Duck

Haggis

I cooked a duck - my wife's favorite dish - last night with good results using a 3-4 hours low temp indirect method on a splatchcocked bird. Nevertheless I still struggle with both getting all the fat out and getting crispy skin. Scoring the skin and pricking it regularly during the cook (the thermopen is a great tool for that) gave me several cups of fat in my drip pan but there remained a thick layer of fat under the still-soft skin. Higher temps might have crisped up the skin but only at the expense of a faster cook and less fat removal.

Short of using the Chinatown method (hanging the duck for several days in a hot window - which I actually did some 35 years ago,) has anyone come up with a good method to get the fat out and get the skin crisp on these birds?

Sundown

Start and end with the breast side down after, of course, pricking the he** out of the skin. Starting with he breast side down allows the fat to get out easier flipping it keeps the skin from getting too crisp and finishing breast side down gives the skin its last chance to crisp up.

We usually do the last part direct.