Pair of Mallards

[fishing4sanity]

Late this morning I ran around to see if there were ducks on any of the ponds on the farm. The smaller ponds were iced over and there just weren't any ducks around except this pair of mallards which my son shot. Anyone have any good simple ways of cooking ducks? I've tried several ways, but usually go with jerky or giving them away.

 

[MHMT]

Congrats.

Easy way to cook them is chunk the breasts and legs, fry them and mix in a can of mushroom soup. It's easy, and tastes good. Or throw them in a crock pot for a few hours with veggies and seasoning.

 

[Marshian]

I hated eating ducks my whole life until a friend showed me am easy way to clean and cook them. After skinning and breasting them out, we season them with either garlic salt and black pepper (generously) or italian seasoning. Then, we wrap the breast in bacon and stick toothpicks in to keep the bacon on. Cook for about 10 min on the grill on low or medium flame. The bacon tends to flame up, so you have to be attentive when cooking. Even if the bacon turns quite black, its ok-it's mainly there to protect the duck breast from the fire and add/retain juices. The most important thing is to take the breasts off when they are rare or maybe medium rare. Overcooking ducks (and most all other wild game) is the fastest way to make them taste like s*%t,. If you take em off rare, they are excellent-I just had some tonite.

 

[bennett454]

I like to cook them in an orange sauce like chinese Ive done the whole bird or just the breasts either way still yummy

 

[choc dogs]

like all game meat..med rare. I normally just use a mallet and pound em thin, season to taste (depends on the day, pepper, seasoned salt) about 3 minutes on a side.

 

[Hatchie Dawg]

I have two recommendations. One is pluck the breast and filet out the meat. Then fry in their own fat skin side down on medium heat. Turn once to sear top. A black skillet works the best. Season simply with salt and pepper. Shoot for a medium rare. You can use some of the drippings and reduce some red wine for a sauce. Fit for a king either way.

Or the old stand by of filet out the breast meat. Dry the filets. Salt and pepper both sides. Wrap in 1/2 piece bacon. Cook over hot grill, turning and searing both sides. Again shoot for medium rare. Time depends on the grill. Once seared baste wih a mixture of melted butter, soy sauce, and garlic powder. This will rival good beef if the birds have been on grain.

Good Luck

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

Or make Duck Tenders----breast, make three or four tenders per breast depending on size of dead duck, dip in egg, roll in corn meal with Tony's Cajun seasoning, sprinkle a little McElhennys on while frying slow and EAT!
BTW, biggest reason people don't like duck is they over cook them!! Go no further than medium! I prefer medium rare.

 

[Sabot]

I've always been told to keep them on the rare side, but I think I FINALLY got it right on a batch I did a few weeks ago. I've tried different recipes for 10 years, but always cooked them too long. The best way to cook duck? FAST!

The batch I did that was the best was dang near raw in the middle, but a solid cooked gray on the outside. I heated a skilled REALLY HOT, and flash seared the breasts on each side for about 15-20 seconds per side...AWESOME.

 

[putm2sleep]

Great stuff HatchieDawg, Breast 'em out and do just like Hatchie here, or leave the breast whole, med rare ---- and I use a seasame seed ginger marinade by Lowerys or whomever. Give 'em away? Give that a try baby.

 

[highmountian]

Congrats, that looks yummy!

 

[CABugle]

Try making a duck wrap. start by breasting the bird and then take a filet knife and cut the breast so that you have two thin pieces of breast meat. Put the meat in a bowl with salt,pepper,italian dressing and a can of sliced jalapenos and let it set for a couple of hours. Then take a slice of bacon and lay it out flat, put a piece of breast meat on one end of the bacon and top it with a piece of peper jack cheese and a jalapeno, and then roll it up and put a tooth pick in it. Place on BBQ for about 10 to 15 min.

In fact that sounds so good that maybe I will post some pics tonight of what they look like.

CABugle

 

[yellowdog]

My variation of the bacon wrap is to slice the duck breast and spread horseradish sauce between the slices then roll and wrap with bacon high heat on the grill like the rest say rare or medium rare.

 

[Duck-Slayer]

you guys work too hard too make duck taste good......

Crock Pot,
8 or so filleted breast's
1 package of McCormick slow cookers BBQ pulled Pork seasoning, Winco 67 cents,
-1/2 cup Ketchup
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-1/3 worsterschyer sauce

cut breasts into small chunks, and put in Crock Pot bowl, put enough water in there too cover the breast's stick on high for 5-6 hours with potatoes and carrots and blame..... only takes about 10 min. or so of prep. time, mix and in 6 hours you will have awesome stuff....

Best there is for duck...
Matt