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Maple-bourbon smoked duck

Time40 minutes
YieldsServes 6 to 8
Maple-bourbon smoked duck
(Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
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Growing up, I associated maple flavor with the pancake syrup found at the breakfast table. It was sweet but mostly flavorless. As if its only purpose was to baptize food in a sticky coating of liquid sugar. I wasn’t the biggest fan.

Today it seems maple is everywhere. It flavors ice cream, candy, coffee, tea, barbecue sauce and more. Thirsty? Hydrate yourself with maple water, now hip enough to be touted as the next coconut water.

And maple isn’t just limited to retail products. Go out to eat and you’ll find it added to any number of restaurant dishes. It’s a chef’s Eliza Doolittle.

I now look for any excuse to add the real syrup to a dish, whether simple desserts, such as a salted maple stove-top pudding, or a brine for a basting glaze for slow-smoked turkey or duck. I’ll even sneak it into salads as the sweet component in a vinaigrette. And, yes, pancakes aren’t complete without it.

“Maple syrup is a great alternative sweetener. It’s natural,” says Jon Shook, co-owner with Vinny Dotolo of the restaurants Animal and Son of a Gun. Maple has found a way onto the menus of both places.

The smoked steelhead roe with maple cream and pumpernickel bread at Son of a Gun “has a bit of a cult following,” says Dotolo. Unusual sounding, perhaps, if you haven’t yet tried it. But, Dotolo adds, “it kind of reminds you of bagels and lox. The smokiness, saltiness and sweetness lends itself to a really nice contrast.”

Another cult favorite? The foie gras loco moco at Animal. Its take on the Hawaiian comfort food layers rice, a beef burger, Spam, foie gras and a quail egg bathed in a sweet-spicy sauce punctuated with notes of Sriracha and maple syrup.

“I have a kind of attachment to maple syrup,” says Susan Feniger of Border Grill and Mud Hen Tavern. She says she used to make maple syrup when she was in college in Vermont. Feniger describes collecting the sap and staying up all night, boiling the sap down to a syrup. “It was pretty incredible. I’ve always been a big fan.”

At Feniger’s Mud Hen Tavern, she’s used maple syrup quite a bit over the years. “Kind of from the Street days,” she says. (Feniger transformed Street, her earlier restaurant, into Mud Hen in 2013.). “You’ve got that Southeast Asian sweet-salty thing going on.” Maple infuses a number of dishes, including chicken and waffle croquettes served with a spicy maple sauce and smoked pork belly flavored with an espresso-maple brine.

The restaurant even features a cocktail called the Old Maple, which, though it doesn’t contain any actual maple, combines a mixture of rye whiskey, walnut bitters and agave. “It almost tastes like maple syrup,” Feniger says.

Maple syrup itself is going through a bit of a renaissance. “Maple syrup has such a distinct flavor,” says Shook. “The generation I grew up in, it was Aunt Jemima.”

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Same syrup, new grades

In late January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture revised its voluntary maple syrup grading standards to match international standards. Because of increased demand for darker syrup for cooking and table use, the new classifications are meant to address producer concerns and customer confusion, and include color and flavor descriptors. Everything sold retail is now considered Grade A with these classifications.

Golden color with delicate taste (formerly Grade A light amber)

Amber color and rich taste (formerly Grade A medium and dark amber)

Dark color and robust taste (formerly Grade A dark amber and Grade B)

Very dark and strong taste (formerly Commercial grade)

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1

Toast the mustard seeds in a pot over medium-low heat just until they start to pop, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cider and water to the pot, and stir in the salt, one-half cup maple syrup and bourbon. Add the crushed rosemary sprigs and bring the mixture to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside until the brine cools to room temperature.

2

Place the ducks in a large non-reactive bowl and pour over the brine. Place a plate over the ducks to weigh them down so they stay submerged in the brine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

3

The next morning, remove the ducks from the brine and dry them with paper towels. Place the ducks, uncovered, on a rack and refrigerate until about an hour before cooking.

4

About an hour before cooking, prepare the smoker or grill to cook over low, indirect heat: Set up a drip pan underneath where the ducks will smoke, and fill with water (or the liquid used to soak the wood chips). Shortly before cooking, adjust the heat as needed to maintain a temperature between 250 and 300 degrees and add the soaked chips to start smoking. Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the remaining maple syrup; this will be used to baste the ducks as they cook.

5

5. Baste the ducks and place them (breast-side up) over the drip pan in the prepared smoker. Adjust the heat as needed (add several coals to either side of the grill as needed if using a kettle grill) to keep the smoker between 250 and 300 degrees; replenish the chips as needed to keep smoking for the first hour. Baste the ducks every 30 minutes or so to keep them moist.

6

Cook to an internal temperature of 135 degrees, 2 to 3 hours (timing will vary depending on the size of the ducks and heat of the smoker). To crisp the skin, open the vents of the grill or smoker to increase the heat, and continue to cook the ducks for 5 to 10 minutes more.

7

Remove and set aside 15 to 20 minutes to rest before carving.