Duck Recipes?

[Dave R]

Duck season opens this weekend here in Idaho. Thanks to BadMedicine, I've got a hot lead on a good place for my first duck hunt.

Never cooked a duck before. Anyone have suggestions or recipes they're willing to share?

[Bud1]

This works great for geese too:

Breast out the duck. Butterfly each breast half.

Take the butterflied breast halves and marinate them overnight in Allegro seasoning. I buy this at Walmart, but it can be found in most grocery stores here in Texas.

Take each butterflied breast half and place 1 green onion and 2 tablespoons of cooked lump crab meat inside. Fold the meat around the onion and crabmeat and wrap a piece of bacon around it. Place a couple of toothpicks through to hold everything together.

Grill it on the barbecue pit (I prefer a mesquite wood fire) for about 4 - 5 minutes per side, or until the breast meat is medium rare to medium (depending on your taste).

That's it.

Bud

[BadMedicine]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Thanks to BadMedicine[/quote]
What can I say?
We usually don't get real fancy with our game, unless there's an occasion. Most times we'll put a duck, or rabbit, in a crockpot with a couple cans of cream of mushroom soup. Then have it cook all day. At suppertime, whip up some mashed tatoes, or white rice, if you like that better. We put the potatoes on the plate, and then used the mushroom soup (now flavored like game) over it for gravy, and eat that with our meat. It's pretty good. Probably not half as good a what Bud1 mentioned, next time I have a duck, I may give his recipe a go.



[This message has been edited by BadMedicine (edited October 02, 2000).]

[Dave R]

Bud1, can you describe this process for butterflying the breasts? Cut through the breastbone and break the ribs? Cut through the ribs a break the breastbone? Then cut the breast meat is half, long-ways?

[Bud1]

Starting at the breastbone, cut each breast half completely away from the rib cage. You should have 2 boneless filets of breast meat.

Spread each breast filet flat on a cutting board. I am right handed, so I place my left palm flat on the breast filet, and use a sharp knife to slice the filet *almost* entirely in half (making the breast filet thinner) by slicing the meat evenly between the cutting board and my hand. The idea is for the breast filet to look like a "butterfy" with spread wings when you are done to facilitate wrapping around the filling and faster cooking time.

Here is a crude diagram:

Hand
Meat ---
--
Knife &gt;&gt;&gt; --
--
Meat ---
Cutting board

I can certainly demonstrate this much better than I can explain it!

[Dave R]

Thanks, Bud1. Filet of duck breast, eh?

[Field-dressed]

Just got done dressing out a big batch of ducks for the freezer. I like duck... a lot! I choose whether or not to pluck or breast out depending on how well it plucks. If I can get the breast area plucked out in less than a minute or so, I'll go ahead and pluck the whole thing (out to the wing joints) and make a roaster out of it. If there's too many pin feathers I breast 'em out and take the thighs too. For roasting, I like to swab olive oil on the outside, season the whole duck inside and out, and lightly stuff with onions and celery. I crank the oven up to 500, and roast for about 10 minutes (till the skin is a nice golden), then turn down the heat to 400 and bake another 20 minutes or so. If you cut into the breast right along the keel, it should be a nice medium rare. Hmmmm, drooling. For filets I like to sautee seasoned parts in olive oil, butter and minced garlic. The important thing is to not over cook them, the redder the better! Its also tasty to bread and fry breasts and thighs. For seasoning I use sage, thyme, pepper, salt and whatever else moves me. Of course, this applies to ducks other than merganzers, goldeneyes and shovelers (ack!). For these critters you'll need some heavy duty marinade. Then feed them to the dog.

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RKBA!

[Dave R]

Hmmm, hmmmm. Hope we get lots of ducks. I need to try 'em all.