FOODIE FRIDAY #6 - 🍗BBQ Duck Wraps

HOORAY!!! It's FRIDAY!!!

I don't know about you, but I am so thankful to see the end of the school/work week, and the start of the weekend. The adjustment to getting back into the school routine, after having a 2 week break, is proving to be not very fun... from what I gather from all the other mamas posting in their respective FB groups, this is totally par for the course, and while there is some solace in solidarity, it doesn't make it any easier to deal with. Can we say attitude?! 😨 Oh. Em. Gee.

So, what do we do, either when we're in the mood to celebrate, or when we're in need of some happy-making? We make delicious food! And duck is one of my absolute favorites. Especially when it's barbequed. Oh man, just thinking about it gets those salivary glands working... 🤤

Now, I will preface this with the note that if you live in an urban area, it should be pretty easy to go out and buy yourself a BBQ duck from a Chinese restaurant. And we have definitely done that from time to time. Instant gratification totally has its place! But, as I've mentioned before, we love to do things ourselves, we love to finesse recipes, and work on perfecting them. So, yes, I am going to show you how to prep the perfect BBQ duck, but feel free to let someone else do the hard work! 😉 (The bonus of cooking your own, other than the satisfaction, is the liquid gold you collect during the cooking process - that'd be the fat drippings. Stay tuned for more on that later.)

Disclaimer: These posts are image heavy!

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Ok, so here's how we do our bird! Firstly, take it out of the packaging, give it a rinse, and check it over for any bits of feathers that might've been missed in the packing process. (I do this with every bird, whether it's duck, chicken, or turkey.) Once it's been rinsed, pat the whole thing dry (inside and out) with some paper towel. If you give yourself a bit of time, you can leave it uncovered in the fridge for a while to really dry out the skin. Dry skin = crispy skin!

Once your bird is dry, you're going to want to poke a bunch of little holes in the skin. Ducks have a very impressive layer of fat between the skin and the meat, and you're going to want to let it out. (This does several things: it releases the fat, so you aren't eating/picking off a big layer of it, it melts out, and self-bastes, making for that deliciously crispy skin, AND it drips off into your dripping pan, where you can collect it for later!) Our favorite tool to use for this is those little corn cob holders - they're nice and sharp, and not too big, as to make slits instead of little holes. Be sure to do the whole bird, top and bottom!

Now that the bird is nicely perforated, it's time to season it up! I like to use a mix of onion powder, dried marjoram, and our favorite seasoning salt Buck's seasoning (which is only available to order online, or in upstate NY, so you could just use salt and pepper, or your favorite seasoning).

Mix it all together, and sprinkle it somewhat generously all over the duck, inside and out.

Then it's time to truss it, to get it ready for its big date with the BBQ! We don't use string for trussing, so here's how we truss using the excess skin. Get a small, but sharp knife to cut a little hole. Our favorite is our filleting knife. Cut a small slit on either side of the skin at the bottom of the cavity:

And then push the opposite drumstick through, so it's criss-crossed. You want your duck to sit like a lady. 😜

We want that duck relaxed for its long nap, so help it out and fold the wing tips behind its back. (Ok, so this actually just ensures the tips don't burn, and your bird cooks more evenly.)

See? Doesn't it look nice and relaxed? 😂

Check out hubby's home-built barrel smoker! We've placed a tray on a lower rack, with a little splash of water to help things cook nicely, and also to serve as our dripping tray, to collect that liquid gold. Time for that nice, long nap we talked about! See you in a while, ducky!

(We try and utilize the BBQ as well as possible when we have it going, so here we've got some garlic bulbs being roasted, as well as a pan of crushed garlic and salt, being turned into homemade smoked garlic salt - delicious on popcorn!)

A few hours later, and PRESTO everything has a lovely golden brown hue, the duck has reached its safe internal temperature (165F) and it's ready to come inside!

We've noticed that when strictly cooked on the BBQ, the skin doesn't get as crisp as we'd like, so we bring it inside, give it another thorough perforating with our trusty corn cob holder, and then set it under the broiler, on a low rack, to crisp it up. Don't be tempted to get impatient and move the rack up closer to the broiler, or your house will be filled with smoke. Remember, these guys are fatty, and fat splatters!

If you're not a fan of the broiler idea, you could probably also pop it into a really hot oven (around 425-450F), but I think the fat that drips into the pan may smoke at this temperature... I'll give this method a try the next time we do it, to compare results.

Look at this, beautifully browned and crisp! Now we can get on with the rest of the accoutrements for dinner!

I chop up some carrots and cucumbers into matchsticks, and slice some green onions. Carve up the duck into bite-size pieces, and you're about ready to go! (My in-laws introduced me to this concept, and they made peking duck pancakes, which I am going to save for another post, but we often substitute flour tortillas... they're similar enough, and really, it's just sort of a duck delivery device anyway. 😝)

We pour a little hoisin sauce on the wrap/pancake, spread it with a cucumber or carrot stick, add a bit of each veg, a layer of duck, then roll it up and omnomnom!

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Have you tried BBQ duck? Have you ever made your own?

What's your favorite meal? I'd love to know! Who knows, maybe it'll inspire a future post!

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If you're interested, check out my previous FOODIE FRIDAY posts here:

FOODIE FRIDAY #1 - Mac & Cheese Balls
FOODIE FRIDAY #2 - Pizza Knots
FOODIE FRIDAY #3 - Loaded Potato Skins
FOODIE FRIDAY #4 - Steak Fajitas
FOODIE FRIDAY #5 - Sausage Pizza & Cheesy Breadsticks

I'm finally starting to get my act together, so I'm going to try my best to ensure this series continues in a timely manner, and post a new one at least every other week, if not every week.

Oh, and I've got another post for next week that relates back to this one, so be sure to check back!

Getting my ducks in a row! 😆

Megan