Well I thought a Saturday would be a good time to try out another duck (specifically how to get crispy skin). In the morning we went to the monthly organics markets in Sydney Darling Harbour and bought a peking duck. The guy suggested we had muscovy but although this type of duck has more meat we like the taste of peking duck better (less chewy!), so we bought peking.
Anyway I had done some research on the net and as soon as I got home I took the duck out of it’s bag cleaned it by removing the neck (the dogs lucked out and got to eat half each), removing the parson’s nose/glands and any excessive fat.
I followed this up by pricking (with a small skewer) several holes all over the duck’s skin. I then liberally seasoned the duck’s cavity with pepper and salt and placed the duck uncovered in the fridge for a few (3) hours.
Whilst the duck was drying in the fridge I was surfing the net (as you do) and discovered another recipe that suggested “dipping the duck” in boiling water in couple of time….sounds like a great idea right?? You can easily use an old (clean) coat hanger to slide through the duck and use to submerge in in the pan:
The other side with coathanger sticking out:
So obviously 1 hour before the duck was supposed to go on I dipped the duck several times in boiling water; hmmmm this has the adverse effect that the 3 hours of duck drying in the fridge were a waste of time. Note to self: DIP FIRST DRY IN FRIDGE LATER.
So with limited drying (but with a dipped duck) I placed the duck in the trusty Komodo Kamado which was running at 250F using my guru.
I also used a new smoker gadget (yeah yeah a review will appear after a few uses) and used a “poultry” wood mix. The recipe called for a 1-2 hours on 250F followed by 40 minutes on 400F which I did. When I took the duck off around 2 hours 15 minutes cooking time (and my thermapen told me it was truly done; measured 170F! in the breast) my wife commented the juices were still a bit bloody and the skin wasn’t as crispy. After some silence I had to agree and put the bird back on the KK cranked it up to 500F and further cooked it for an additional 20 minutes.
After this I rested it for 5 minutes; cut up the duck and served with salad and corn (gotta love garlic roasted corn).
The duck was still very tender and juicy (even with the extra heat and time) and not overcooked, some of the skin was crispy but still not good enough. I’ll really have to get this sorted as we love to have duck but need the skin crispy.
So all in all a decent result, oh yeah I forgot to put a pan underneath to catch the duck fat (which is EXCELLENT if you want to roast potatoes) so you may see another duck adventure soon!!
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Hi, I’m cooking a duck in a charcol Webber this Good Friday. I too have been searching for a crispy skin. So far I’ve found out that the skin only is to be pierced all over, not the meat. Then it’s to be dipped 3 times into boiling water for 1 minute each dip, bring it back to the boil each time. Then patted dry and placed uncovered into the fridge to dry for 3 hours or overnight. The Webber has to be very hot. The skin is then rubbed with light oil(peanut, olive) and salted all over. The bird is placed into the Webber and left to cook on high heat for 2 hours. Remove let rest and serve. Anyway that’s what I’m going to do, wish me luck.