The ducklings I've eaten were a total flavor disappointment.
 
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