Duck Breasts

I fancy a go at smoking some duck breasts, not the whole bird, just the breasts, (evening meal for two of us), have any of you good people got any simple recipes you could recommend?

I haven't tried duck on the smoker yet but it does like a bit of soy, honey and 5-spice marinade.

As duck should ideally be cooked pink it might be an idea to smoke it on a really low fire - almost cold smoking it - then take it off the grill, remove the water pan and put the grill down to the bottom level and quickly cook them over the coals. That way you'd get smokey flavours and a crisp skin too.

There's a recipe on my website for Peking glazed lamb http://www.royalq.co.uk/Royal_Q_Barbecue_Team/Recipes.html

Works with duck, I would lift the skin, rub under it then put it back on for the cook, but remove before glazing. I would tend to avoid eating the skin even though it can be delicious, but you might find it goes even more rubbery than chicken skin.

There are a few things you could do if you really want good skin and to cook low and slow. I just got chicken skin spot on for the first time last night using them

These sound great thanks, but come on Steve, how do you get perfect chicken skin, I've been doing pretty well, (even with beer can chicken), by emptying the water pan for 45mins at the end of the cook & running it as hot as it will go. It's still hit & miss, more guesstermate than exact science

I don't know if I should share... This is going to be my competition technique for next year, but what the hell I've already shared with Adie.

If you want to do chicken low and slow then there's two things worth trying but you will still need to start it hotter. I've been going at 350F for about half an hour then filling the water pan and getting the temp back into the 225 range.

My tip for bite through skin is (and don't laugh) full fat mayo! Spread it on liberally before sprinkling on the rub. I don't know why but it stops the skin going rubbery provided you start the chicken hotter.

If you want to crisp the skin up some more then have a think about Chinese Crispy duck. They air-dry the skin first, however if, like me, you wouldn't fancy leaving chicken to hang around in the wind to dry then spray a little food-grade isopropyl alcohol (you can get it from cake decorating shops) on the skin, leave it for five minutes then repeat a few times. This accelerates the drying process. I've only done this once but it worked very well.

Give it a go if you like - good luck!

If you want to crisp the skin up some more then have a think about Chinese Crispy duck. They air-dry the skin first, however if, like me, you wouldn't fancy leaving chicken to hang around in the wind to dry then spray a little food-grade isopropyl alcohol (you can get it from cake decorating shops) on the skin, leave it for five minutes then repeat a few times. This accelerates the drying process.

Interesting idea using alcohol to dry the skin. I bet some good gin would work almost as well and add a nice flavor too.
Dan