This smoked duck makes an excellent centerpiece for your holiday dinner.
When served correctly, duck is soft and juicy, and it has more flavor than chicken.
Duck is normally roasted in the oven, but this recipe for smoked entire duck elevates the tastes with a smoky finish and a maple bourbon glaze that perfectly matches the smoke flavor.
Contents
- How to choose your duck
- How to cook a whole smoked duck
- Like a nice glaze, try these recipes
- Smoked Whole Duck Recipe
- FAQs
- How long should you smoke a duck?
- What is the best temp to smoke duck?
- How do you prepare a duck for smoking?
- How long does it take to smoke a 6 lb duck?
- Should I brine a duck before smoking?
- What is the best wood to smoke duck with?
- Should I brine a whole duck?
- How long does it take to cook a whole duck?
- What side dishes go with smoked duck?
- Why do you pour boiling water on duck?
How to choose your duck
Duck, like chicken, is marketed whole or in parts such as breast, wings, and legs. Whole duck and duck breast are the most often offered items in retailers.
We used a Pekin duck from Maple Leaf Farms for this dish. Their ducks are kept in a cage-free, free-roaming habitat without the use of growth hormones or antibiotics. They have a moderate taste and a meaty texture, making them ideal for roasting or smoking.
I suggest looking for one that weighs between 4-6 pounds and has meaty breasts and firm skin.
If you purchase a frozen duck, be sure it has time to thaw in the refrigerator before cooking.
Similar to a turkey, you should allow 4 hours for every pound of meat, thus a 6lb duck should take roughly 24 hours to properly thaw in the fridge.
How to cook a whole smoked duck
1. Prick the skin
To prepare your duck for smoking, first pierce the skin on the breast.
Puncturing the skin aids in the rendering of fat and allows the skin to cook more evenly. We just puncture holes in the breast with a toothpick.
2.Dry brine
The technique of salting food and allowing it to rest before cooking is known as dry brining. Dry brining may provide the same outcomes as regular wet brining while taking up less refrigerator space.
While conventional wet brines are still widely used, there are certain drawbacks to the method. You face the danger of waterlogging your meat, and controlling the quantity of salt that enters the flesh is tough.
Dry brining creates a brine by using the moisture that is already present in the muscle. The salt will suck moisture from the meat, and the moisture will dissolve the salt and form a brine throughout the period of brining. You have better control over the process with a dry brine.
We covered the duck with Kosher salt for this dish because of its thick texture, which is ideal for dry-brining. It does not clump like table salt or other fine salts and is simple to sprinkle evenly over your bird.
The quantity of salt you use is determined by the size of the meat you are brining. It’s impossible to offer an exact quantity, but the goal is to cover the bird with a thin, equal coating of salt.
Simply set your duck on a wire rack and refrigerate it overnight (8 to 12 hours) to brine.
Remove the brined duck from the fridge, brush off any extra salt, and pat it dry. It is not necessary to rinse the duck with water.
Before smoking, I like to cut up some apples and oranges and insert them inside the cavity of the duck.
Once the cavity is stuffed with fruit, simply tie the legs together with a bit of twine.
3. Fire up the smoker to 275°F
The duck was smoked at 275°F on the Pitboss Pro Series 1600 for this recipe. We used apple wood for this meal, but any fruit or nut wood would work nicely; just avoid anything too strong.
Place your duck straight on the smoker’s grates. You can trap all that liquid gold fat by placing a drip pan underneath the duck on the smoker as it is cooking. You can use duck fat to produce the finest roast potatoes you’ve ever had.
Allow the duck to smoke at 275°F for approximately 30 minutes per pound, for a total cooking time of 2 to 3 hours. You aim to cook the duck to 160°F in the breast, but you’ll raise the smoker temperature once it reaches 140°F.
4. Make the glaze
After roughly an hour, you should make your Maple Bourbon Glaze.
In a small saucepan, whisk together the glaze ingredients. Allow to come to a simmer and gradually decrease to ensure they are thoroughly integrated.
5. Crank the temperature
roughly the 2-hour mark, raise the temperature of your smoker to roughly 350F to ensure all of the fat renders.
At this stage, begin covering the duck with the Maple Bourbon glaze.
During the final 15 minutes of cooking, baste it with the glaze every 15 minutes or so, until the duck achieves an internal temperature of 160F.
When the temperature reaches 160°F, toss the entire duck under the broiler to crisp up the skin on both sides.
Like a nice glaze, try these recipes
Burnt ends of smoked salmon with a hot honey glazeCranberry and port glaze on smoked turkey breastBBQ sauce glaze on smoked meatloafSpiral smoked ham with pineapple maple glaze
