Test cook Duck Breast

For Thanksgiving I wanted to serve smoked Duck Breast as part of the meal so I did a small test run with BBQD Apple. I used two breast with a simple treatment of salt and pepper. I smoked them at 225F with a probe set at 160F. I noticed a stall at 146F IT for ~30 minutes where the skin (fat) was starting to melt. The total time to reach 160F was 2.25hr. The smoke flavor was good maybe a little strong for weaklings. I think next time I might use a pit temp closer to 250F or 275F? The meat was very moist and tender. See attachments and welcome feedback.
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I'd say you nailed it for boneless duck breast, especially if it was tender (keeping it tender is the hardest part of cooking duck).

I think Duck is made for smoking; the fat picks up smoke very well. Leftover smoked-duck is outstanding on salads.

A couple times per year, I've been cooking whole spatchcocked duck at around 250°-275° and was actually thinking of going down to 225° to see if it would give more tender results.

Do you plan to do another test at the higher temp? Please post the results and your thoughts!

Thanks TH. Yes, I plan to do another test cook at a higher temp ~250+. If I get a result that is less tender I will change to oak and go back to 225 based on the moisture and tenderness of the first test. Quick question for TH, does freezing cut the smoke flavor, if so I may stick with this result? As a side note when I pulled the skin off of the breast then gave it a smell I got the best bacon feedback, yummmmmmmmm!

dono said:

Quick question for TH, does freezing cut the smoke flavor...?

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Not as far as I know. I have smoked previously frozen meat and it's fine. I have also frozen meat (bacon, sausage, etc.) that I have smoked and then vac-packed, and it too is just fine. In fact we just ate some smoked sausages that we pulled out of the freezer and they had a great smoky flavor.