Full Duck smoking and brine

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

Hi Guys and Gals,

i am going to smoke 2 ducks for an international lunch here at the office and looking for a recipe for the brine. I found on the net from Michael Ruhlman's book Charcuterie. The recipe is for 2 breasts, no skin:

Original recipe for 2 duck breasts

1 litre water
6 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp pink (curing) salt
1/4 c maple syrup
1/4 c fortified wine
2 tsp dried thyme
1 ea bay leaves
1 1/2 tsp juniper berries
1 tsp rubbed sage

So if I up this recipe for 2 full ducks, I thought I will multiply everything with 8.

2 full ducks total 4.3Kg with bone.

Brine

8 litre water
42 tbsp salt
16 tbsp sugar
16tsp pink curing salt
480ml maple syrup (Thinking that "c" means cup)
480ml fortified wine
16 tsp dried thyme
8 ea bay leaves (What is ea? one leaf?)
12 tsp juniper berries
8 tsp sage


boil these and cool and refrigerate.

put ducks in brine refrigerate 12 hours.

Rinse ducks, pat dry, and place on a rack in the refrigerator, uncovered, for 24 hours.

Smoke to an internal temp of 71 degree

Any other ideas?

Do you have favourite brine recipe for smoking the ducks?

[dthelmers]

Yes, c means cup, 8 fluid ounces. Ea is an abbreviation of each, so 8 bay leaves. I like that book a lot; I've been happy with every recipe I've tried from it. Sounds delicious!
Dave  in  CT

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

This recipe turned out to be a winner in the office, it was a total success. 

[JeffHamm]

That looks fantastic!  It would be a winner here too. 

- Jeff

[DeejayDebi]

Great looking ducks Gürkan!

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

Since I bought these ducks from the shops and smoked it and they turned out so goood, whenever I see the wild ducks around our property down the rain pond, I am thinking may be I can catch them, feed them with good food and after a month or so I can try to smoke them to see how they will taste. It works for carp fish, maybe it will work with ducks to. 

[DeejayDebi]

I would think it might take more than a month but wild duck is great too!

[dttorun]

Gurkan,
I liked the smoker as much as I liked ducks. Where did you get it from? Is it indoors? Where the exhaust go? I see it is propane fuelled. I wonder if I can a smaller one, so my wife doesn't mind one in the basement :-)
Tan

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

Smoker is a Hark brand smoker which I bought from Barbeques Galore in Fyshwick. It is outdoor. Are you in Australia? The company is in Melbourne and they recently produced the same one for Aldi as well. They have an electric model too.

If you are going to put one in basement, exhaust is a must.