A good friend of mine recently bagged some ducks but he has cleaned them up already and only has the breasts left. Any tips on smoking just duck breasts? I do not want to turn it into jerky.
I cut mine up in about 1x1 chunks, marinate in soy-worchestershire-and a little sesame seed oil for a few hours, wrap in bacon, smoke for desired smokiness at 200 deg+, and finish on grill to crisp bacon. A good friend of mine taught me this one.
SIA
Sounds good SIA. Any advice on the smoke you use?
Smokeitall's idea sounds like the ticket to me. I'll have to try that.
Otherwise, I would flavor brine.
Pachanga
I like my ducks smoked whole, skin on. I use a sweet brine, not too salty. Apple or cherry wood smoke.
If you have breast meat only I would cook it like smokitall recommends.
FYI - I bookmarked this one because it looked good. I haven't yet tried it.
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?t=640
I have tried apple...I am going to try cherry on my next batch.
I never had duck, but always wanted to try it. I've heard that it is very greasy though, I guess that's not true if you need to brine or wrap with bacon.
Kevin--it depends if the duck is wild or domestic. Domestic ducks are much fatter and you have to deal with the grease. I am going to do a couple in January by steaming them to get the grease out. I was going to steam first, then smoke but that darned Habs has got me thinking and I might reverse that procedure.
T2