the tea smoked duck experience

Man who stand on hill with mouth open will wait long time for roast duck to drop in.
—Confucius, 551–479 BC

While making duck-something was one of my foodie resolutions for 2010, was making this specific recipe worth it?

Yes and No.

I have to say I’m impressed with how tender and flavorful this duck was. There’s no escaping the duckiness of duck, its gamey flavor. The meat is succulent and this recipe introduced me to a new method of cooking whole poultry, one that I’ll be replicating with other birds.

But, there was a casualty. I stained the bottom of my Creuset pot. The dings, dents and stains one might come to expect over a period of use with your favorite pots are often seen as signs of good service on the pot’s part, and I know that the least I can do is be accepting of these inevitable battle scars. (I’ll have to google reciprocal pot love now.) But I’m not quite sold on this philosophy yet, as my newly stained dutch oven, only 5 years old, is just 1 year old in pot terms. I might just use one of these cleaning tips.

Had I to do all over again, I would have used another one of my pots to do the replacement work of a wok. If you’ve already got a wok and you love duck, there should be nothing stopping you. My last piece of shelf real estate, where a wok wouldn’t even fit, is now being taken up by a recent gift of a fondue set.

So if you have a wok or don’t care about exposing one of your bigger cooking pots to dry heat, then read on for how to smoke a whole duck!

tea smoked whole duck

day 1, 24 hour marinade

1 5lb duck
1 cup water
1 cup low salt soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup maple syrup (or 1 cup honey in place of syrup and honey)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 3″ piece ginger, peeled and chopped
1 lemon, halved
1 lime, halved
2 tangerines, halved (or 1 orange)

Into a large bowl, mix the water, soy sauce, honey and maple syrup, garlic, ginger and the juice of the lemon, lime and tangerines (save the cut citrus.)

Remove the giblets, liver, and any other treats from inside the cavity and pierce the skin of the duck all over with a fork (especially satisfying after a long day at the office). Fill the duck’s cavity with the cut citrus. Use an extra large plastic bag and place the marinade liquid and duck inside and seal the bag. I like to place the bag into a large bowl in case the bag breaks or moving things around in the fridge pierces the bag accidentally. Because my bag wasn’t big enough and the duck barely fit inside the closed bag, only part of the duck was sitting in the marinade, so every few hours I turned the bag over to make sure the marinade effected the other half of the duck. Marinade the duck for at least 24 hours.

All this shiny aluminum foil looks deceptively complicated. Even though marination and cooking is a 2 day process, this recipe is easier than it looks.

day 2, smoking flavors

1/2 cup of green or black tea (I used Mango Black Tea)
1 cup of white rice (I used basmati)
1/4 cup of sugar

Line the bottom of your pot with aluminum foil and layer long sheets of aluminum (high enough to cover the duck completely) every few inches so there are no gaps in the foil. You’re basically creating a tent for the duck. Place the steamer insert inside the pot and turn the heat onto high. Heat the rice until it starts to smoke. Before placing the duck breast side up on top of the steam insert, pat it dry and cover it completely so no steam flavors can escape.

On medium low heat, steam the duck for 20 minutes. Turn the stove off and, keeping it covered, let it rest under the aluminum tent for an additional 10 minutes. Preheat your oven to 375º.

Place the duck (throw the rice and tea away) into a roasting pan and roast the duck for 1 hour and 15 minutes (or until the skin starts turning crispy.) If you’re going to reserve the drained fat for use in other recipes, for easy transfer do this while the fat is still in its liquid state.

Let the duck rest for for a few minutes before cutting into the meat. Cut and serve with wine sauce and sesame seeds.

wine sauce

1 cups of plum wine (I used Merlot + 1 cup of sugar)
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup of water
1 tbsp of soy sauce
2 tangerines, peel and juice of
1 tsp cornstarch
1 1″ piece of ginger, peeled and sliced into thin strips
1 large garlic clove, chopped roughly
1 tsp salt
sesame seeds for garnish

For the last 30 minutes of roasting the duck, put all of the sauce ingredients into a saucepan and cook for 20 minutes or until the sauce has reduced and becomes thick. Remove the peels and garlic and reserve the sauce as a glaze over the duck.

notes

This duck pairs well with toasted buckwehat pilaf or roasted mushrooms. If you’re making this in time for Valentines Day, use lingonberry preserves (check your local Ikea) to sauce over duck breasts. Lingonberries have a sweet and bitter component that matches brilliantly with this sweet meat.

Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence’s Real Kitchen

Related posts:

1. whiskey smoked salmon chowda’
2. cuban pulled pork tacos
3. chipotle beef chili

Tagged as: Asian food, duck, lingonberry sauce, smoking poultry, tea, Valentine's Day

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