Duck Recipes

[Outlaw]

Haven't found a wild duck recipe online that gets me excited, never cooked duck before. I have some wood duck and some diver duck, all breasts. If anyone has some good recipes they don't mind sharing let me know. Or if you have any other favorite game recipes, feel free to post them here.

[DogGuy87]

For wood duck I prefer to keep it simple. I typically marinate the breasts and legs in Italian dressing and then cook 2-3 minutes per side on a hot grill.

I've tried everything from jerky to jambalaya and haven't found a recipe that has made me love divers yet. Hopefully somebody else can help both of us with those.

BBQ pulled goose has been a hit here recently. I've been following the allrecipes.com version except I use one breast and one leg per batch.

[Treestand]

The only Duck I enjoy is Peking Duck at Hong Kong Charlie Chines Restaurant, out of this world taste.yum yum

[Gary Devine]

The only time I have ever tasted a good duck dinner was in a fancy restaurant. My mother and other cooks never got it right. RIP
The meat was to greasy to me but at the restaurants duck meat dinner was fantastic.

[bowhunter75richard]

For wood duck I prefer to keep it simple. I typically marinate the breasts and legs in Italian dressing and then cook 2-3 minutes per side on a hot grill.

I've tried everything from jerky to jambalaya and haven't found a recipe that has made me love divers yet. Hopefully somebody else can help both of us with those.

BBQ pulled goose has been a hit here recently. I've been following the allrecipes.com version except I use one breast and one leg per batch.

With the diet of divers, I would take my hat off to anyone who can make them taste like anything other than terrible. I am surprised we are not overrun with divers from the lack of people shooting them because of their tablefare !

[bowhunter75richard]

The only time I have ever tasted a good duck dinner was in a fancy restaurant. My mother and other cooks never got it right. RIP
The meat was to greasy to me but at the restaurants duck meat dinner was fantastic.

Gary, the difference between the restaurant duck and others that you tasted, could be the fact that the restaurant duck was farm or pened raised compared to a wild duck with a different diet completly !

[Gary Devine]

The only time I have ever tasted a good duck dinner was in a fancy restaurant. My mother and other cooks never got it right. RIP
The meat was to greasy to me but at the restaurants duck meat dinner was fantastic.

Excellent point there Rich. I was thinking it was the magic of the kitchen chef on the grill. ???

[Springerman3]

Try looking in the The Complete Hunter America's Favorite Wuld Game Recipes. Recipe for dove on pg 17 that might work for duck. There is also a chapter on waterfowl that starts on pg 85. Are you plucking or skinning them ?

[Outlaw]

Try looking in the The Complete Hunter America's Favorite Wuld Game Recipes. Recipe for dove on pg 17 that might work for duck. There is also a chapter on waterfowl that starts on pg 85. Are you plucking or skinning them ?

I had plucked most of them whole... but at that time realized there was no freezer space for multiple whole ducks so one was left whole, the rest were skinned.

[Buckshott00]

Outlaw,

This is just my $0.02 but I breast out ducks and geese. I like dark meat, on chicken, turkey, and other upland birds (okay sometimes I'll just breast out a wild turkey as well, but not usually). So good job there!

So as a Chef, any recipe you look into think about how it would taste with darker greasy meat. Texture is a huge part of how people eat.

Wood ducks aren't too bad, this is going to be where you'll want to focus your attention, because these are the better of the birds you mentioned. Wood ducks and mallards are most people's favorites. Don't be afraid to look up "hanging" fowl. With early season woodies you might be able to get away with a light seasoning and roasting the breast. I have taken to Brine-ing all wild game that I feed to people not accustomed to it. That is if you're feeding the meat to people that have grown up on chain supermarket meat, you better brine it, and trim it well before you go to cook it.

As an aside, I made the mistake once of cooking up a bunch of venison steaks at a company bbq. I did my full brine and trim, followed by a simple steak seasoning. Grilled to medium rare and served. Then...I COULDN'T GET THOSE LOCUSTS TO LEAVE ME ALONE FOR THE NEXT YEAR!!! I had people asking me if I was going to take more time off to go get more deer.

Now for the divers: the flavor of duck resides in the fat. Trim off all the fat and skin on these guys and you can probably still eat them, provided they're not something like coots. Maybe try a small version of the recipe on yourself before serving others. If the "liver" flavor is still too strong, try tenderizing, and if that still doesn't do it, trying prepping like a chicken fried steak. You can eat just about anything if you've brined it, pounded it flat, breaded and eggwashed it, and then fryed it bacon grease. JUST. ABOUT. ANYTHING. Or...make up some excellent dog chow for your four legged hunting buddies. If it weighs on your conscience not using the whole bird. Look into giving your furry hunting buddies a more nutritious meal that they're sure to enjoy.

See below for some ideas. Someone said Peking, and that's a good way to go. I like my food a bit spicier, here's something that seems like I would try for a "mild" taste. Enjoy!

[teslastar]

What intriguing recipes; I'll have to give them a try.

[denhamok]

In my family, the duck is baked. That's the only way we eat it. The meat becomes very soft and juicy due to the cooking process. We don't use a complicated recipe; all we do is spread it with butter or mayonnaise and season it with salt and pepper. That's all. While we're on the subject of food, has anyone ever used a beef jerky dehydrator? I love beef jerky so much that I consider making it at home. I've looked up different recipes on the internet, but I need a dehydrator, so I'm coming to you for help. So, if you know anything about it, please let me know.