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We'll duck me

Found a 5lb duck for a Sunday cook. The wife thinks it is gross but will try it. Any help on cooking this bird to pass the test?

Thanks
Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 

Comments

  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    The breast should be cooked no more than medium rare.  There's a sh!t-ton of fat.  Some people make slices though the skin and fat to help it render.  Me, I'd just butcher the breasts out, then take the dark meat and cook it confit style in the fat at a low temp...maybe 180F for a few hours with a bunch of spices and serve that with the breast (which you can grill like a thick steak).
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    Let's pretend we're explaining this to an idiot and get really detailed.
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • ShadowNick
    ShadowNick Posts: 533
    i'd do it like a turkey, except have crosshatch cuts on the skin to help let the fat render out.  Then save the fat for fries.
    Pentwater, MI
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    edited August 2013
    Using a sharp filet knife, cut down the back bone and work the knife between the ribs and the meat - separating the breast filets from the carcass.  Score the skin into the fat on the breast filets.

    Cut the leg quarters off by cutting through the skin around the thigh joint where it attaches to the carcass.  Bend the joint and cut the tendons and remove the leg quarters. 

    If you want to do the legs confit style, you need fat.  You can render the fat from the duck carcass by putting it in the oven, but it's easier to just use vegetable oil.  Find a pan that's just large enough to hold the leg quarters.  Season the leg quarters liberally (way more than you normally would).  Put them in the pan or pot and heat the oil up to about 180F.  Try to adjust the heat so it doesn't get any hotter.  Cook them for a couple hours.

    20 minutes before you want to eat, heat up a CI pan and cook the breasts skin side down on medium heat (season them first).  Fat should render out from the skin....cook until the skin is crunchy and nice and brown.  Flip and cook the meat side for a couple minutes, maybe 90 seconds.  Turn back on the skin.  Put the pan in the egg around 225-300F indirect with a fruit smoke wood.  Cook slowly until the breasts are done the way you want them...most connoisseurs prefer their duck breast pink - medium rare.  You can go to medium but it get's tough if you cook medium well or more.  So that's around 135F internal.  Pull, let them rest.  Don't tent.

    While they're resting, put a sear on the confit (optional).  Cut the breasts into thick slices (you'll only get 4 or 5) so it doesn't cool too quickly.  Serve. You can make a citrus sauce like an orange sauce (sorry, no recipe) but you don't need a sauce at all.

    Or you can roast like a turkey...just don't cook it as hot internally or it'll be a tough, nasty meal. Lots of fat will render off, use a drip pan.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    You know why you "found" a 5lb duck, eh, not many wanted it. Good luck with it. 
    Steaming or boiling to render the fat out before the roast is very common, much like a lot of folks used to do with ribs. 

    Mom used to steam them outside (wild ducks Dad and brought home) to render the fat. As I recall she would put them on about noon, and gently steam for 3 to four hours. Then she would oven roast with a ton of herb and spice. Always came out with a crispy skin, was way overcooked to the point of being ridiculous. Tasted great. 
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    edited August 2013
    Vegetable oil? Blasphème!!!! Confit literally means to cook in it's own fat. 8-10 hours for proper confit at 200*

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,674
    hot and fast or low and slow at 220 for several hours. hot and fast after rendering is resteraunt style, low and slow is back yard bbq. some just wont eat red duck meat
    :D you neeeeeed a vibrant sauce with duck if low and slow and theres a fine line between great and dry, i cook it like a big chicken thigh, raised grid direct at low temps
    http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/237371/duck-with-wild-rice
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    Can I smoke it?
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • Doc_Eggerton
    Doc_Eggerton Posts: 5,321
    edited August 2013
    You do need to score the skin so the fat can leak out.  We like duck.

    Oh, and duck fat is used in fancy cooking, but probably not from the grill.

    XXL #82 out of the first 100, XLGE X 2, LBGE (gave this one to daughter 1.0) , MBGE (now in the hands of iloveagoodyoke daughter 2.0) and lots of toys

  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    @skiddymarker... Hard to find duck out of season here.
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Vegetable oil? Blasphème!!!! Confit literally means to cook in it's own fat. 8-10 hours for proper confit at 200*
    No no no confit (at least in this context) doesn't literally mean that.  That's typically how water fowl is cooked though - in it's own fat.  In the Provence area of South France it's common to see olive oil used for confit.  For fruit confit, sugar rather than oil is used.  Confit was originally a preservation technique that did one thing - keep oxygen out of the food so it doesn't spoil.  200F is too hot, to do it right it should be around 180 and more like 8-10 hours.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    These effin  question mark boxes are driving me nuts!
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    Small duck. Score and indirect at 300,. Maple chips.
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • SmokeyPitt
    SmokeyPitt Posts: 10,490

    henapple said:
    Small duck. Score and indirect at 300,. Maple chips.
    I haven't done one before either so for my first I would just do something basic like that.  From what I have read, it is a good idea to pierce/cut the skin in several places.  Just be careful to only cut skin and not the meat.  I would put a pan under the duck with taters so they can cook in the duck fat.  You may want to have a turkey baster or something to suck out some of the fat along the way if there is too much.  Save any leftover fat.  Good luck! 


    Which came first the chicken or the egg?  I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg. 

  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,432
    edited August 2013
    One of my favorite glazes for duck is 1 part honey and 1 part orange marmalade.  Heat in a pan together til thin, then brush on the duck when it has a half-hour left to go.  
    _____________

    "I mean, I don't just kill guys, I'm notorious for doing in houseplants."  - Maggie, Northern Exposure


  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,432
    WTF.  I typed "Heat" in a pan, twice, and this software insists on spelling it "zat"...  :-?
    _____________

    "I mean, I don't just kill guys, I'm notorious for doing in houseplants."  - Maggie, Northern Exposure


  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    Why does the wife think its gross? Culver brand may have the heads on, but I've never had a Maple_Leaf that did.

    There will be lots of fat. First time I tried Egging one, I did not score the skin. Ended up w. some good meat covered in a blanket of very smokey tasting fat. 2nd time, scored, and the 9" pie pan I used to catch the dripping almost over flowed.

    Haven't done one in awhile, but last time, I spatch'd it and trimmed away every bit of fat I could. Pushed my fingers under the skin, and let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours. Scored and cooked hot. Rendered some of the fat, and made a cherry-orange sauce. Worked well.

    Since then, I've had several restaurant dinners w. just crispy leg quarters. From that, I suppose as  Nola' mentioned, cutting the carcass into pieces may let you cook the parts better than all at once.


  • Vegetable oil? Blasphème!!!! Confit literally means to cook in it's own fat. 8-10 hours for proper confit at 200*
    No no no confit (at least in this context) doesn't literally mean that.  That's typically how water fowl is cooked though - in it's own fat.  In the Provence area of South France it's common to see olive oil used for confit.  For fruit confit, sugar rather than oil is used.  Confit was originally a preservation technique that did one thing - keep oxygen out of the food so it doesn't spoil.  200F is too hot, to do it right it should be around 180 and more like 8-10 hours.
    sounds like a good place to use SV?


    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Vegetable oil? Blasphème!!!! Confit literally means to cook in it's own fat. 8-10 hours for proper confit at 200*
    No no no confit (at least in this context) doesn't literally mean that.  That's typically how water fowl is cooked though - in it's own fat.  In the Provence area of South France it's common to see olive oil used for confit.  For fruit confit, sugar rather than oil is used.  Confit was originally a preservation technique that did one thing - keep oxygen out of the food so it doesn't spoil.  200F is too hot, to do it right it should be around 180 and more like 8-10 hours.
    sounds like a good place to use SV?


    Absolutely. 

    http://www.cuisinetechnology.com/blog/recipe-sous-vide/sous-vide-confit-of-duck-leg/
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,727
    Whatever you do save the rendered fat for later use. Pomme frites made in duck fat are killer!

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    The duck came out ok. Stuffed it with orange, oonion and garlic. Direct raised with a drip pan. The family liked it. I'll do one again. I'll post the one pic I took later.

    Around 2 my friend showed up with a bottle of 18 year old Glenfiddich.... So,
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,727
    18 year olds are fantastic... I'm still talking about single malt

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.