Killed some mallards and teal this past weekend and waxed them so I have the whole bird plucked but need a good recipe to prove to my mother in law that duck tastes good. Anyone have any good recipes to try on whole birds?

Cue the "soak the duck in milk overnight, pat dry, salt and pepper, place in a smoking hot cast iron skillet with a brink on top of it, get a good sear on both sides, finish in a 350* oven for 45 mins, then throw it in the trash and eat the brick." response.

Seriously, I am interested in this as well. We are also looking for good place for/recipe for crispy duck.

Here is a link to try. I watched Scott Leysath cook on his show and picked up some very good tips.

http://www.ducks.org/hunting/recipes/ducks-unlimited-recipes

I quit duck hunting for quite I while, because they tasted terrible.

Watching him and using this cookbook, even my family eats ducks without me guilting them in to it.

Pot Roasted Ducks -

Ingredients:
2 large or 6 small ducks
2 med.onions
1 pkg. Pioneer cajun gravy mix
1 bellpepper
1 bay leaf
2 stalks celery
1 cupsliced mushroom

2 cloves garlic
1 cupchopped shallot tops

1 cup burgundy wine
2 cups olive oil
1/2cup orange juice
TonyChachere's seasoning
1 (14oz) chicken broth
2 tbsp Lea & perrin's
2 cups water
1 tbsp tobasco

Directions: 2 hrs before cooking, sprinkle generously w/ wine inside & outside of ducks and seasonlightly
w/ Tony Chachere and salt (inside &out) until you think they have too much seasoning.

Brown ducks in heavy dutch oven or magnilite pot in 1 cup olive oil. Remove ducks and add chopped onions, bell pepper, celery &garlic to
pot. Saute about 10 minutes until onions are transparent.


Add chicken broth, 2 cups water and Pioneer gravy mix. Bring to low boil and stir continuously until gravy mix is dissolved. Add wine,
orange juice, bayleaf and ducks to pot. Cover and cook over low heat
(light boil) about 1 to 1&1/2 hrs.


Season to taste w/ Tony Chachere, salt, Lea & Perrin's and Tobasco about 30 minutes after you begin cooking. Add mushrooms and
chopped shallots to pot 15 minutes before ducks are done. Stir ducks
occasionally and cook until tender (when breast begins to separate from
the bone). Serve over rice.

I used this general recipe for 4 gadwall, a spoonbill, and one teal. Not exactly the best group of ducks to eat, but my wife and 2 year old daughter thought it was great.

Pluck the feathers and leave skin on the birds - put them in a salt water solution at least overnite. Rub some salt and pepper or whatever seasoning you like on them before cooking.

In a dutch oven put a tablespoon or so of olive oil and heat on medium to medium high. Brown the ducks on this then pull out and set aside on a plate. Then add a stick of butter melt this down and then throw in a chopped onion, couple of stalks of chopped celery, and a chopped large carrot. Cook those down until soft. Then add a cup of wine and whisk up the bottom of the pot. Throw the birds back in and add some more wine and enough chicken broth to cover the birds 3/4 to halfway or so. Simmer that on low heat for an hour to an hour and a half while you drink the rest of the wine. Serve with rice.

I have smoked whole mallards (skin on) over pecan for 12 hours and they looked and tasted like a smoked pork butt. My wife ate an entire bird and she hates eating duck.

Dabblers =/= Divers

Mallards are awesome eating. Cook on the grill like you would BBQ chicken and you'll be in heaven, or put in the oven and roast like you would a chicken or turkey. The key with duck, any duck, is to not overcook. You want med-rare at most or the meat will dry out quick.

This recipe looks pretty tasty to me:

http://www.cajuncookingrecipes.com/wildgamerecipes/wild_duck_with_mushrooms.htm

For whole ducks:

Marinade birds overnight in whatever flavor you like. I use a simple brine.

Preheat oven to 450-500.

Put a little olive oil in a skillet and brown them.

Put them in a roasting pan (or use the skillet if you're using cast iron). Put them on a rack, or prop them up on celery or carrots.

Roast covered 10-15 minutes or more (depending on the size of the birds). Check with a meat thermometer. When it reads 140, take them out. Put them on a cutting board and cover them in a foil tent. Let them rest for about 5 minutes.

I had this recipe last night and it was delicious!

Bon appetit!

Ohio State has a good recipe right now.

lots of luck people !

Give them to someone you don't like. Smile and say thought you'd like these.

They won't.

quote:

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Give them to someone you don't like. Smile and say thought you'd like these.

They won't.

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Or you could just learn how to cook.

quote:

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quote:

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Give them to someone you don't like. Smile and say thought you'd like these.

They won't.

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Or you could just learn how to cook.

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This. People who claim to not like duck don't know how to cook it properly.

Uhmmmm no thanks.
I can get better.

Duck/liver is not my idea of good.

It was a joke

But I don't like ducks. I am around about 2500 ducks a year and see where they go.
Most are offered to others at the time of cleaning. I've seen people argue about who had to take them lol

The rest are given away.
I would guess the % of people who like to eat ducks vs people who enjoy shooting them is 40% or less.
Rough guesstimate but it's close. 3/4 of 10 people like to eat a duck. No matter how it's cooked.

As an addendum, I'd say that anyone roasting a whole duck dry (i.e. not braising) would be well-served by stuffing the body cavity to keep things moist. Chopped apples with diced onions is an old Eastern European method. Orange slices add a bit more flavor. And quite so, 140 is about right (maybe 150 for the less-brave), anything much over and the bird will be dry.

Other hints: be ready to wrap the legs (and wings, if present) with a bit of foil to prevent overcooking. If you want to get really cute, take a bicycle pump and a needle and carefully insert the needle btw. the skin and the muscle and then gently inflate. This will separate the skin from the tissue and make it easier for the skin to crisp.

Upside: if you roast or smoke a bird too long, there's always gumbo.

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Uhmmmm no thanks.
I can get better.

Duck/liver is not my idea of good.

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And this tells me you have no idea how to cook a duck.

If your duck tastes like liver, you overcooked it. Badly at that.

[URL=http://s1097.photobucket.com/user/NealDDS/media/christmasstoryduck.jpg.html][/URL]

Lol. I've had duck prepared by chefs several times. I don't like it and the majority of people in America don't either.

It's ok if you like it. It's ok if i don't.
I made a joke and now you're hammering me because I don't like liver or duck.

Let's think. How many restaurants sell duck/liver? How many people order it?
Very small percent. Why you ask? Simple. It's not a food many people enjoy. Some people love it. Most do not. That is not an opinion it's a fact. Can prove if you need.

Chicken, pheasant, quail etc. Big sellers. Why you ask? They taste better.

The oldest joke in the world is about cooking a duck with a board and throwing the duck away and eating the board

Now I apologize to all the duck lovers out there. I honestly do. I wish I liked it as I could eat it free for every meal from November-Jan excluding the split.
I've had it cooked every way on this board and many more not listed. I just do not like it.

Everyone on this board who posted knows people who don't like duck.

It's funny. This is the only time I've made fun of ducks and had anyone say a word.
Just so you'll know. Thousands of ducks are shot and given away every day all over Texas I can prove that too.

Don't get your panties in a bunch, I really don't care if you don't like duck.

I simply made a comment that if the duck you have tried, whether by a chef or not, tastes like liver, they effed up the cooking of it. Simple as that.

Sounds like myth has never eaten in a good restaurant. He probably likes his steak well done with ketchup.

They all have duck on the menu. Whether it's seared duck breasts, duck confit, or another duck preparation and it's highly popular.

As for duck liver, look up foie gras and how popular it is.

I can't tell you how many people I've cooked wild duck for that said they didn't like it and when I cooked it they loved it. Tells me the people who have cooked them wild duck before didn't know what they were doing.

Ok. Tried to be nice. But you Ags are not that type.

I said I didn't like duck or liver. I compared duck to liver as I don't care for either. If you read my posts instead of jumping on the next guys wagon you'd have seen that.

I've tried duck prepared by chefs from all over the world. You pompous azzes are the type who can't accept the fact that people are different from you and don't like what you like.

Here's an idea for you two. There's chicken restaurants. Church's, Popeyes, kfc. Why dont you two open Dumb and Dumber's Duck Palace. Lol. Everyone's like you. You'll be a hit.

Because you two would be the only customers. Lol.

Notice you didn't argue the points I said I can prove. How about caviar?? See that served everywhere? You azz clowns just want to be right. Duck is NOT a mainstream, well-liked food. Liver as well. Period!!!

You two are a joke. Since I don't like it I'm classless. Lol. I'm not. Just a guy behind a screen like you. I know a hell of a lot more about ducks than you ever will. Prove that too.

Now I'm done arguing. It makes me look as ignorant as you. I am an Aggie. I've always been proud of the way we treat each other.
You two make me sick. Think you have a little orange tint to your blood.
You can have the last reply. You bore me and I'm through with you.

Jeez, you're a whiney twat. You come on a topic asking for help on cooking duck and despite your claims of knowing everything about ducks it's clear you don't.

Because pan-seared teal breasts taste almost just like filet mignon. And that's just one example.

Sure, tastes vary. I love all kinds of food but I can't stand honeydew or cantaloupe melons. I've tried them several times and just don't care for them. I love the smell but not the taste. I also don't like any cole slaw I've had from a store or restaurant but I do have my own recipe that's excellent and I like. I've also had numerous people tell me it's the best cole slaw they've ever had.

It's a mental block for most people. They're preconditioned by people like you or the sort of people who claim the only way to cook blackstrap is to chicken-fry it and when they taste a properly cooked bird but don't know what it is they love it. Back to the teal example, I had a bunch of people who claimed they didn't like like duck,over for Thanksgiving. For appetizers I pan fried the teal livers and pan-seared the teal breasts in just a little bit of duck fat with salt & pepper and everybody loved them.

Dabblers like teal, mallards, gadwall, widgeon, wood ducks, and squealers are excellent, excellent table fare. Divers require more work and are generally best in gumbo, etc.

If anyone has any duck breasts they'd like to get rid of in NW Houston/Champions area and are like some on here who don't want to have anything to do with it, please let me know, I'd love to have them.

Willie. If you're headed down towards Port Aransas, Rockport or CC area before the season is over I can help. More lead time you give me the more birds I can get.

I can't get you Teal. The fact a previous poster compared Teal to any other duck is ignorant to say the least.
Everyone keeps Teal unfortunately.

Anyway you can pm me and I can definitely help with the rest.
I'm always glad to see them go to someone who'll appreciate them and eat them.
Hope I can help.