How to marinate a wild duck for smoking. Hot smoked duck

23.08.2023

The carcass of a duck looks rich and appetizing on any holiday table. Many do not imagine their feast without eating duck meat. Gourmets have many different ways to prepare it. Duck is boiled, fried, baked and even smoked. We will consider the last of these cooking options right now. How to smoke a duck at home, perhaps not many people know. Today we are correcting this oversight.

For those who did not know (did not think about this possible way of cooking poultry), and for those who knew, but forgot, here are several ways to smoke duck meat. Right now, from this article, you will learn how to smoke a duck (and any other bird) using various methods of processing it. Your guests will be amazed by the delicious dish and its appearance. You just need to choose the most successful and preferred recipes for your taste and not be afraid of culinary experiments.

duck selection

To get a delicious smoked duck, you need to seriously approach the choice of the main raw materials. Frozen poultry is a highly undesirable option. However, not everyone is lucky with the purchase of a chilled carcass. If you already happen to get frozen raw materials, dry the carcass thoroughly after it has thawed. Excess moisture spoils the skin of the smoked product. Before you smoke a duck, be sure to inspect the carcass. Meat of dubious freshness should never enter your home. If you feel atypical aromas for a bird: mold, mustiness, bitterness, etc. - do not buy such a product!

Poultry pretreatment

Luckier are those cooks who have enthusiastic hunters in their families. Here, there will be no problems with the extraction of the main culprit of today's article - duck. The duck will be fresh, no doubt about it. But even these lucky ones will have a little more work to prepare the carcass (carcasses).

Before smoking a duck, it is necessary to carry out preparatory actions with the carcass. Yes, this is not the most pleasant part of the work, but the expected result will cover all your efforts. Below are the manipulations that need to be performed with any bird (duck) carcass, regardless of what smoking method is prepared for it.

Feathers and hemp down

If your favorite hunter got the duck, before smoking the duck, you need to pluck it: remove all feathers. Then we wash the carcass well. The next step is to remove small hairs from the skin and stumps (from feathers). Scorch the bird with fire. You can use a gas stove burner for this procedure.

Butchering a bird

Next, the carcass should be gutted. Remove excess fat (during smoking, it will melt and interfere with the quality processing of the duck). The neck and small bones are also removed. The extreme part of the wings is also cut off. Cut off the duck tail as well. Rinse the bird carcass a few more times until the water is completely clear, only in this case you will get a delicious and beautiful smoked duck.

The duck is smoked whole or divided into four parts.

Marinating meat

Before you smoke a duck in any way, you need to marinate the raw materials. Only in this case you will get a delicious delicacy. There are at least two options: wet salting and dry salting. Let's look at them in their respective order.

Wet Ambassador

An easy way that does not require unusual spices. For one kilogram of duck weight you need to take:

one liter of water;
one hundred grams of salt;
ten grams of sugar;
lemon juice - half a glass;
various favorite spices: cloves, allspice, bay leaf.

Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. We introduce salt, sugar and all spices. Boil the brine for two minutes and pour in the lemon juice. The duck is immersed in a completely cooled marinade. 7-8 hours - and the duck marinated. Care must be taken to ensure that the entire bird carcass is in brine at this time.

Dry Ambassador

For this marinade, the duck is rubbed on all sides with plenty of salt and ground pepper. First you need to mix these ingredients. Do not be afraid to overdo it with salt - it is very difficult to salt the duck in this way. After you have processed the whole bird, place it in an enamel bowl (bucket or pan). While laying the duck meat in the dishes, it must also be generously sprinkled with salt. For 5-6 days dishes with duck should stand in a cold place. Once a day, the meat must be "turned" - turned over, for better salting.

Pickled duck (both in the first and second ways) is hung up for 5-10 hours to dry before smoking.

Hot smoking

The hot smoked duck recipe is more popular. A bird cooked in this way has tender and juicy meat, a fried crust. Fans of Asian cuisine know a lot about the taste of hot duck. This meat is considered a delicacy.

You will like the hot smoked duck recipe in the smokehouse. Chips and special chips from various tree species are laid at the bottom of the smokehouse. Close the chips with a special pallet. The drip tray will collect the fat dripping from the duck carcass during the entire cooking process. Rods (or gratings) are installed above the pallet. Lay the meat on the grills. Leave gaps of at least one centimeter between pieces of meat if you want your smoked duck to be not only tasty, but also beautiful.

Heat the smokehouse chamber to a temperature of 80 degrees. Under such conditions, the duck is kept for at least an hour. Then the temperature is lowered to 40 degrees and smoking is continued for 3.5-4 hours, the exact time will depend on the initial weight of the bird.

During the smoking process, pieces of meat (or a whole duck carcass) must be turned over from time to time, for more uniform processing.

With liquid smoke

At home, hot smoked duck can be obtained using liquid smoke. Rather, it will not be a completely smoked product, but still very tasty. Many housewives prefer this particular method of "smoking" duck meat. No fuss with sawdust and smoke, everything is clean and ultimately delicious.

Prepared duck (salting recipes are given above in the body of the article) is rubbed with a large amount of liquid smoke. This substance is probably familiar to everyone, but in case you did not pay attention to it before, let's say that liquid smoke is a liquid that has a pronounced smoke flavor. A bottle of such a substance is inexpensive. Can be found in grocery stores.

So, after the bird carcass has undergone preliminary preparation (pickling) and rubbing with liquid smoke, the duck must be baked in the oven in any way convenient for you. The finished baked bird will have the taste and aroma of a smoked product.

cold smoked duck recipe

First you need to carry out all the preliminary manipulations: cutting, marinating, drying in the shade (4-5 hours). And now you can start cold smoking poultry meat.

Carcasses are laid on a grate or hung on rods in a smokehouse. The smoke generator is filled with wood chips, set on fire and the smoke is directed into the meat processing chamber. The whole smoking process lasts at a temperature of 25 to 35 degrees. Depending on the weight of the bird and the fullness of the chamber, smoking lasts from twenty-four hours to three days. After a day, pierce the carcass in the thickest places to check the degree of readiness of the product. If an ichor is released at the puncture site, the meat is not yet ready for consumption.

In the case when you can’t wait to taste smoked duck as soon as possible, it is permissible to increase the temperature to 40 degrees. In this case, the readiness of the duck will come in 8-10 hours. But experts say that a colder method and a long time with cold smoking make duck meat incredibly fragrant and tasty, so there is reason to wait three days and not rush things by raising the temperature. During smoking, duck carcasses should be sprayed (or doused) with ready-made brine, in which they languished before getting into the smokehouse.

After the process, the carcasses of finished smoked ducks are hung in the shade, in a place with good air movement, for two hours. Here the meat will "reach" perfection: the sharp smell of smoke will disappear, and the bird will acquire that very unique aroma and, importantly, taste.

It is necessary to store the carcasses of the finished cold-smoked duck in the cold and be sure to wrap them in wax paper. This method contributes to a longer preservation of the aroma of smoking. Not bad for this purpose and the usual foil for baking. Wrap each piece tightly so that there are no gaps. But the wisest decision would be to eat smoked duck, otherwise why have we worked tirelessly for such a long time? Call your guests and treat them to a real delicacy.

This recipe will delight all meat lovers. The special aroma given to the duck when smoked evokes a unique gastronomic experience. Smoked meat keeps for a long time. You will learn how quickly this gourmet dish is prepared on a hike and in the country, or at home. We will not use marinade and a lot of spices in the recipe, the advantage of the recipe is its simplicity and accessibility.

What is needed for the recipe

For cooking, you will need a small smokehouse, homemade or bought in a store. If the duck is cooked at home, you can use any stainless steel pan of a suitable size as a smoker. To smoke, you will need wood chips or sawdust from alder, bird cherry, apple trees and other fruit trees.

Products:

salt;
black or red ground pepper;
one duck.

Hot smoked duck according to this recipe is cooked very quickly. Half an hour is spent on aging the meat in a mixture of salt and pepper, and the smoking process itself lasts forty minutes.

In any finished dish, the quality of the original product plays an important role. The fresher the duck, the tastier it will be after smoking.

The duck is plucked, gutted, taking out the insides. Carefully pull out all the feather stumps remaining after plucking and singe over an open fire. Rinse well until the water runs clear.

The prepared duck can be cut into pieces or smoked whole. Before smoking, it must be rubbed with salt and black pepper and left for half an hour. You can salt the duck and just cover the bowl with a lid or food foil. It is not necessary to put meat in the refrigerator, as in recipes when it is placed in a marinade.

Cold-smoked duck cooks longer, and not at home, only in the country in a special smokehouse.

Cold smoked duck

After thoroughly washing and gutting the carcass of the bird, they put it under oppression for two days in the refrigerator, after rubbing it with the juice of one lemon and salt. To make the meat softer, it is advisable to beat the duck before salting, breaking its bones. So she will be well salted. Before smoking, the meat must be sprinkled with pepper.

The duck is smoked in a cold way at a temperature of 30 degrees for two days, placing it on the smokehouse grate.

hot smoked duck recipe

Hot smoked duck

The cooking process depends on where the duck is cooked - in the country, on a hike or at home.

Prepared, aged for half an hour in salt, the duck is placed in a smokehouse. Before that, sawdust is poured onto the bottom of the smokehouse, a baking sheet for fat, a grate are placed on top, and a duck is placed on the grate - belly down. The smokehouse is placed on an electric stove, making sure that the heating temperature does not exceed 90 degrees.

If they are not cooked at home, they put a smokehouse with duck on the coals. In a good smokehouse design, a small diameter pipe with a damper is provided. By the color of the smoke coming out, the smoking process is monitored.

The bluish smoke coming out of the smoker pipe may indicate insufficient heating, you can slightly increase the heat under the smoker. If the smoke is dark and thick, it is necessary to slightly open the damper of the pipe so that the finished duck does not give off bitterness.

After forty minutes, the duck is ready. In order to check whether the meat is raw, it is necessary to pierce it with a wooden skewer. If ichor and blood stand out, you need to continue to smoke.

Features of cooking hot smoked wild duck

A hunted duck is a hunter's pride and one wants its taste to be excellent. It is interesting to know how the preparation of a wild duck differs from a poultry bought in a store.

A feature of the meat of wild animals is its rigidity and a specific, sometimes pronounced smell. But the right cooking process can turn disadvantages into advantages.

For cooking you will need: a smokehouse, alder chips.

Products:

wild duck;
salt;
black pepper;
garlic;
water for cooking.

Wild duck is prepared by plucking, gutting, singeing on fire and washing. In order not to put the meat in the marinade for a long time, which is very inconvenient in field conditions, it can be salted before smoking.

Sprinkle salt on top at the rate of 1/3 tablespoon of salt per duck, pepper to taste and sprinkle with finely chopped garlic cloves (half a head). Leave the duck in a sealed container with the belly up for twelve hours.

After twelve hours, pour a container with duck water, bring to a boil and cook for fifteen minutes. Remove the container from the fire and let the duck cool without removing it from the water so that the meat becomes juicy and fragrant.

When the broth with duck has cooled, drain it, and wipe the duck dry with a clean cloth. The meat is half-cooked and an ichor will stand out from it, which must be wiped dry. Precooking removes odors and eliminates the need to use marinade to tenderize tough meats.

A dry alder torch is poured into the bottom of the smokehouse, no more than two centimeters thick. The duck is placed on the grate of the smokehouse, closed and the heat is bred under the smokehouse. It is necessary to smoke forty or sixty minutes from the moment the smoke appears from the smokehouse chimney.

When you smoke, make sure that the fire is even and does not cover the smoker on the sides, otherwise the duck may burn. Readiness can be checked with a wooden skewer - if clear juice stands out, the duck is ready. A strong darkening of the surface of the meat should not be allowed, otherwise it will be dry, with a bitter aftertaste.

There are recipes in which, in order to acquire softness, a raw duck grated with salt and pepper is kept in the refrigerator for three days, and then, placed in a salty marinade, for another three days. But waiting almost a week to smoke a duck is too long.

Video: How to cook Smoked Duck

Meat has been smoked since ancient times, because then there was no other way to prepare it for future use. Our ancestors accidentally discovered that exposure to wood smoke and air allows meat to be stored for a long time, while its taste improves and acquires piquancy.

Smoked poultry, which has a specific taste and aroma, has always been considered an exquisite delicacy. It is served as an independent snack or used to prepare various dishes - pickles, salads, fillings for pancakes and pies.

There is nothing tastier than a smoky bird, and if you smoke it at home, it will turn out to be especially tasty and healthy. Shall we try?

Preparing poultry for smoking

Any fresh poultry meat is suitable for classic smoking - well-fed young ducks, geese and chickens, preferably females, since they have more tender and soft meat. The carcass of the bird is washed, gutted, cut lengthwise into two parts and salted well. Next, each half of the bird is placed between two wooden cutting boards and beaten intensively with a hammer so that all the bones and joints crunch. At the same time, salt penetrates deep into the tissues and the cerebral fluid is released, which enriches the taste of meat.

The carcass of the bird is laid out in a deep bowl or hung for 2-4 days in a draft in a cool room, the temperature of which does not exceed 10 ° C. During curing, the fermentation process begins in the meat, destroying muscle fibers, as a result of which it softens and its unique flavor bouquet is formed. At low temperatures, the exposure time increases. However, at home it is impossible to follow this poultry smoking technology, therefore, after cutting the carcass, it is better to marinate it in brine. The brine is prepared as follows: a few chopped garlic cloves, ½ cup of salt, a few bay leaves, 1 tbsp are added to a liter of warm water. l. sugar, 2 tbsp. l. vinegar and a pinch of cinnamon. You can add various ingredients and spices to the brine, such as mustard, cloves, cinnamon, citric acid, juniper berries - there are no hard and fast rules. The more spices, the tastier the meat will be. Some cooks inject the brine into the meat in the form of injections - in small portions for every 2 cm of the carcass, so that it marinates faster.

The bird is marinated for about two days, placing it under oppression, and then “ventilated” by hanging the carcasses for several hours, as described above. Meat can be marinated in another way - rub the bird on all sides with salt and spices (cumin, black pepper and dill) and leave it like that for a day. After pickling, cuts are sometimes made on the carcass and garlic and pieces of bacon are put inside, but this is not suitable for duck and goose, since they are already quite fatty. You can smoke a bird not only as a whole, but also in separate pieces - it all depends on your tastes.

Poultry smoking: hot and cold

There are two types at home - cold and hot. They differ from each other only in the way of heat treatment - during cold smoking, the temperature in the smokehouse does not exceed 30 ° C, and the meat is smoked for several days. Hot smoking lasts for several hours at high temperatures - from about 80 to 130 ° C, therefore, simultaneously with smoking, the meat is baked, resulting in less juicy and more dense.

Cold processing increases the shelf life of meat - it can be stored for a long time even outside the refrigerator, besides, its taste is much more interesting than after hot smoking. However, if you are going to do cold smoking poultry at home, you should salt it well and keep it in the marinade for as long as possible to destroy all microorganisms. Processing meat at a temperature of 70-80 ° C is considered semi-hot, but in taste and shelf life it is more like a hot smoked product.

After the bird is placed in the smokehouse, the maximum temperature is made so that a film forms on the surface of the meat, and then the temperature is gradually lowered. Smoked poultry is considered ready when the film is easily separated from the pulp, while the goose and duck are smoked longer, because they are fatter, and all the fat should evaporate during the heat treatment. Some chefs periodically dip the meat in brine during smoking to make it more juicy and tasty.

It is necessary to ensure that during the smoking process at high temperatures the meat does not burn, so sometimes it is wrapped in foil. And another very important point - there must be a special tray at the bottom of the smokehouse, where the fat from the meat will drain, because if it drips onto the coals, the bird will start to taste bitter and acquire a not very pleasant aroma that cannot be eliminated.

What is better to smoke

Humidity and temperature controlled smokehouses are now on sale, and if you bought such a unit, you are very lucky. Many people make smokehouses with their own hands according to a standard design - a firebox, a metal container, firewood or sawdust, a fat pan, a meat grate and a mandatory lid. You can take any firewood, although experts say that birch gives the meat a taste of tar. If you add juniper branches with berries and cherry leaves to the firebox - an incomparable aroma of meat is guaranteed!

Of course, it is better to do home smoking in the country or on the site of a country house, and not in a city apartment. If you do not have a cottage with a smokehouse, this does not mean at all that you will never be able to smoke meat with your own hands. Many housewives have adapted to do this in an ordinary cauldron - for this they put alder chips soaked in cold water on the bottom of the cauldron, put a fat pan made of several layers of foil on top, cover it with a grate, the role of which is successfully played by an aluminum dumpling, or a grid from a double boiler. Pieces of meat are laid out on the grate, tightly closed with a lid, pressed down with a load and smoked for about 30 minutes, and if the whole bird is smoked, it will take about 1.5 hours.

In urban conditions, you can cook only hot smoked, but, as they say, at least something is better than nothing at all. The bird is also smoked in an air grill, pouring alder chips on the bottom and placing the meat on the grate. The smoking process lasts about an hour at a temperature of 210 ° C.

It is very convenient to smoke in the oven by placing a container with wood chips on its bottom. A grate with meat is placed on top, and this structure is covered with foil so that the smoke does not leave. For heat treatment, you need to turn on only the lower heat (about 300 ° C) and cook for about half an hour, and then leave the meat in the oven for another half an hour while the coals smolder. If you smoke meat at home, remember to turn on the hood so that the neighbors don't call the fire department.

Many housewives smoke poultry in a slow cooker and even in a microwave using store-bought smoking brine or liquid smoke. It is delicious, simple and quick, although the dish turns out to be more spicy on a real fire.

Recipes for hot smoked poultry at home

Original smoked breast

Rinse the turkey breasts (about 1 kg) well, cut them into 2 parts and marinate in a deep dish. For the marinade, mix 50 g of soy sauce, 70 ml of olive oil, 3 tbsp. l. balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp. ground ginger, salt and black pepper to taste. Keep the meat in this mixture for at least 3 hours, then pat dry with a towel and fry in a hot pan for 2 minutes on each side until golden brown.

Cover the bottom of the pan with two layers of foil and put the smoking mixture on it - 100 g of rice, 30 g of black tea, 2 tbsp. l. sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Place a wire rack on top, place the turkey on it, and place the skillet over high heat. Hold the breasts in this position for about 10 minutes, and then cover the pan with a lid and smoke for about 45 minutes. The turkey turns out amazingly fragrant and tasty!

Smoked duck in a pressure cooker

Home-smoked duck is an exquisite delicacy worthy of a festive table, and you can even cook it in a pressure cooker. To do this, cut the duck into 8 parts and soak it for 2 hours in a saline solution of 2 liters of water and 2 tbsp. l. salt. Pour sawdust on the bottom of the double boiler and put a grate on it, place dishes for dripping fat on it. From above, install two levels of grates with pieces of duck, and instead of a grate, you can take a double boiler in the form of a “chamomile”. Close the pressure cooker tightly and put it on the fire for half an hour. When it cools down, open the lid - an incredibly tasty smoked duck with the aroma of fire and smoke is ready!

Smoky chicken in a slow cooker

If you do not have time, but want to treat your family to delicious delicacies, cook in a slow cooker. In this case, you do not have to really smoke anything, but the taste effect of smoking will be present.

First, prepare a mixture for marinating from 3 minced garlic cloves, 1 tbsp. l. sugar, 1 tbsp. l. salt and 1 tsp. ground black pepper. Rinse and dry the chicken well, brush inside and out with the seasoning mixture, place in a roasting bag and refrigerate overnight. In the morning add 2 tbsp. l. liquid smoke, making sure that it covers the entire surface of the carcass, tightly tie the bag, smoke the bird in the double boiler mode for an hour, then simmer it for another half an hour in the heating mode.

Alexey Mitrokhin

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The beginning of the hunting season is a long-awaited day for all hunters. In addition to the process of tracking game, I want to please family and friends with trophies. Recipes for smoking wild duck will not only allow you to cook a signature dish on the festive table, but also ensure the safety of the product for a longer time.

Before you start reading, please note: this article is dedicated specifically to the wild duck. We talked about in.

Any game must first be prepared for the smoking process. First of all, it is necessary to carry out the process of removing the feather pluck. To better remove the feathers, you need to scald the bird with boiling water for a couple of seconds, then carefully pluck all the feathers and burn them on a fire to remove the fluff. By the way, you can smoke a bird directly during the hunt, if it lasts several days.

Next, proceed to gutting and washing the duck. All the insides are carefully removed so as not to crush the gallbladder. Otherwise, you can spoil the meat: it will become very bitter. The carcasses are gutted and cut along the sternum line. Then thoroughly washed both inside and out. Upon completion of all the preparatory work, they proceed to marinating.

pickling process

Pickling for hot wild ducks is carried out using the main ingredients - salt and garlic. The process consists of several stages:

- The prepared bird is placed back down in a container. If the trophy is rich, then lay out in layers. Each layer is sprinkled with salt and finely chopped garlic, for one carcass, a third of a teaspoon of salt and a couple of garlic cloves. Further, the container is closed with a lid without oppression, and left for half a day. For large carcasses of ducks, the amount of ingredients is slightly increased.
- After the time has elapsed, the container, along with the seasoning and the bird, is poured with water. It should cover the content. A pot of water is placed on the fire, brought to a boil and boiled for no more than 15 minutes. Then, the container is removed from the fire and allowed to cool completely without removing the duck. Thanks to this process, they get rid of subcutaneous fat and the unpleasant odor that comes from it.

The broth has cooled down, and it's time to remove the carcasses from it. They are cleaned of scale with a clean napkin or the back of a knife. The broth with fat just pours out. The wild duck is ready for the smoking process.

Cooking

Hot-smoked wild duck can be smoked both in a closed and open smokehouse. Install it somewhere in a quiet place, protected from the wind. The flame in it should pass from the damper in the back. The whole bottom is laid with dry alder chips. They make a fire under the smokehouse and wait for the moment when a bluish haze appears. As soon as it has formed, they begin to lay the meat for smoking.

The unfolded carcasses are placed on the grate with their backs up. Gently unroll the game along the incision of the sternum and place it in the smokehouse. Duration of smoking - about an hour. All this time you need to constantly keep the fire going. It should not be strong, as it will capture the entire smokehouse. From this, the temperature will be more than necessary and the meat will burn.

To check whether the process of smoking a wild duck in a hot way at home is correct, you need to monitor the color of the smoke. If we observe blue smoke, this means that the temperature is insufficient, the heat is slightly increased. Strong smoke with a pronounced yellowish color is already too much, you need to remove its excess. To do this, simply bleed it through the damper. Excess smoke leads to a deterioration in the taste of meat, and it will be bitter.

Throughout the smoking process, it is necessary to check the degree of readiness of the product. This can be done by periodically opening the damper and inspecting the carcasses of ducks:

Golden color indicates that the bird is ready. Additionally, the carcass must be pierced with a sharp stick and assess the condition of the juice. It should be clear and not contain blood.
A dark chocolate shade indicates that the meat has been overexposed. As a result, the bird will turn out to be dryish and bitter in taste.

In a similar way, you can smoke and. They are slightly larger than ducks, so their carcasses are cut completely into two parts. You should also increase the smoking time to one and a half hours. It all depends on the size of the goose.

The wild bird prepared in the presented way remains much longer. In cool places, you can keep for almost a month. It should be noted that its great taste is not lost at all. It is equally good both hot and cold.

The leading position in the consumption of duck meat is far from Russia. Residents of Southeast Asian countries do not accept vitamins in tablet form, but prefer to get them from natural products. Dark meat is especially appreciated, as well as broth cooked on the fatty parts of carcasses.

Historical facts indicate that duck dishes appeared in the era of ancient civilizations. That famous Peking duck was known during the reign of the most famous dynasties.

The Chinese used this bird in traditional medicine. It was believed that she maintains a balance of "cold" and "heat".

As for the opposite part of the world, Europeans have always considered the duck a delicacy, as it was served in expensive restaurants.

Useful qualities of duck meat

It is known that iron contained in any meat is considered a precious element for the human body, as it participates in the formation of hemoglobin. When its level in the blood decreases, there is a risk of anemia, which affects mainly women, especially during pregnancy. In addition to general weakness, anemia is also observed. But this is far from where the useful properties of the element iron are positioned. Without it, B vitamins will not be absorbed.

Vitamin A has traditionally been considered a means of accelerating regeneration processes. Patients in the postoperative period were prescribed a vitamin for wound healing. It also has a positive effect on vision, but few people are aware that it serves as a kind of barrier to infections that attack the body from the outside.

The B group of vitamins keeps the body in good shape. Some of them help strengthen bones, nails and hair. Others stabilize the central nervous system, improve metabolism, increase immunity.

Duck meat contains a lot of unsaturated acids. At least, they are much more than in any other bird. Not so long ago, the “chase” for this substance began, since it was discovered that fatty acids are antioxidants. General rejuvenation of the body is the goal of the vast majority of "dietists". In addition, the lack of acids leads to the development of diseases of the cardiovascular system and the central nervous system. This is especially dangerous for a growing organism.

Preparatory stage

Duck smoking, like any other outdoor cooking process, is a whole ritual. If you do not honor its features, then the easiest way is to buy a finished smoked product in a store. But what can compare with the aroma of a fresh baked crust, enticing with its golden sheen. For the sake of this, many are ready to give up all even the most urgent matters and go out of town, to the country, especially if the weather permits, to work wonders of cooking.

However, even the most experienced lovers of smoking at home will not be able to do without a recipe that describes the entire sequence of actions, from preparation to serving a delicious dish on the table.

We will immediately make a reservation that we are not supporters of abundant equipment with seasonings and spices, although we will consider this method of salting. Only natural smells are able to convey the whole fine composition, which is typical only for home smoking.

First, you should acquire the basic raw materials, materials and ingredients. The queen of the holiday is the duck itself, which can be grown on a farm, obtained during the hunt, or simply bought in a store. Note that the calorie and fat content of a wild duck is not an order of magnitude, of course, but significantly lower than that of a domestic one. And if it is desirable for lovers of a slender figure to control themselves in eating the latter, then smoked wild duck will not spoil your energy balance in any way.

You will need to purchase or prepare sawdust. To make the right choice, you need to know some theoretical aspects.

Many advise smoking with thin dry twigs. For cold smoking, this method is quite acceptable, since the smokehouse firebox is at some distance from the box. Even if ignition occurs, the fire can always be extinguished, branches lined and smoked without consequences. When hot smoking, it is not recommended to open the lid of the smoking box, so the twigs will not work.
If we consider sawdust, then they are more suitable as a material. The sawdust does not burn, but smolders well, but there is little air between the particles, and this complicates the pyrolysis process. The fact is that any wood during combustion or during smoldering releases a whole set of volatile compounds, which are products of chemical reactions. These compounds form light and heavy fractions. The lungs are considered safe for humans. They are antiseptics and preservatives. But heavy fractions are carcinogens that cause the possibility of cancer. During pyrolysis, "burning out" of heavy particles occurs, but this requires air. Optimum conditions for pyrolysis occur when wood chips smolder. Therefore, it is best to choose only this material. Of the species, apple, cherry, beech or alder should be considered, conifers contain a lot of resin.

A large amount of spices will eliminate the natural taste and smell of duck meat, but you can’t do without them. Salt is not only a flavoring agent, but also a good marinade, as well as an antiseptic. Pepper does not affect the taste, it only adds sharpness and light piquancy. The remaining spices can be added to the recipe or removed at will, these are thyme, garlic, lemon, dill, tea, basil.

Cutting, salting and marinating

The standard procedure that will have to be carried out before smoking a duck includes cutting and marinating. The first action can be avoided if the carcass is purchased at the store. Otherwise, you will have to start boiling water, since plucking is best done if the carcass is poured over with boiled water.

Pinching a duck is not easy, in addition to feathers, you need to get rid of fluff and stumps. With patience, you will still end this unpleasant stage. Then you should singe the carcass to get rid of small shoots. Usually singe a bird over a gas stove.

Cutting begins with the extraction of the insides. It is advisable not to damage them, because otherwise the meat will have to be thoroughly washed with water. If the integrity of the gallbladder is violated, then it will not be possible to get rid of bitterness. Do not try to wash the place where the bile has got. It is best to remove the hearth along with the meat.

To exclude the possibility of bile getting on the tissue of the product, it is recommended to cut the gallbladder from the liver only when it has been completely removed from the belly. Through an incision made below the tail, all the insides are removed, except for the goiter. It is better to get it after removing the head.

There are several ways to salt a duck.

The simplest of them is a dry marinade, which consists of salt and pepper. This is just the minimum set of spices that we mentioned above. Salt is mixed with pepper and washed into the carcass (if you decide to cook the whole bird) or in part of it. There will not be much salt here, so you don’t need to save. All pieces are placed in a saucepan and placed under oppression. It will be possible to completely salt the meat only after 12-14 hours, because it is necessary that the salt penetrates deep into the fibers. The dry mixture remaining on the surface is washed off with water, and the water, in turn, is wiped off with a towel or napkin. A duck or a drake is ready to go to the smokehouse.
Let's share one more secret that will allow you to add additional flavors and aromas. If you marinate the duck for smoking with spices, then there is an opportunity to combine “bouquets” according to your taste and desire. Marinade for smoking is based on water, soy sauce or vegetable oil. There is plenty of fat in the duck, so it is best to choose plain water. At the very least, it will be easier to control the degree of saltiness of the meat. The water is brought to a boil so that all the ingredients are dissolved in it. You need to take 300 g of salt, 100 g of sugar, pepper, garlic and other seasonings to taste for 4 liters of water. Cool the resulting brine to room temperature and place the meat in it. Marinate it in the refrigerator for about two days.

The third method allows you to immediately pickle and smoke a duck (or rather, imitate these processes). We start as standard, then we prepare the marinade, but we add 2-3 tablespoons of liquid smoke to it. Due to this, that you don’t have to light a fire and smoke a duck in the country, but just put it in the oven, this method allows you to quickly prepare a dish, and it will not be much worse than natural hot smoked duck.

Important points for smoking poultry

The wood chips have already been selected, the smoker has been prepared, the duck has been salted correctly. You can start smoking. But you need to know that there are two types of meat processing with smoke, and they are implemented both at home and in factory conditions. In one case, the meat is affected by hot smoke. Its temperature ranges from 80 to 110°C degrees. This treatment results in protein denaturation. The duck is baked, filling with the aroma and taste of wood smoke. In the second case, cold smoke (26-28°C) soaks the meat for a long time, this is called cold smoking.

Hot-smoked duck will be ready in a few hours. You can imagine the algorithm for such cooking, but the most important thing is already behind - the meat is marinated.

The wood chips are poured into the smoking box.
A fire is lit in the barbecue.
The box is installed on the grill.
A pallet in the box is required, as a lot of fat will stand out from the carcass.
Pieces of the carcass are laid out on sieves.
During smoking, you need to monitor the constancy of the temperature.
After 2 hours, you should check the readiness by piercing the meat with a thin, sharp twig. The liquid that is released during this should be transparent.
With cold smoking, there is no need to check readiness for at least a day.
Finished products must be aired for at least 2 hours.

You can enjoy the cooked dish, but it is not recommended to store it for a long time. Meat smoked in the second way will lie longer than the first. Pieces must be wrapped in foil or parchment and put in the refrigerator. So that the meat does not absorb the smell of the refrigerator, and the products are not saturated with a smoky smell, it is recommended to eat the duck immediately.