So many people tell me how much they dislike duck. I'm here to give you a recipe that is guaranteed to make those unbelievers mouths water. Keep in mind that if you want to use this method, you'll need to start a couple days ahead of time.
Here's what you do:
- Pick the whole duck, remove the wings and singe it over an open flame.
- Clean it well in cool water.
- Buy a sugar cure. You can find some good ones at your favorite store or online.
- Rub that cure all over both the inside and outside of the bird.
- Place in a Ziplock bag and put it in the refrigerator for a couple days. The cure will penetrate the meat a quarter inch every 24 hours.
- Wrap the duck in foil.
- Place in smoker with your favorite wood at 145 degrees for eight to ten hours. I like pecan or hickory.
I know the experts tell you to cook duck rare, but I completely disagree with that. In my opinion, it's best cooked well done. You don't want to cook it past done to the point of dryness, but it needs to be thoroughly cooked. I think part of the reason so many people don't like duck is because rare wild duck tastes like liver. I like to chill it, slice it, then serve it up with cheese and crackers. When you prepare waterfowl like this, the taste will remind you more of ham than what you think duck should taste like. This recipe also works well for geese.
