Rotisserie Duck

[Betts]

I am planning to put a pair (brace?) of ducks on the rotisserie on Saturday and want to be sure they come out well. I have a soy/stock/ginger/lavender marinade and a Weber gas grill.

What has been the experience with controlling fat and flare ups. I was planning a low temp for about 2 hrs. Does this sound right?

A Google search show minimal recipes for rotisserie duck but lots of restaurants offer it.

[andiesenji]

You can't cook it directly over the fire. You need to bank the coals on one side or on both sides if you have room. Place a drip pan directly under the birds to catch the rendered fat and for goodness sake save it. Duck fat is precious stuff.

Actually you are best served by marinating the duck overnight, then draining it and wiping it dry, stuff half an onion and half an orange (or half a lemon) inside the duck.

Make small incisions in the skin all over the duck and start it on the rotissiere.

About half way through the cooking you should recover some of the drippings, maybe 1/2 a cup or so, and in a small saucepan bring the drippings and some of your spices/herbs to a simmer. Then begin painting onto the duck every 20 minutes or so.

Use an instant read thermometer to check the temperature when it nears 135 pull the chicken off the grill. It will continue to rise several degrees as it coasts.

[Anna N]

You can't cook it directly over the fire. You need to bank the coals on one side or on both sides if you have room. Place a drip pan directly under the birds to catch the rendered fat and for goodness sake save it. Duck fat is precious stuff.

Actually you are best served by marinating the duck overnight, then draining it and wiping it dry, stuff half an onion and half an orange (or half a lemon) inside the duck.

Make small incisions in the skin all over the duck and start it on the rotissiere.

About half way through the cooking you should recover some of the drippings, maybe 1/2 a cup or so, and in a small saucepan bring the drippings and some of your spices/herbs to a simmer. Then begin painting onto the duck every 20 minutes or so.

Use an instant read thermometer to check the temperature when it nears 135 pull the chicken off the grill. It will continue to rise several degrees as it coasts.

This is a problem for me to understand. I have cooked a duck on the rotisserie of a gas BBQ and it was perhaps the best duck we ever had BUT it needed constant attention with a spray bottle of water and certainly looked somewhat blackened at the end.

The part I cannot grasp is: How does the heat reach the duck if it is blocked by a drip pan? I am rotisserie-challenged but we just bought a new rotisserie for our BBQ and I really want to be able to use it without finding the Fire Dept. on my doorstep.

[markk]

The part I cannot grasp is: How does the heat reach the duck if it is blocked by a drip pan? I am rotisserie-challenged

The rotisserie, or outdoor grill, or whatever you use has to be covered, that is to say, with the lid down.

The earlier posting is absolutely correct - you cannot cook the duck over direct heat. You've got to have a pan under it (a disposable aluminum foil pan of some kind, like a small lasagna pan, works great) to catch the dripping grease AND to spread the coals to the side so that they're never directly under the duck.

Also - in Julia Child's "The Way to Cook" she talks about roasting ducks in general, and suggests that you cook the duck for 20 minutes or so in a covered pot with a little water to start steaming out some of the excess fat - this is a good idea, plus, when you de-fat that water, you get some duck fat that doesn't have the barbeque, smoky flavor (and the duck fat is worth its weight in, well gold or duck fat, you know).

[bbq4meanytime]

I'm roasting 3 peking ducks tomorrow. I don't have a rotisserie so can't say how well that method works (or doesn't work) but I will roast mine by indirect heat with a combination of coals and hardwood. Works like a charm. I don't, however, make incisions in the skin as I found that the fat will render out just fine (and there will be alot of fat dripping by the time its done).

[Toliver]

The part I cannot grasp is: How does the heat reach the duck if it is blocked by a drip pan?  I am rotisserie-challenged  but we just bought a  new rotisserie for our BBQ and I really want to be able to use it without finding the Fire Dept. on my doorstep.

markk is correct. With the lid down, your grill will actually become an oven so you won't need direct heat. Same thing with Webers, smokers and such.

[VivreManger]

I have had great success smoking ducks in a covered Weber with indirect heat, the duck over drip pans and the heat banked on the side. I use a combination of hardwood charcoal and hickory wood chunks. The result is the best duck one could ever eat. The whole thing tastes like bacon. Whatever leftovers get warmed up in a regular oven suffuse the kitchen with barbecued essence all over again.

Edited June 11, 2004 by VivreManger (log)

[andiesenji]

For my rotisserie I found an old fish poaching pan at a flea market, it has handles at each end.

I simply put an S-hook over each end of the rotisserie shaft and suspend the pan from the hooks. It hangs directly below whatever is on the rotisserie and it doesn't interfere with the heat radiation inside the cooker.

I happen to have a cooker/smoker with a separate firebox at one end but the heat circulates so well that the temps easily can get over 500 degrees with the vents fully open.

When I had a gas grill/rotisserie I simply turned off the center burner and cooked with the back and front burners lit. They produced plenty of head with the hood down to cook just about anything. With that one I hung a drip pan from the underside of the grill rack itself with bindery clips. Because they are made of thin metal, they would become brittle after a time but are cheap enough I buy them by the dozen. (They have a lot of uses in the kitchen, especially the big ones with a one inch "bite".)

Edited June 12, 2004 by andiesenji (log)

[Betts]

Use an instant read thermometer to check the temperature when it nears 135 pull the chicken off the grill. It will continue to rise several degrees as it coasts

Is 135 really the temp - I want fall apart tender duck and although I like breasts med. rare if cooked alone but I was thinking along the 170 degree lines.

[andiesenji]

Use an instant read thermometer to check the temperature when it nears 135 pull the chicken off the grill. It will continue to rise several degrees as it coasts

Is 135 really the temp - I want fall apart tender duck and although I like breasts med. rare if cooked alone but I was thinking along the 170 degree lines.

If you let duck go to 170 it will be like leather.

I don't know why I typed chicken instead of duck. Brain slipped, I guess.

You can check by inserting a sharp fork into the thigh area. The juice should appear amber with a hint of red or pink.

Unless you have a very large duck, the ratio of meat to bone is much less than that of chicken. The bones transmit the heat into the meat. It takes much less time for a duck to cook than a chicken of comparable weight. Look at the way the duck is structured and you will understand.

If you remove it from the rotisserie when it has reached 135 to 140, and immediately wrap it in foil, it will continue to cook for some time. This allows the juices that have been forced toward the skin to be reabsorbed into the meat and will make it juicer and allow the connective tissues to relax.

I cook a lot of ducks (wild) because I have hunter friends whose wives will not cook game of any kind. In return for preparing some of the birds for them, I get some for my efforts. A good trade. Last weekend I cooked three for duck tacos.

Edited June 11, 2004 by andiesenji (log)

[mklynch]

I love the idea of the "S" hooks with the drip pan suspended from the spit!

Simple yet elegant. Thanks for sharing the tip - any others?

[Toliver]

The bones transmit the heat into the meat. 

Just a quibble, but I believe this is incorrect. Meat nearest the bone is actually cooler than meat away from the bone (which is why you're not supposed to insert meat thermometers near any bones since you will get an incorrect reading). Because of the internal structure/density of the bone, it actually acts more like a heat dissipater than a heat conducter.

It does, however, add more flavor to meat than if you had deboned the meat and then cooked it without bones. Why? I haven't a clue, but it does.

[Betts]

THANK YOU for the heads up on temp - and foil wrap.

I have 2 beautiful ducks from the Oriental meat market ( butcher laughed when I wanted him to remove the heads but he did it, I can deal with the feet).

I want this to be luscious, succulent duck for our gourmet group.

Here is the menu for Saturday night-

White Gazpacho (eG recipe, this was served at my house for an eG gathering and was a major hit)

Rotisserie Duck

Goat cheese in phyllo tartlettes with greens

Rhubarb poached with Jasmine Tea and ginger/ mascarpone cream

[andiesenji]

The bones transmit the heat into the meat. 

Just a quibble, but I believe this is incorrect. Meat nearest the bone is actually cooler than meat away from the bone (which is why you're not supposed to insert meat thermometers near any bones since you will get an incorrect reading). Because of the internal structure/density of the bone, it actually acts more like a heat dissipater than a heat conducter.

It does, however, add more flavor to meat than if you had deboned the meat and then cooked it without bones. Why? I haven't a clue, but it does.

You can check it for yourself with an instant read thermometer. The next time you roast a chicken, stick the thermometer into the thigh meat, and read it. Then push it further in so it touches the bone. The temp will read higher. This is why they always tell you to keep the probe from touching the bone.

[andiesenji]

This site has a detailed recipe for grilling duck. He does say to bring the temp to 170 degrees. However I don't.

If you want to be sure, you could cook one exactly as directed here, and hold one at the lower temperature. You can always cook it longer, however it will continue to cook after removed from the heat if wrapped as I noted.

The wild ducks that I cook weigh less than the ones he describes in his recipe. The ones I did last weekend weighed 3, 3 1/4 and 3 3/4 pounds each.

Anyway, take a look at his recipe and cooking directions.

http://melindalee.com/recipearchive.html?a...124&item_id=542

[Betts]

I believe it was one of Raichlen's recipes that I got the 170 number. I have 4 pound birds. My husband - engineer to the core- took one look at the ducks and swears that both will not fit on the skewer for the rotisserie. I think we might have to do a BBQ roast style duck rather than rotisserie.

[Betts]

Follow Up Report - the duck was wonderful. I had 2 lovely specimens from the Oriental market, brushed with a soy/ stock/ ginger and herbes d' Provence mix overnight and then spitted. I rigged a drip pan of 2 foil loaf pans stapled together to form a long narrow pan.

We cooked them on a slow fire -300 degrees for 2 hours, occasionally basting with additional marinade. The birds came off at 140 degrees and sat for 30 minutes covered with foil before carving.

I had reserved a 1/2c marinade and mixed that with 1/4 c pomegranate molasses and used this as a drizzle over the carved duck.

Verdict - the luscious quality I had sought and was a total success thanks to the input of all and especially andiesenji.

[andiesenji]

Follow Up Report - the duck was wonderful. I had 2 lovely specimens from the Oriental market, brushed with a soy/ stock/ ginger and herbes d' Provence mix overnight and then spitted. I rigged a drip pan of 2 foil loaf pans stapled together to form a long narrow pan.

We cooked them on a slow fire -300 degrees for 2 hours, occasionally basting with additional marinade. The birds came off at 140 degrees and sat for 30 minutes covered with foil before carving.

I had reserved a 1/2c marinade and mixed that with 1/4 c pomegranate molasses and used this as a drizzle over the carved duck.

Verdict - the luscious quality I had sought and was a total success thanks to the input of all and especially andiesenji.

My mouth is watering........

Need I say more??

[bbq4meanytime]

I roasted 3 ducks (about 5.75 lbs each), brined overnight and beer-canned in my weber, indirect heat mix of coals and hardwood. I pulled these out at about 140 degrees, a little undercooked at the legs (but I used to meat to make other things which were further cooked). The third duck I cooked all the way to 165 degrees; that duck was equally as moist and easier to pull meat from.

Edited June 14, 2004 by bbq4meanytime (log)

[elion_84]

Wow, those ducks look nice.

Inspired by this thread I decided to grill-roast a duck, too. I got one at the local oriental market for about $10. (Quick aside: I'm still amazed how they manage to charge less than half what other stores charge for duck) I marinated the duck overnight in a mixture of soy sauce, ginger, miso, honey, and coffee, along with orange, lime, and lemon -- a recipe my wife saw on Food 911. I cooked it on the grill using charcoal briquets for about 1 1/2 hour. I think the temperature at the leg was in 140s, and breast a bit higher.

It was the most moist and tender duck I've ever had. Better than what I've had at very authentic chineese restaurants. I was surprised that the duck wasn't greasy at all. A lot of recipes recommend steaming it for 30-50 min to render the fat. My only quibble with the result was that the skin wasn't crispy like a nice roast chicken.

I will definitely do this again.

[Betts]

Wow, those ducks look nice.

Inspired by this thread I decided to grill-roast a duck, too. I got one at the local oriental market for about $10. (Quick aside: I'm still amazed how they manage to charge less than half what other stores charge for duck) I marinated the duck overnight in a mixture of soy sauce, ginger, miso, honey, and coffee, along with orange, lime, and lemon -- a recipe my wife saw on Food 911. I cooked it on the grill using charcoal briquets for about 1 1/2 hour. I think the temperature at the leg was in 140s, and breast a bit higher.

It was the most moist and tender duck I've ever had. Better than what I've had at very authentic chineese restaurants. I was surprised that the duck wasn't greasy at all. A lot of recipes recommend steaming it for 30-50 min to render the fat. My only quibble with the result was that the skin wasn't crispy like a nice roast chicken.

I will definitely do this again.

undefined

This was such a success for all of us and I was also amazed that it was $9.00/ duck and such beautiful birds.