Home Cookin': Gryba, cooking show host, perfects brined, butterflied duck

Most people moving from a hotel room to an apartment might be excited about having their own bedroom or living room. For New Jersey Devils defenseman Eric Gryba, he couldn't wait to get into the pots and pans.

"For a month I was in the hotel, so I was just geeking out about the kitchen," he said.
An avid cook for many years, Gryba, who signed a two-way contract with the Devils on July 1, loves to mix it up and try new dishes, experiment with kitchen gadgets, and stretch his abilities with new techniques.
"I find cooking really therapeutic so, just, at the end of your day you just cook for two hours and it's nice," Gryba said. "I'm lucky, I'm a professional athlete, so I usually have evenings, other than game days, especially in the summers, I cook every day so it's nice."
His culinary creativity even earned him his own cooking show, "Grilling with Gryba," expected to begin airing in early 2019. He shot the show in the offseason, when he does most of his grilling. He also has a large smoker that he transports in a trailer.
"Only travel with the necessities," he said.

On his website
, you can find his most tried and tested recipes, such as OMG Goose Legs, Wild Boar Loin, and Quick Energy Balls. His Instagram account is filled with pictures and videos of him cooking.
A regular hunter, Gryba cooks a lot of game, but he has recipes for many varieties of meat and fish, as well as his go-to vegetable dishes, like pan-fried Brussels sprouts finished with a balsamic vinegar reduction or parmesan cheese, or roasted beets seasoned with garlic and onion powder.
"I do meat and vegetables, don't need a whole lot of extra carbs," he said. "I try to limit those as much as possible."

Gryba's recent acquisition, a sous vide immersion cooker, is keeping him busy (he swears by its ability to turn out the best prime rib roast you'll ever have), but he also recently tried a new technique to prepare ducks.
He brines them in salted water for 24 hours, an especially helpful step to remove some of the gaminess of wild meat. For wild or store bought duck, brining seasons the meat and helps it retain moisture during the cooking process. You can add spices to the brine, but Gryba likes the simplicity of water and salt.
He then butterflies them by cutting out the backbone, and slow cooks them on a grill to medium rare. To get the ultimate crispy skin, he finishes it off with a culinary torch.
"I've always liked cooking and knowing what's in my food and knowing what I'm consuming," Gryba said. "Obviously being a professional athlete you want to eat really healthy but I don't want to sacrifice taste. I like really good food. I want healthy food as much as possible but not bland.
"Life's too short to have bad food and bad wine, in my opinion."

Eric Gryba's Crispy Duck

Ingredients:
1 whole duck, 4-5 lbs
1/2 cup salt
1/2 gallon water
Directions:
In a small saucepan, heat 1 cup of water and the 1/2 cup of salt until the salt dissolves, and let it cool.
Pour the salted water and remaining water into a large pot along with the duck.
Let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours.
Remove the duck from the salted water, rinse it off, and pat dry with paper towels.
To remove the back bone, start at the tail end and using kitchen shears, cut alongside the bone from one end to the other. Spin it around and cut down the other side of the back bone.
With the duck cut side down, press down on the breast bone to break it, so the duck lays flat.
Make shallow slices in the skin on the breasts, but be careful not to cut into the meat. Make these slices in any other parts of the bird where the skin is thick.
For the grill:
Prepare the grill for indirect cooking. Heat the grill to 325F. Place the duck, skin side up, away from the heat source. You can put the duck on a rack over a drip pan to reserve the duck fat, if desired.
Grill for two hours, or until the duck's internal temperature reaches 170F for well done. Adjust the cooking time for a medium rare internal temperature of 140F.
Place the duck skin side down above the heat source to further crisp the skin, if needed.
For the oven:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Place the duck on a rack over a drip pan and roast for one hour, rotating the pan halfway through, or until the internal temperature reaches 170F for well done. Adjust the cooking time for a medium rare internal temperature of 140F.
Remove the duck from the oven, preheat the broiler. Put the duck back in the oven under the broiler until the skin is crispy and golden brown.
Let the duck rest for about 10 minutes before carving.