Boil duck before roasting?

We have a duck for Thanksgiving. (Daughter-in-law works in health care and works Thursday so we'll have turkey with the family on Saturday.) This is just for SWMBO and me.

Weber's recipe for Hoisin barbecued duck calls to boil it (poach I suppose is a better description) before putting it on the grill. I wonder if that helps to render away some of the fat. It's an interesting idea and I thought I'd ask here if anyone has tried that and if they found it better than just putting it on the Weber.

I do have a rotisserie for the Weber and could use that too. That seems to be recommended.

Thanks!

I'd skip the boil and if cooking over wood, try to do so low and slow to render the fat out in a way that would make for a more flavorful finished product. But be sure to use a drip pan because it's going to render quite a bit of fat.

=R=

First, what type of duck do you have?
I assume the typical frozen 'Long Island Duck' or Pekin duck.
Do not boil but do use your rotisserie.
For long and slow you need a low temperature (275F), somehitng that can be difficult to do depending on your Weber type? Do you use gas , charcoal or lump?
Lately we are getting a Mallard cross of about 4 #'s from the local farmer, and these are best cooked either in the oven, long and slow or the boneless breasts under high heat (425F) until the breast reaches about 115F and then rested for at least 15 minutes for a pink rare. the leg thighs are separately braised.
A fresh Muscovy is the prince of ducks for me!-Richard

I've done a combination of steam and then roast, grill, or smoke. I've also seen recipes that call for poaching first. All valid methods, but produce a different final product than smoking, grilling, or roasting the whole way. An advantage of pre-cooking is that you can do it ahead of time.

Hi,

When I have made Peking duck, there was a step where you pour boiling water all over the skin. As you did this, the skin visibly contracted and tightened up.

If you were happening to smoke two birds, I would do one with and the other without the boiled water treatment. It would be interesting to know your results.

Regards,
CAthy2

I haven't done it for 10 years and no longer have the recipe. But I use to do duck out of a Chinese cookbook in which you briefly boiled the duck and then took it out of the pot and then blew it with a hot hair dryer for 10 minutes and then roasted it.

The theory was that this forced open the pores of the skin.

Makes no sense to me, but it created a very crispy skin.

Thanks all for the replies.

It's just a duck. I suppose since no variety is mentioned that probably makes it a Long Island duck.

I use briquettes or lump depending on what I'm cooking. I can probably get pretty much whatever temperature I want.

I would be interesting to do two and modify the techniques but I only have one. Maybe next time. I've done a fair bit of A/B testing on my Weber kettles and smokers and always enjoy that.

I've got a couple recommendations for 'low & slow' so I'll probably do something along those lines.

best,
hank

Whenever I have cooked a whole duck, the breast has been way overcooked by the time the dark meat is done, so now I remove the breasts, and slow smoke the rest of the bird. At the end I grill the breasts to a nice med-rare. When smoking the bird I have a clean drip pan under and then save the smoky fat and use it to render any fat left on the carcass (usually there is a lot) and save it all for future use.

-Will

I did not boil. I rubbed the duck with salt and pepper abut an hour before cooking. I cooked on my little (14.5") Weber Smokey Mountain. I fired it with lump and had a couple chunks of apple wood mixed in. I usually use briquettes on the bigger WSMs but lump seems to produce better results on the smallest WSM. I stuffed the cavity with slices of orange, apple and onion with a couple sprigs of rosemary. The smoker held 250° for 2 1/2 hours and then started to droop. A bit before the 3 hour mark I pulled the duck to rest with the breast at 165° and between leg and thigh at 175°.

It was fabulous! It's been too long since I made duck. I did not think the breast was over-done. Maybe the stuff in the body cavity slowed that down a little. It dribbled a lot of red tinted juice as it rested so I do not think it was over-cooked. We enjoyed it. A lot.

Thanks again for the suggestions.