Tea Smoked Duck with Smoked Walnuts

* Exported from MasterCook *

Tea Smoked Duck with Smoked Walnuts

Recipe By : Smoked Foods Cookbook, Vol.1 by Cookshack
Serving Size : 4-6 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Chicken/Duck/Turkey

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese Black Tea
2 tablespoons Szechuan peppercorns -- toasted and crushed
1 teaspoon five spice powder
3 cups water
1 whole duckling (4.5 lbs) -- split
12 whole walnuts -- unshelled
1/2 cup chinese Black Tea
1/2 cup hickory chips
1/2 cup brown sugar -- packed
Chinese plum sauce
Mandarin pancakes or flour tortillas
6 scallions

Mix soy sauce, 2T black tea, peppercorns, and five-spice powder with 3 cups
of water.

Remove all visible fat from duck halves. Place duck in non-reactive bowl.
Cover with tea mixture and add additional water if necessary to barely
cover.
Crack walnuts lightly, but leave in shell and add to marinade. Marinate,
refrigerated for 24 hours.

Mix 1/2 cup black tea, hickory chips, and brown sugar. Put in smoker tray.
Smoke-cook duck at 200F for about 2 hours or until meat thermometer
registers 170F at thickest point. Add craked walnuts to the smoker 15
minutes before duck is ready.

Preheat broiler. Remove duck and walnuts. Shell walnuts. Broil duck briefly
skin side up to crisp skin if desired. Slice from bone and serve with
Chinese plum sauce, mandarin pancakes, whole scallions and smoked walnuts.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
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NOTES : This recipe is verbatim from the Cookshack cookbook. Here are the
changes I usually make:

1. Often, I leave out the walnuts and it still is great.
2. This recipe is for an electric smoker. I made it once in a weber kettle
(using the indirect method) by placing the tea/chips/sugar in an aluminum
foil tray which I placed on the coals.
3. Rather than crisping the skin under a broiler, I use a propane torch to
give a more uniform result.
4. I prefer flour tortillas (the small, handmade ones from Trader Joes that
I steam-heat in the Freshomatic). The paper-thin mandarin pancakes you can
get frozen at Asian stores dry out very quickly.
5. I prefer duck sauce over plum sauce for this dish.
6. I jullienne the scallions.
7. Each person makes their own "taco" by spreading a little duck sauce on
the tortilla, then adding a few pieces of duck and some slivers of
scallion.
8. Carving the duck into bitesize pieces requires more skill than I have.



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