Non-Jerky Duck Recipes?

[jrabq]

If you don't want to wait for Hank's book he has some recipes on his website:

http://honest-food.net/

My personal favorite is just a "good" whole roasted duck (plucked with skin on); 30-40 minutes at 450. Skin should be brown but breast meat med-rare to medium. Seasoned beforehand with salt/pepper/etc., then after cooking paste on some type of teriyaki or Chinese sauce, let rest 10 minutes. I use a small roasting dish just a bit bigger than the duck, very simple with hardly any mess. The trick is to use a "good" duck; pintail or mallard, and not too shot up. Teal and wood ducks also work great, but scale back on cooking time. In my area most mallards are great but I will occasionally get one that is a bit fishy tasting, for no rhyme or reason.

Any marginal or shot-up duck get's made into kabobs, or fried duck fingers like above.

 

[BucksnDucks]

I usually go with a general marinade based on a citrus juice (either pineapple or orange), garlic, red onion, teriyaki, sesame oil, soy sauce, favorite spice then grilled skin on hot and fast. The marinade will vary, but a couple things I've found to be important are:
1. Age the bird- I hang in shop from a couple days, up to 10 days when temps are 30-40'
2. when cooking breasted duck "score" the fat. I make deep cuts through fat which allows breast to cook flat and seems to let more fat enter meat. I do this prior to marinade, think it lets marinade in meat as well
3. Start on hot grill, fat side down find the magic place of crispy unburnt fat then flip (flare up response varies)
4. Started just this season soaking breasts overnight in brine of brown sugar and salt. Loved this technique and will likely use often. Remember to rinse well after removing from brine.
5. As stated above- DO NOT OVERCOOK- should be rare in appearance. I remove breasts let sit a few minutes thin slice on slight angle-serve with sauce over top.
6. Don't know if anyone mentioned this but all ducks are not the same. Good luck with any recipe on that fat Golden Eye, Bufflehead or any other duck with a suspect diet. My guess is most folks with a bad first experience were either offered an over cooked bird or a fish eating diver duck.
Oh and the pineapple red onion kakobs are always a crowd pleaser

 

[JEL]

Made these the other day with some mallard thighs/legs. I just soaked in salt water over night, patted dry then dipped in flour seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder and deep fried then tossed in some Frank's buffalo wing sauce. Turned out pretty darn good.

 

[MThuntr]

Made these the other day with some mallard thighs/legs. I just soaked in salt water over night, patted dry then dipped in flour seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder and deep fried then tossed in some Frank's buffalo wing sauce. Turned out pretty darn good.

I like this idea. I never know what to do with the legs and I like me some hot wings

 

[hank4elk]

Duck Pie from Monet's Garden.
Marinate duck ,venison,wild pork meats,sausage in cognac herbs de provance overnight then drain reserve marinade.
Deep pie dish bottom crust,then meat mix with shallots in cover with top crust & put a 1" hole in center & pour in conac marinade til full w/bit of room.
Bake like a pot pie and think you have gone to heaven.

 

[Goatshoes]

Some great ideas on here. I can't wait to try them.

 

[Southwind]

I haven't prepared one in quite a while but I always like to soak or marinade in a slightly sweet white or zinfandel wine and stuff the cavity full of chucked up apples and roast it. Not much of a recipe but it was always good.

 

[G. McAlister]

One thing I like to do before using any recipe is to brine the duck/goose for 24-48 hours before marinating or cooking. This seems to get a lot of the blood out and makes for a much milder flavor overall.

 

[wa_archer]

My favorite ways for breasts: Butterfly but leave a hinge on one side then pound to about 1/4in thick. I make several different fillings anything from cream cheese and bacon to a sautéed green pepper, onion with bread crumb and stock plus seasonings. Add the stuffing mix to the center and roll the breasts up. coat with some olive oil, S&P and bake 350 about 10-15 minutes.

If you breast and pull the legs off I package legs separately and my main recipe is with a pressure cooker you brown the legs both sides then add half jar orange marmalade and white wine to make 2cups liquid add some salt and pepper and some orange zest throw in pressure cooker bring to 15lbs pressure or 10mins then let come back down on own. These make an awesome orange glazed duck leg that the meat will just fall off the bone. I have added breasts but they are finicky and will dry out easily.

 

[Wild Bill]

A super easy one is to butterfly the breast then cut into little strips, marinade it overnight in a pepper beer such as Chili Devil or Cave Creek. Season accordingly then either pan fry or grill the strips to a medium rare or rare and as a substitute for steak in fajitas.
Another good one is to cube them, wrap them in bacon with a water chestnut and a jalapeño slice. Then before grilling role the kabobs in coarse coffee grounds. Adds a little different flavor. Admittedly, the coffee grounds aren't for everyone, but I really enjoy them.

 

[Flatrock]

Ever made bacon out of ground up duck or other wild game? It's damn good and you can't even tell it's duck. You can buy mixes online for it.

One of my absolute favorite things to make is fajitas. Use this marinade for 1 pound of meat and then just fry up some peppers and onions and get the normal garnishes:

Marinade:
¼ cup soy sauce
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
3 cloves minced garlic
2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. olive or vegetable oil

You can also use the same marinade and make a stir fry.

Duck is damn good if you know how to cook it and use good recipes.

 

[jnagel32]

Looks like some good recipes on here to try. Have any of you tried making a sausage or bratwurst out of duck or goose? I have a few goose breasts, which I find is less appetizing to me than duck, left in the freezer and I was thinking of grinding them up and using them in my brat recipe...

 

[Hunting Wife]

Looks like some good recipes on here to try. Have any of you tried making a sausage or bratwurst out duck or goose? I have a few goose breasts, which I find is less appetizing to me than duck, left in the freezer and I was thinking of grinding them up and using them in my brat recipe...

Yes. We served goose brats for the Super bowl. I've made breakfast sausage, Italian sausage, and brats. They are all good, and you really can't tell the difference. Have a bunch of ground in the freezer that we need to get mixed up into more sausage here pretty soon!

 

[jnagel32]

Yes. We served goose brats for the Super bowl. I've made breakfast sausage, Italian sausage, and brats. They are all good, and you really can't tell the difference. Have a bunch of ground in the freezer that we need to get mixed up into more sausage here pretty soon!

Do you cut it with fatty pork or anything else?

 

[Flatrock]

This one is super easy and excellent:

Put breasts in crock pot. Cover with apple juice. Cook all day. Shred meat and cover in barbecue sauce. Make BBQ sandwich. It's damn delicious!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bigdonniebrasco]

This is just my take and ONLY my take... cook what you like to eat and eat what you like. That said, I hardly ever prepare game in a way that "masks" the flavor. I never marinade, and I don't crock pot or pressure cook unless it is an extremely tough piece like shanks, wings or thighs. I process all my own animals, and I don't do "sticks" or summer sausage types of applications simply because we would never eat them.

For duck/geese (canada, specks, canvas backs, mallards etc) I pluck as many as possible, for a skin-down rendering of the fat when cooking the breasts. This way I can save the fat for other applications. The legs, and wings get bagged separately for any number of future applications.

For dry cooking you can:
grill, smoke, fry, broil, or my favorite- Sous Vide! Just don't go past medium or it becomes tough and "livery". My family prefers duck and goose closer to rare.

Like I said, to each their own, but I find that a lot of people's hunting skills FAR surpass their abilities in the kitchen. It's awesome to see posts like this where conscientious hunters are trying to expand their culinary prowess to better utilize their game!

Recipes are always great, but knowledge will trump a recipe 100% of the time. You can look on Hank Shaws website (and others) for a lot of great ideas. Once you understand flavor profiles and techniques you will no longer need a recipe.

I truly hope this didn't come across as a negative comment in any way! I'm sure 99% of you all are WAY better hunters than I am!!

Most hunters learn to cook in order to prepare their game, I learned to hunt because I am a chef that wanted the best ingredients.

I'll start another thread with some general tips and techniques. * or just post a link to Hanks books! LOL

 

[Hunting Wife]

Do you cut it with fatty pork or anything else?

Last year we cut it about 2/3 goose to 1/3 pork. We got a screaming deal on pork tenderloins so used that, and I find that batch to be a little dry. Will use something fattier next time. But it's a great use for all the waterfowl we end up with.

 

[N2TRKYS]

Breast out your duck into 2 boneless pieces. Cut them into bite size pieces. Soak them in salt water in the refrigerator for about 3 days(draining and replacing the salt water every day). Now, wrap each nugget with bacon with a slice of jalapeño and a dab of cream cheese. Cook on the grill.

I don't really like cream cheese, so I leave it off. I love eating duck this way.

I actually started soaking my deer backstraps this way and love it, but that's a different recipe.