The Been There – Done That Duck

I thought you might like a break from Paradise.  We got home Wed. night and I managed to catch a cold before we left and now feeling pretty rough, so I'll be able to lay around in my chair and catch up on my blog reading.

While shopping at our favorite chicken store a few weeks ago, we picked up a frozen young duckling for our first ever try at cooking one.  I wasn’t sure if I wanted to roast, grill, or smoke it, but finally opted for cooking it on a spit in front of the inferred burner on the gas grill.  I looked on line a found a Mario Batalli recipe at Leite's Culinaria which included a delicious sounding baste/sauce. 

Ingredients
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
One 4-to-4 1/2-pound duck
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
1. Prepare a gas or charcoal grill for rotisserie cooking over indirect medium heat (or according to the instructions for your grill). Set up the drip pan under the center of the spit.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the marmalade, orange juice, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and rosemary and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool, then pour 1/4 cup of the sauce into a small bowl to use for basting the duck, and pour the rest into a small serving bowl.
3. Meanwhile, remove all the excess fat from the duck. Wash the duck and dry it thoroughly both inside and out with paper towels. With a sharp metal skewer, prick the duck skin all over in 50 places, especially the thighs. Season inside and out with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together and brush all over with a light coating of the orange-marmalade mixture.
4. Place the duck on the spit and secure it with the clamps. Attach it to the rotisserie mecha­nism, cover the grill, and cook until the tem­perature in the thickest part of the thigh reaches 160°F (71°C), 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 hours, depending on the heat of your grill. About 15 minutes before the duck is done, brush it all over again with more of the orange sauce.
5. When the duck is done, transfer to a cutting board and let rest for 15 minutes.
6. Carve the duck and serve with the remaining orange sauce.

Bev made the sauce and I did the cooking following Mario’s instructions for prepping and cooking the bird.

I found a wide range of suggested final internal temp to cook to (135* which surprised me to the 160* in Mario’s recipe), I pulled mine at 158* in the thigh and let it rest about 10 minutes.

Everyone wanted breast meat but me, so I cut them off and sliced across the grain and I cut off an entire leg quarter, but tossed it back on the grill for a little direct cooking on the non-skin side.   We served it up with some grilled asparagus and the extra sauce.

The skin on the duck was crispy and delicious from the sauce but the meat was much tougher than I expected so I don’t know if I under or over cooked it.  While we all loved the sauce and will use it for other things, we all agreed that we’d stick with chicken and this would be our last duck cook as the flavor wasn’t anything special.

It didn’t generate as much duck fat as Bev wanted for cooking other things, it was tough, and we got the asparagus over cooked, so except for the delicious sauce, the meal was pretty much a bust.  Oh well, it was just one of those days, but at least the duck is no longer taking up freezer space.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago: Wilted Lettuce Salad and A Mojito

Two years ago:  April 15 Rerun

Larry

4/7/12  meal date