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Duck halves are marinated with aromatics like shallots and rosemary before being roasted in a wood-burning oven. Don’t own one? Roast the duck over indirect heat on your charcoal or gas grill. Complement with a well-balanced honey and vinegar sauce, proof opposites attract.
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0:00
Cesare Giacone is a chef's chef drawing an A-list of foodies from all over planet barbecue to his rustic restaurant in Italy's Piedmont
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They come for baby lambs spit-roasted in a wood-burning rotisserie in the dining room
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They come for a sweet-sour duck, equally remarkable for its succulent flesh as for its soulful flavor
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Here's how we make it. Start with a five to six pound duck
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and using poultry shears, remove the backbone. Next, open the duck up and using a very large knife
0:39
cut it in half through the breastbone. Now, trim off any excess skin
0:47
Cut the tip off the wing. A duck is about 40% fat
0:52
so you want to cut off as much as you can before you start cooking. Next, using a sharp knife, score the skin on the breast meat, first in one direction
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then the other. This will help release the fat as the duck cooks
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Return the duck to the baking dish. Next, season the duck. First with coarse sea salt, freshly ground black pepper
1:32
Then finely chopped garlic, and finely chopped rosemary. Last of all a couple of shallots And sprinkle the sliced shallots over the duck Wash your hands in hot soapy water
2:02
Finally, drizzle the duck with extra virgin olive oil. The fruitier you can find, the better
2:10
Marinate the duck for one to two hours. Meanwhile, let me show you the beehive oven
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You can see how it got its name. It's one of the world's most ancient live fire cooking devices
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And the way you fire up the beehive oven is using hardwood chunks or small logs
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You want to leave yourself plenty of time to preheat the oven
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Shove the coals to the back of the oven. You're looking for a 400-degree temperature
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That would be a one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi. Ouch! Fire
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Let me get the duck. place it skin-side down in a cast-iron skillet
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Why skin-side down? You want to crisp the skin, then we'll turn it over halfway
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And you can just spoon any of the shallots or olive oil on top
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Then add a half a dozen whole shallots and a few whole sprigs of fresh rosemary
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Place the duck in the beehive oven. Cooking time is going to be about one to one and a half hours
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And after 20 minutes, turn the ducks over. The idea is you want to brown the skin on the bottom first to make it nice and crisp
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render out some of that duck fat, then turn it over to finish cooking
3:29
Also remember you have to rotate the duck periodically. The oven's a little hotter at the back than the front
3:34
You want the duck to cook evenly. Now what about if you don't have a beehive oven
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Well, you can also make Cesare sweet and sour duck on a gas grill
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Set up your gas grill for indirect grilling. I actually preheated all the burners to screaming hot and then I turn off the central burners Classic indirect setup Now place the skillet on the grill in the center over the unlit burners
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And to generate some of that wood oven smoked flavor, place hardwood chunks in your grill's smoker box
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And close the lid. If you don't have a smoker box, just put the wood chunks in a small cast iron skillet
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or even wrap them in aluminum foil. Poke a few holes on top
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That's called a smoker pouch. Now close the grill lid. Indirect grill the duck
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Cooking time's the same, one to one and a half hours. I'm coming on the other side
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Okay, here we go. Come to me. Once the duck calves are lightly browned, turn them over
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Continue roasting until the duck is completely cooked another 45 minutes to one hour
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The duck looks done, and it sure looks good, but to make certain, use an instant-read meat thermometer
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I like my duck medium well, about 175 degrees. To make the sauce, pour out the excess duck fat
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Then deglaze the pan with red wine vinegar. Next, add honey
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There's your sweet and sour. and duck stock or chicken stock Whisk to dissolve the ingredients
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Then you want to put the sauce back in the wood-burning oven for a couple of minutes to thicken it up
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And once your sauce is thick and syrupy
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simply whisk in butter to make it rich and glossy. and finally salt
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and freshly ground black pepper to taste yeah
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okay and the last thing you want to do is just strain your sauce
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that gets out any little burnt bits of rosemary or garlic Then ladle your strained sweet and sour sauce over the duck
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And there's the sweet and sour wood oven roasted duck. Can't wait to cut into this one
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Look at that. You even get a touch of pink from the smoke
7:23
Mmm! Now this is what duck is supposed to taste like. It's sweet, salty, with nice rosemary flavor
7:30
I think Cesare would be proud
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