Smoked Honey-Soy Glazed Duck

Duck is often forgotten in the BBQ world, but that needs to be changed! It tastes and looks a lot like a steak, yet cooks more like a turkey or chicken. If done correctly, the skin is super crispy like a pork belly. This is a honey soy style duck with an emphasis on creating crispy skin. This one is definitely worth trying!

YouTube Instructional: https://youtu.be/8YMgv2ftlrA

Ingredients:
Whole Duck
Kosher Salt
Unsalted Butter
Honey Granules

Honey-Soy Glaze
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
1/4 Cup Honey

Step 1: Trim and Tenderize the Duck

Completely defrost the duck

Trim off any excess skin on the neck

Pull out any little feathers you can see

Any using a meat tenderizer (or a toothpick or meat probe) poke holes all over the skin. The goal is to poke through the skin, but not into the meat

Step 2: Salt the Bird

Pay down the bird with a paper towel to remove surface moisture

Coat the exterior of the bird in Salt, put some on the interior as well

Place onto a wire rack and into the fridge overnight to 24 hours (put a tray under it as it will leach out moisture)

Step 3: Prep the chicken for smoking and rub

Coat the duck with your rub of choice. For this recipe I am just putting on some honey granules to help with the final sweetness. Try not to add anything with liquid on it (we want crispy skin!)

Sit the duck on a can - I used a hard cider so it can prop itself up

Step 4: Smoke the Duck

Preheat the smoker to 180 - 200 degrees

Once the smoker is up to temp, put the bird in sitting up on its can

Smoke until the bird gets to an internal temp of appx 120-130

At around 120 degrees, put a few tbsp of butter into a glass container and onto the smoker to melt.

Step 5: Baste the Bird in butter

Begin basting the bird in butter at appx 130 degrees, until the coldest part of the duck reaches a temp of 145

Pull the duck and cover in foil

Step 6: Make the Glaze

Bump the smoker, grill, or oven to 450 degrees

While it comes up to temp, throw together the honey-soy glaze ingredients

Give the duck a coating of the glaze while we wait

Step 7: Crisp the skin

Put the duck back into the smoker once it hits 450 and cook for 5-15 minutes.

We dont want to burn the duck, but just to crisp up the skin

When its crispy, pull it and put one last layer of glaze on!

Enjoy!