Don't understand all the fuss with duck?

[Stinkyrat]

Hi folks!

Been cooking for my family ever since I was a kid, but today was my first time cooking wild duck! It's mid June, and duck season ended in January. Why all the wait?? Well besides being busy smoking all the pink salmon in the freezer, I've been straight up worried about how the heck duck was going to taste. Everything I've read about wild duck (especially anything diver) was that it is super gamey, bloody, gotta do ABC to get rid of the nasty taste and so on. So, I've been hesitant getting around to cooking them.

But finally I had a day off and said screw it... Pulled out a vacuum pack of skinned duck breasts and decided to just cook em like I would a steak. Little olive oil, some garlic and my favorite steak seasoning and cooked in a hot pan with butter....

All I can say is... What the hell was I so worried about? This stuff is AWESOME!



Honestly I think if you treat it like a steak, it's gonna turn out. Because I'm not using mallards or canvasbacks, all I got this season for the most part were buffleheads, mergansers, goldeneyes and ring necks. And this stuff tastes great!

Anyways, that's my story. Has anyone else been in that boat where everyone says it's disgusting yet you can't figure out why people think that way?

Stinkyrat

[Duckslayer89]

By the pic here's why you had success, didn't over cook it! Good job I love goose and duck as well. Nothing better then the rib eye breasts you get from a goose

[Bullkllr]

Properly cooked duck is really good. I have found I kinda get tired of it after awile.

Ringnecks are some of the best eating of all ducks. Hard to skin though.

[ASHQUACK]

You over cooked it.   

Naw, looks tasty...

[asmith]

Had people tell me the same thing, and I haven't found a duck I didn't like.  The only difference I found where the mergansers.  They where definitely more liver tasting and the meat a bit more mushy, consistency wise, but to me still good eating.

[Oldguy]

That's what duck should look like when done properly. Overcooked it will remind you of liver, which I hate. Good job!

[JJB11B]

Tagging, I want to try this, also I want to marinate a few breasts in Mesquite smokehouse stake marinade and cook on my traeger or just grill it. doesn't look so bad, Way less of a pain than grinding mixing and stuffing sausage tubes

[Stickerbush]

 

[Stinkyrat]

Thanks folks!

I'll have to see if I can tell the difference between the birds and especially the mergs, I think these were two goldeneyes and a redhead just based on where it was in the freezer and how I recall packaging them.

Feelin like making some more!

Stinkyrat

[The Weazle]

Cut some of the breasts into chunks, and cut up some partial cooked bratwursts.  Make some kebabs with cherry tomatoes, duck chunk, bell pepper chunks, onion chunk, bratwurst chunk, and repeat...sprinkle with some johnny's and some garlic powder, not salt, and BBQ...so good.

Another thing I like to do with duck is to chunk up the meat, dredge in seasoned flour, egg wash, then the seasoned flour again, fry, and then drain...put in fridge until cold, and then dip in your favorite BBQ sauce while watching football!  I don't know why, but its much better cold than hot.

I have seen a lot on food network about rendering down the skin into liquid fat and frying potatoes in it, and I am going to try that this season...

[Bigshooter]

I don't like meat cooked rare unless it's beef.  So for me the best way I have found to cook duck is to chunk it and marinate it for 24hrs.  And make kebabs.

[lokidog]

Looks good.   

[Remnar]

 Hot and fast ! Or slow and low with moisture, for waterfowl .

 You got the hot and fast down 

[JimmyHoffa]

looks good, but I don't recall hearing negatives about redheads before and not too much for goldeneyes either.  When are you going to try the mergansers?

[MacAttack]

If you had the redhead, no wonder it was good! One of the best tasting ducks in my opinion. But like everyone said, you didn't over cook it.

[BOWHUNTER45]

I eat nothing that raw !  Especially a duck 

[270Shooter]

Redheads are usually pretty good, I can not say that any of the goldeneyes I've cooked were very good though, hence why I don't shoot them anymore. I usually cook mine a little more done than that but you certainly have it down, it's pretty nasty when over cooked.

[ICEMAN]

Yep, been calling them "flying steak" for years.

Cook it like chicken, it tastes like kraap. Cook it like steak, yum.

Agree with Bigshooter, Kabobs are also a good way to go.

[fish vacuum]

If you've been eating pinks that have been frozen, then anything is probably a nice change to get that nasty pink mush out of your mouth.

[stickbow9]

Looks great. I cut it up into strips and do teriyaki/ black pepper jerky.......Yum

[Pathfinder101]

By the pic here's why you had success, didn't over cook it! Good job I love goose and duck as well. Nothing better then the rib eye breasts you get from a goose

 

[Special T]

My favorite diver duck recipie is this. Cut breasts into chunks. Buy some cheap flavored brandy and the corresponding jelly. BLACKBERRY  or whatever mix the brandy and jelly to get her with a whisk. Use this concoction to marinade the chunks overnight.  Get a pound of bacon cut the slices in half reducing thier length.  Wrap the bacon around the  duck and skewer with a toothpick or kabob stick. Place on foil over the grill. Take the left over marinade and drizzle over meat while cooking.

This is drunken blackberry duck candy!

[Spuddieselwwu]

I grind it and turn it into taco meat... It has always turned out great and my family loves it.