BBQ Adventure: Roasted Duck

Well it’s a bit of a dreary day here in Sydney but I’m braving the elements and have decided to cook up a roasted duck. The recipe I chose is roughly a twice cooked variant i.e 2 hours on a low temp (250F/120C) and approx 40 minutes to crisp it up (390F/200C).
The full recipe and steps are available on this web page: http://www.aussiebbq.info/recipes_crispyduck.htm

I started firing up my Komodo Kamado (KK) at 16:00 and it was ready to put the duck on around 16:30 (granted I stuffed around a bit). I connected my BBQ guru and set it to 250 pit temp and 0 food temp (as I’m not measuring the internal temp of the duck since the cook requires it to be turned a number of times (with wires sticking in the duck that obviously doesn’t work…..). I used wood chips (keep in mind that’s because I CAN’T FIND ANYONE IN SYDNEY WHO SELLS WOOD CHUNKS!); phew I just had to pop a “chill-Paul-chill” pill.

At 17:30 I turned the duck and perforated it some more (i.e. used a toothpick to puncture some more holes). Strangely enought there was hardly any (as in none) duck fat in the drip pan…I decided to pump up the temperature to 275F (the temp in the dome was the same as the temp measured by the guru on the grill).
I turned the duck again at 18:50 making sure that the breast side was facing up and with the temp now going at 380F/200C only about 40 minutes to go. I measured with my trusty Thermapen at 19:20 and decided since it registered 170 in the breast it was time to take it off.

I took the duck of the KK rested it for 5 minutes and carved it up. The taste was pretty good and the skin turned out really cripsy.

Final thoughts:
Somehow not all the fat had dripped out, I reckon it either needs a longer period at 250 or for the same duration but at least at 275. The skin was crispy in most parts but obviously not as crispy around the parts with the fat…still the taste was excellent and none of the duck skin was rubbery. The amount of fat collected was enough to have a number of sessions of potatoes roasted in duck fat (they’re really really good!).
The flavour of the duck was good as well, some people like the muscovy duck as it has more meat; I actually prefer the peking variety with maybe a bit less meat but better flavour (that’s my opionion anyway?).