JoelF wrote:Did you finish with high direct heat? How'd you get the skin so crispy? Is there any way to turn the bird over, or is that irrelevant with that setup?
No need to finish with high heat as the 26.5 setup for indirect ran around 375° to 400° No need to turn the bird over but, and this is essential with both the vertical roaster & chicken hook on an indirect/two-stage Weber kettle fire, one must rotate* the bird every ten minutes so different sides of the bird, duck/chicken/falcon face the fire for even cooking.
As duck is fatty I poked holes in the skin, careful not to pierce the flesh, to help the fat melt off and placed a drip pan half filled with water under the duck to catch the dripping fat. Without the water filled pan there is a good chance for a grease fire and a 100% chance of a fatty sludgy mess to clean up.
Two other things, I often do poultry hot and fast, aka hot smoke roast, as there is no need to break down connective tissue as in ribs/brisket etc, and if one is using a WSM or Big Green Egg, where the heat comes up evenly around the grate, there is no need to rotate using either device.
I'm not much one for cooking gadgets but I'm digging the Chicken Hook and have used vertical roasters for years. I should point out there is no need to use a device to cook terrific poultry on a smoker or grill, just makes for an interesting tasty variation once in a while.
The rub I used was tasty interesting and contained a new to me spice blend, Vadouvan, French masala curry powder. I mixed Vadouvan with Half-Sharp paprika, Gary Wiviott rub, salt, cracked pepper and a bit of onion/garlic powder, all from The Spice House.
The Spice House *Right, left, back, front. No need to rotate top to bottom.