These were legit the best ducks we’ve ever had. We created one of mom and dad’s favorite restaurant menus back in Korea (frankly we made it better).
The meat was so moist and deliciously smoky with a hint of medicinal aromatics which added delectable complex flavors. The spicy noodle salad balanced out the fatty duck perfectly.
Korean Roasted or Smoked Duck
You can buy medicinal herb mix kit here.
Ingredients
- 2 Whole Duck
- 1 Medicinal Herb Mix (Ginseng, Cinnamon Stick, Korean Angelica Root, Milk Vetch Root etc) Optional, You can buy a package with a mix of these ingredient here: https://amzn.to/4koiSp5
- 2 Green Onion
- 6 cloves Garlic
- 1 Onion, halved
- Salt
Glaze during cooking
- 2 TBS Soy Sauce
- 2 TBS Vinegar We used apple cider vinegar but white vinegar is fine.
- 2 TBS Honey
Dipping Sauce
- 2 TBS Geoja (Korean mustard) Reduce amount if you want less spicy
- 2 TBS Soy Sauce
- 2 TBS Vinegar Korean brown rice vinegar or white vinegar
- 2 TBS Lemon Juice
- 1 TBS Sugar or honey
Instructions
- Wash the duck inside out. Take out giblets from inside if there are any.
- Cut off neck and wing tips
- Pat-dry the duck inside out with kitchen towel.
- Poke holes on the skin and fat layer everywhere. (Just enough depth to puncher skin and fat)
Dry brine (This step is optional)
- Season the inside with salt. (Sea salt tastes best)
- Sprinkle generous amount of salt all over the duck including the back. (We will remove extra salt later after brining.) If you are not dry brining but cooking right away, don't oversalt the duck.
- Place it on a rack on top of tray and leave UNCOVERED in the fridge for 1-2 days to dry-brine.
On the day of cooking
- Soak medicinal herbs for an hour or more in water. Then drain.
- Set your pellet grill at 180F smoke boost mode. (If you are using an oven, set your oven at 300F.)
- Take the dry-brined duck out of the fridge and wipe away salt from the surface of the duck. If you have not dry-brined it, do not remove the salt before cooking.
- Stuff each duck with small handful of medicinal herbs, 3 cloves garlic, 1 green onion and 1/2 onion.
- Tie the legs together with a butcher string. Also, tie the wings so they are tucked in.
- For oven, place the duck on a roasting rack and pour some water on the roasting pan. If you are using a pellet grill or smoker, put the duck on the rack and put a foil roasting pan under it with some water to catch drippings. (If you have rotisserie, it's even better. Make sure there is a pan with water underneath.)
- Make glaze mixing soy sauce, vinegar and honey.
For pellet grill
- Pellet grill - smoke for 1 hour on 180F smoke boost mode. Then, coat with the glaze and raise the temperature to 350F. Cook for 1 hour. Glaze every 30 min. Raise temperature again to 400F and cook for another 1 hour. If the duck is not brown enough, raise the temperature to 500F and cook for 5-10 min.
For oven
- Cook the duck at 350F for 1 hour. Then cook at 400F until internal temperature is 165F. (another hour or so but may vary). If needed, broil to brown the skin.
- Let it rest for 15-20 min before serving.
- Serve with dipping sauce, julienned cucumbers, green onions and sliced garlic. We love eating this dish with our spicy buckwheat noodles salad.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
