Ever since Jon and Lois had the risotto at Bacaro (see post for Oct. 13), I've wanted to do a smoked duck. Saturday was still mild and sunny, a nice day for some protracted cooking, since Saturday is my usual bread-making day. I bought a duck at the market and set up the smoker in the backyard. A smallish fire, lots of soaked mesquite chunks, and some water with thyme and rosemary branches in the dip-pan. The gods of the grill watched over it, because I got it off at exactly the right moment, about 2 1/2 hours, when the breast was medium rare, the skin crisp and a dark mahogany, and the legs still springy (to be used for another meal). Since the fire was still going, I tossed four rapidly defrosted pork chops on to smoke,* while we ate the duck with some plain boiled potatoes to suck up any extra fat.
* Emergency meat thaw (for chicken, pork, etc.): toss them straight into a sink full of water, and since they're in there, why not brine them with some kosher salt?
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1 comment:
Love the brine/thaw idea! I'm definitely stealing that!
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