Hot Smoked Duck with Pickled Red Onion and Toasted Ciabatta

I’ve gone a bit Man V’s Food recently and appear to be smoking everything but trust me it’s well worth it. It’s all a bit of trial and error but your persistence will pay off in the end. This recipe if you can call it that is dead simple and you can keep the duck in the fridge and use for cold cuts for the next couple of days. The red onion pickle is ready after about 30 minutes but will be better after a few hours or overnight.

For the red onion pickle

2 Red Onions

White Wine Vinegar

Pinch of Salt

1/2 tsp Sugar

1/2 tsp White Mustard Seeds

1. Cut the onion in half top to bottom then either using a very sharp knife of a mandolin if you have one slice the onion as fine as possible.

2. Pour over some white wine vinegar until the onion is just covered and add the salt, sugar and mustard seeds. Immediately put in to air-tight containers until needed.

Smoking the Duck

You can buy smokers for the oven or for the garden. The one I have is nothing flash and I got it off ebay for £40 but it does the job.

1. Place the coals in the bottom of the smoker and wait for them to go white before you start cooking.

2. Meanwhile soak your wood-chips (I used Jim Beam Oak Chips) for about 30 minutes then wrap them in tin foil and pierce the top several times to let the smoke come out.

3. Place the wood-chips and foil above the coals until it starts to smoke.

4. Season the duck both sides well with sea-salt (you dont need to score the fat as the heat will render down the fat)

5. Place skin side down. This is where you will need to keep an eye on things. I would cook it on the skin side for 3/4 of the cooking time. When the skin is good and golden and the fat is dripping over the coals, finish off on the underneath for a few minutes. Like I said it’s not an exact science but I like the duck to be nice and pink so the total cooking time was about 15 minutes.

6. Allow the duck to rest until it is either room temperature or completely cooled depending on your preference.

7. Cut your Ciabatta and brush very lightly with a little olive oil. Place on a hot griddle pan until nice and charred on both sides.

8. Carefully slice the duck and arrange on the plate with the pickle and ciabatta

Enjoy!