Duck breast fillets with pics!

[KyNola]

First step, brine for 24 hours with 4 cups water, 1 cup TQ and 3 TBLSPS pickling spice.  Pic below is fillets before going in the brine


Out of the brine.  Pic below, Top 2 are pastrami rub, 2 on the left are "naked and the 2 on the right are Jan's Rub


Out of the smoker after 2 hours 20 minutes of apple smoke at 220


Bonus, 2 meatloafs with Ice's Sauce on top


Have to say I am disappointed in the duck.  They were really small fillets and too much time in the brine and too much time in the smoker.  Very tough.  Of the 3, pastrami rub fillets are the best.  Just need larger breasts. No pun intended, well not too much intended. ;)

How 'bout the pics SD? :o

KyNola

[FLBentRider]

Nice job on the Pics KyNola!

I'm sorry the duck was not as tender as you wanted, that is a long brine time for meat that size, I would try four hours next time.

What was the IT of the duck when you pulled it ?

[deb415611]

Nice pics KyNola!    Too bad the duck didn't come out the way you wanted.   The meatloaf looks great! 

Tell Jan that I like her rub too!

Deb

[KyNola]

FLBR,
IT of the duck was an average of 140.  Deb, I will be happy to tell Jan ,thank you.  I ran into a friend of mine tonight who is a professional cook and told him about the duck.  He said he did the same thing with the overcook. Shaved it thin and coated it with olive oil.  Said it came out somewhat like proscuitto.  What the heck, I've got nothing to lose!!

KyNola

[Smoking Duck]

KY, my friend, the pics are awesome.  To me, it's like selling a house.....wouldn't you rather put a pic of the house rather than just a description?  A picture is worth a thousand words!  Thank you for doing that my friend.  Hard to tell from the size what type of duck that is.  Perhaps the two on the right are mallards but the other 4 look like they could be woodies or maybe even teal?  Perhaps a lower It would have been in order, KY......when I grill them, they're medium rare (if not closer to rare).  However, that's grilling them at a higher temp in a shorter period of time.  Do you think wrapped in bacon might have helped with the toughness and perhaps cutting down a little on the smoke adhesion?  Either way, kudos for taking a try.....better to have tried and not succeeded than not to have tried at all. 

How did the meatloaf turn out for you?  Looks real good with Ice's sauce on it (doesn't everything?).

Thanks again for the time and hassle of taking the pics.......can you imagine how boring Giada De Laurentis would be if her show was on radio?  :o

SD

[KyNola]

SD,
The only thing I know about what type of ducks they were, they were free and apparently not Daffy, Donald or Daisy. :D  I'm thinking next time I am going to do them just like the bacon wrapped chicken breasts, pounded thin, stuffed with something(I've got an idea but I'm saving it for another pictorial) and then encased in bacon.

As for the meatloaf, OMG is that good!  Mopped with the Ice sauce a couple of time while in the smoker.  As Jan and I do so many times when something comes out of the smoker, we stood in the kitchen and immediately started eating.  I am proud to say we ate way over half of one of the meatloafs in about 10 minutes!

KyNola

[Smoking Duck]

Could they have been Huey, Dewey and Louie?  ;D ;D ;D

[KyNola]

All I know for sure is they weren't Giada Rachel or Sandra.  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D :o :o :o