TBH Video Short - EP. 20 - Cooking Texas Wild Duck

[Michael]

I've had a few successful duck hunting trips this season (courtesy John Mark, Jesse Balboa and his buddy Blaine, and our recent trip to the MMR) but other than a few bacon-wrapped teal that I smoked in September, this was my first attempt at cooking wild duck. It turned out even better than I had expected! It was worth the extra effort of plucking and leaving the skin on.

I decided to piece together a short Video Journal episode of the trial.

What's your favorite way to prepare duck?

http://youtu.be/YadmwtVveOc

[fullsizeaggie]

Looks good

[txwhitetail]

People really eat ducks??

[marshhunter]

Cooked on the grill or pan seared.. slap yo mamma, garlic powder, and uncle chris'a gourmet steak seasoning. After seasoning pour olive oil over breasts and let them sit. Cook over hot grill or sear in pan. Cook to med rare


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[Mailman]

Nice... Looks Real Good.

I have never tried that way before. I have always just breasted the birds out, and cut the meat off the off the bone. No skin required, just the meat.

I soak in a marinade of 1/2 part Italian Dressing, and 1/2 part Favorite BBQ sauce. The BBQ gives the marinade a little color, and my boys like sweet so it also gives the duck a sweetness. I let them marinade over night.

I take the meat out, dust with my favorite season, and then wrap. I like the breast in the middle, an onion slice on one side, and a jalepeno on the other side. Wrapped in bacon and cooked over a hot fire. Once the bacon is done, pull them.

Duck, in my opinion, is very good... The problem is most people over cook duck, and when that happens, it tastes like liver (which I hate) and also takes on that consistency.

Your recipe looks REALLY good, and I'll give it a shot with my next batch.

[Texas Grown]

Gaddys are my fav.

Lots of ways to cook most duck. I often cut the breast meat into fajita strips, season a little, and stir-fry with eggs, onion, and bell-peppers. Then add flour tortillas with a little home made salsa. Great for a shore-line morning brunch . I like woodies and hooded mergansers on the smoker with a little salt, pepper, or some kinda seasoning, and butter. Coots, ringnecks, other megansers, and scaups get 3/4"-1" cubed into de stew with shrimp and crab meat, rice, onion, garlic, hand full of peppers, and what ever else I can find that might sound good at the time.

Also, I do Fly-n Green Oysters On The Half Shell. That works with filleted dove breast too.

Cut large jalapenos lengthwise and de-seed. Cut head of pepper off and discard. Place a 3/4"-1" cube of fowl meat on pepper head end. Fill rest of pepper half cavity with Monterrey Jack cheese. Pin one end of a piece of bacon with a tooth pick through pepper and fowl meat. And wrap the rest toward the end of the pepper and pin with another tooth pick. Place on grill pepper side down "and cover". Only cook from that one side. Meat should keep cheese from running out for the most part. And the bacon drip-ns keep the meat tender.

I think you helped with those one time in OK .

Just another: marinate breast meat in dark wine for four hours before placed in a small casserole dish, covered with frozen OJ, covered and cooked in the oven. Served with pull apart bread of your choice or Sundried Tomatoe bread after slicing in thin layers.

[Casey]

Looks fantastic. Well done!

[Charles]

Nice knife skills.

Dish looks tasty!

[Texas Grown]

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[Randy]

Fajitas

[jetlag887]

That looks great, but like was said above, most people over cook duck.

[Michael]

Nice... Looks Real Good.



I have never tried that way before. I have always just breasted the birds out, and cut the meat off the off the bone. No skin required, just the meat.



I soak in a marinade of 1/2 part Italian Dressing, and 1/2 part Favorite BBQ sauce. The BBQ gives the marinade a little color, and my boys like sweet so it also gives the duck a sweetness. I let them marinade over night.



I take the meat out, dust with my favorite season, and then wrap. I like the breast in the middle, an onion slice on one side, and a jalepeno on the other side. Wrapped in bacon and cooked over a hot fire. Once the bacon is done, pull them.



Duck, in my opinion, is very good... The problem is most people over cook duck, and when that happens, it tastes like liver (which I hate) and also takes on that consistency.



Your recipe looks REALLY good, and I'll give it a shot with my next batch.

That sounds awesome!

Pop took us duck hunting a lot as a kid, and we are a lot of duck. It was pretty much always oven baked (roasted) and I mostly recall it being overlooked and dry. I honestly haven't eaten much duck since then, and I don't think I've ever cooked wild ducks, except for those teal that I threw on the smoker as a afterthought (they were great!) at a ring dunk party.

I've cooked Farm raised Muscovy duck and I wanted to see how wild duck tasted when prepared similarly (mostly based on Gordon Ramsey's technique.) I understand duck takes well to marinades and brine, but I wanted to "test" the natural flavor of the meat. The challenge of cooking duck is getting a crispy skin while keeping the meat medium rare...if cooked too fast the skin will be chewy, but too long risks overcooking. Starting with a cold pan and slowly bringing up the heat renders the fat in the skin and allows it to crisp up. I turned the heat up a bit before basting the flesh side. I wanted to get a little more sear so I flipped it very briefly at the end.

I'll definitely experiment with some new recipes and techniques, but I was extremely pleased with the way these turned out! I have some breasted teal in the freezer that will likely get the bacon/onion/pepper on the grill treatment soon!

[tgil]

Video made those look almost good enough to eat! Only way I've found I can eat duck is made into jerky. Admittedly, I haven't tried any in years. When I couldn't find a way I liked to cook it, I quit hunting them.

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[Michael]

Video made those look almost good enough to eat! Only way I've found I can eat duck is made into jerky. Admittedly, I haven't tried any in years. When I couldn't find a way I liked to cook it, I quit hunting them.

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Seriously, it was excellent. I asked my wife and girls for an honest opinion. My wife said the only time she ate duck previously she didn't like it at all, and was expecting similar taste. She said she loved it. Hannah has only eaten farm raised previously, but also said she "loved it."

Of course, this was "south Texas" gadwall that probably hasn't spent much time in muddy marshes of the coast, but I also suspect the flavor begins to change when you start going beyond medium rare.

I see that a lot of people "slow cook" duck in stews and gumbos, which seems to me would undoubtedly reach overdoneness? Thoughts from anybody that has cooked it in gumbos?

[RiverRat00]

I have never tasted duck, is it good?