I am going to be smoking a duck on my grill in the next few days, and I'm finding a ton of conflicting information. I was hoping you all could help sort it out.
What breast/thigh temperature am I trying to get to for medium rare? I'm looking for the real answer, not the FDA approved politically-correct 165 degree answer. I've seen anywhere from 130 for rare, to the 165 for a hockey puck. There seems to be a lack of decent recipes.
I'm thinking a 200-225 degree smoker for at least a few hours should get rid of any actual danger from salmonella (though I honestly doubt duck is as much of a concern as, say, turkey or chicken since duck tartare and duck prosciutto aren't too hard to find).
Best Answer
You cannot find the correct final internal temperature for a whole duck, because it doesn't exist. If you stop the cooking when the white meat is tender, you'll have very tough red meat. If you cook until the collagen is melted, you'll get very tough white meat.
With whole birds, it is more popular to go the collagen route. Especially a duck, with its darker meat overall and sufficient fat in the breast area to insulate the breast meat during smoking and then lubricate it, is a very good candidate for it.
To melt the collagen, wait until the duck thigh has gone up to 70 Celsius (160 Fahrenheit) and from then on smoke for 2-4 hours. In this case, the lower part of the range (2 hours) is probably better, to have a chance of a little bit of juiciness to remain in the breast.