Cherry smoked roast duck ... a good start

Stormbringer

Crispy skin on duck in the Egg has been my nemesis since first trying this a few years ago. Over the last few days I have followed @paqman's (and other contributors) advice on how to achieve this goal.

It started four days ago, when I dry brined the duck for 24 hours. His approach uses wet brine, but I went dry. After this, I poured boiling water over the skin and patted it dry, then salted the skin and left it to dry in the fridge for a further 24 hours. Lastly I made a glaze of maple syrup and malt vinegar, coating three times over three hours. Then left it in the fridge for a further 48 hours. 

This evening, I got the Egg up to 350F and tossed on a cherry smoking chunk. The duck was a little under 2kg. I poked holes in the skin all over and put chopped onion, apple and a couple of star anise inside the cavity. I put it on the upper rack of my PSWoo and cooked it until the IT was 125F. Then cranked the Egg up to 425F until the IT was 140F. 

The bird as it went into the Egg:

Just before I cranked up the temperature:

Served:

Verdict: it was lovely. The flavour of the skin and the meat was incredible. The breast skin wasn't as crisp as I was hoping for (legs were on point), next time I'll try a wet brine and also deeper holes to get more fat out. Also next time I'll raise it even further into the dome with a custom rig I've made.

For a first attempt using the new method though, it was a winner ... easily the best I've done so far.

Thanks for looking and all the advice. 

Botch

Dayam, that looks good.
 
Either some wide-lens perspective distortion, or those are some big-ass fries chips!  

johnmitchell

What a fantastic looking meal. WOW..

DoubleEgger

Looks great from across the pond. 

Dyal_SC

Magazine worthy!

dbCooper

Looks just great! 

And thanks, you've inspired me to revisit duck on the Egg.  Past attempts were less than satisfactory and thus had abandoned hope.

Canugghead

Beauty. Hope you harvested the duck fat from the drip pan.

lousubcap

Way to trust the skills of those on this forum.  Great outcome right there.  Cherry brings that mahogany colour (nod) every time.  The only smoke wood for poultry.  

Stormbringer

Botch said:

Dayam, that looks good.
 
Either some wide-lens perspective distortion, or those are some big-ass fries chips!  

@Botch thanks! They were rather large, we normally do them quite big here, those were on the large size even for me though. 

Stormbringer

dbCooper said:

Looks just great! 

And thanks, you've inspired me to revisit duck on the Egg.  Past attempts were less than satisfactory and thus had abandoned hope.

@dbCooper glad you're inspired, that's what this place is all about. I had given up on duck in the Egg after a few fruitless attempts. However I was going through some old recipe links and found @smak's classic Peking Duck post from a few years ago. Decided to give straight roast duck another go and ask for advice. Such a great wealth of knowledge here.

I still have some improvements to make with the duck, the journey will be fun.

Stormbringer

Canugghead said:

Beauty. Hope you harvested the duck fat from the drip pan.

Oh yes. Will be used for roast potatoes in the future.

Stormbringer

DoubleEgger said:

Looks great from across the pond. 

@DoubleEgger thanks, SWMBO was close to proclaiming a "woo" for this meal.

lkapigian

That’s a great looking duck 

Mr1egg

I tried duck once and it was good but didn't look like that, I'm writing down your way of doing it and going to try that next time, it looks perfect.

GrateEggspectations

I only ever did duck on the Egg once, years ago, and it looked nothing like that. 

Good on you for a great cook, and good on @paqman for steering you in the right direction. 

paqman

I’ve grown to like whole duck cooked on the egg.  Maltose makes a difference in the process, it gives a nice shiny look.

Stormbringer

GrateEggspectations said:

I only ever did duck on the Egg once, years ago, and it looked nothing like that. 

Good on you for a great cook, and good on @paqman for steering you in the right direction. 

The colour (and flavour) is a combo of the cherry smoke and the maple syrup glaze. When I do this again I will add some honey into the glaze mix.

Stormbringer

Mr1egg said:

I tried duck once and it was good but didn't look like that, I'm writing down your way of doing it and going to try that next time, it looks perfect.

@Mr1egg ope it works for you. For me, it was the cherry smoke flavours that made it worth the effort. If I'm doing normal roast duck or duck a l'orange, I'd still use an oven. That's for whole duck, for duck breast the Egg is still my go to. This is how I cook duck breast in the Minimax. https://thecooksdigest.co.uk/2022/08/29/pan-seared-duck-breast-with-mushrooms/