Grilled Spiced Duck with Blackberry Sauce

A couple weeks ago Mr. Lush and I tried our hand at grilling a duck again. We’ve done it before, but duck is very fatty and it comes frozen solid, so it takes some planning. It actually came out fantastic, here’s the recipe. Stay tuned for the wine pairings tomorrow!

Grilled Spiced Duck with Blackberry Sauce

Blackberry Sauce: 

• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 quart blackberries
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ tsp coriander
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Mix vinegar with cornstarch. In a medium saucepan, boil the vinegar mixture over high heat until reduced by half, about 7-10 minutes. Add the blackberries and cook, stirring very gently, until they are just softened, about 3-4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the blackberries to a bowl. Add sugar and coriander and boil the liquid over high heat until reduced to 1/3 cup, about 3-5 minutes. (this is a good point to pause if desired, you can resume this next step when the duck is off the grill and is resting before cutting) Carefully pour the accumulated juices from the blackberries in the bowl into the saucepan and boil for about 1-2 minutes longer. Season the reduction with salt and pepper.

Spiced duck

Take 1 whole duck, thawed (ours was about 7 lbs), skin on. Score with a knife in crosshatch pattern. (“score” in this case means really cut through as much of fatty skin as you can)

Mix together the following seasonings and rub all over duck:

• 2 tablespoons ancho chile powder
• 2 tablespoons ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin

Prepare grill/coals. Put drip can directly underneath duck and arrange hot coals around the pan. Grill the duck breasts side up for about an hour. The fat from the duck breasts will drip down through the rest and keep it moist, although be careful when you remove the duck from the grill – the fat will also sit in the cavity of the duck, so tilt it when you remove it so the fat drips to the pan. Transfer the duck to a carving board and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve the duck with the blackberry sauce.

This was a slightly modified recipe from Food & Wine magazine - we used whole duck instead of duck breasts and tweaked the spices, plus we personally preferred the sauce without the blackberries, it was fairly sweet, but you can pour the sauce over the blackberries.

Bon Appetit!