Eating Diverducks from the Lower Columbia?

[kerrdog]

OK Y'all.  I already know that everybody says that diverducks (except canvas backs) are not "good" to eat.  One thing I've noticed about these type of forums is that people tend to share the same opinions.  It's the same in the electric guitar world; established, and broadly accepted opinions whose origin or basis is......lost.

I'm looking for someone out there that likes to eat them, likes that they taste different from puddle ducks, and has ideas for how to prepare them.

I'm also wondering how safe they are to eat, since we got all these scaups (bluebill?) in the Columbia river near Cathlamet.  Isn't the bottom of that river contaminated?

Whatcha got?

[ducks55]

Uhh they are all fine to eat.. Bluebill taste like a mallard and even bufflehead arent bad. People who say they taste bad dont know how to prepare them Make jerky out of them if you really have to choke it down. Duck isnt bad. Ive never tasted a bad duck and Ive eaten Mallard, Teal, Gadwal, Pintail, Ringers, Buffies, Blues, Cans, Reds, GE's, Widgeon, Spoonies, damn near every duck out there and Ive never thrown up or even gagged over a piece of it..

[sakoshooter]

I eat all of them including sawbills. Yeah, sawbills.
One of my wife's and my favorite recipes is to take enough breasts for everyone to have two each. Rinse well to remove most of the blood. Pat dry. Take your cutting board or butcher block outside. You don't have to worry about the mess this way. Mix flour and whatever spices you'd like in a bowl. Dump some of the spiced flour on the butcher block and throw a boneless breast up into it and using your waffle faced meat tenderizing hammer, work it over, turning the breast over and over so it's covered with seasoned flour the entire time. They'll get much thinner but you'll be beating all that spiced flour into them. Get a fry pan goin hot with a few slices of bacon in it. When the bacon is about done and crispy, take a duck breast and dip it into another bowl with a couple beat eggs in it. Then fry it in the bacon grease at a MH heat untill brown on either side. Be careful no to over cook. They're thin so they'll cook fast. Moist, tender and flavorfull. My wife hates duck but loves em this way.

[jordano]

its how you prepare them. they all taste just fine!

[ICEMAN]

Keep em cool, clean them well....  I have had pretty good luck cooking divers after chunking them into bite sized squares, marinating them, then shishkabobing them with other duck, or other game.... Eat just fine.

[kerrdog]

To Sakoshooter, Jordano, ducks55, and Iceman,


Thanks you guys.  Me and my wife both thought those were good tips.  My buddies don't like diverduck, so I got alot of them right now!  We're gonna try it out tomorrow night!

Thanks again.  This is a good forum.

[Special T]

any thing wrapped in bacon!

[kerrdog]

Hey Everyone,

My wife tried your tips with the duck tonight.  It wasn't bad; like a mild liver.  But we don't really care for liver is the problem.  If you loved liver, you'd like this duck I guess.  If a person was actually hungry and meat deprived, I believe that would make it taste better.  I hate to agree with popular opinion, but I didn't really care for the duck. 

Anybody try making sausage out of it?

[ArtistNhunter2]

Next time try soaking them in salt water, in the fridge, overnight. Rinse them off and then marinate or cover them with a spicy flour mix and cook them rare to medium rare. Soaking out the blood, marinating and not over cooking them will keep them from tasting like liver.

[FC]

I eat all of them including sawbills. Yeah, sawbills.
One of my wife's and my favorite recipes is to take enough breasts for everyone to have two each. Rinse well to remove most of the blood. Pat dry. Take your cutting board or butcher block outside. You don't have to worry about the mess this way. Mix flour and whatever spices you'd like in a bowl. Dump some of the spiced flour on the butcher block and throw a boneless breast up into it and using your waffle faced meat tenderizing hammer, work it over, turning the breast over and over so it's covered with seasoned flour the entire time. They'll get much thinner but you'll be beating all that spiced flour into them. Get a fry pan goin hot with a few slices of bacon in it. When the bacon is about done and crispy, take a duck breast and dip it into another bowl with a couple beat eggs in it. Then fry it in the bacon grease at a MH heat untill brown on either side. Be careful no to over cook. They're thin so they'll cook fast. Moist, tender and flavorfull. My wife hates duck but loves em this way.

I am now working on my woman to get her to cook something like that...lol it sounds fantastic!

[WSU]

Hey Everyone,

My wife tried your tips with the duck tonight.  It wasn't bad; like a mild liver.  But we don't really care for liver is the problem.  If you loved liver, you'd like this duck I guess.  If a person was actually hungry and meat deprived, I believe that would make it taste better.  I hate to agree with popular opinion, but I didn't really care for the duck. 

Anybody try making sausage out of it?

I have to be honest, duck isn't my favorite.  With a freezer full of deer, elk, and salmon I find that I don't often dig out the duck over my other options.  So, I make sausage out of it.  It turns out tasty.  I've made pepperoni and brats, and both were good. 

My other piece of advise when eating duck is to err on the side of undercooking.  Anything past medium rare starts to get the strong liver flavor you describe.  Rare is best.

[Glockster]

Soak your divers in buttermilk.  ~One to two days depending on the species.

It has an enzyme that breaks down the diver 'flavors'. 

Rinse, then use your favorite marinade.

[lokidog]

I've mentioned this recipe before, works great on divers.

Apple onion curry.  Saute onions and apples in butter to tender, add chopped duck breast and/or legs (if doing legs alone slow cook for 3-4 hours first), cook until just brown, stir in curry and chile powder to taste, stir in 1-2T flour, add a few cups of chicken broth.  Serve over rice with chutney if desired.  Every non-hunter I have served this to has loved it!

[ICEMAN]

Loki, that sounds great!

[ribka]

Slice breasts into thin strips. Marinate in oil, garlic, hot sauce, lime juice for a few hours.
Use meat to make duck fajitas.

I save legs, gizzards, hearts and at the end of year go into sausage

[Ratdog68]

I hear a marinade of 50/50 mix of Vermouth and Olive Oil does good things to mellow it too.  The Common Golden Eye I shot this year wasn't bad at all... without a marinade.

[kerrdog]

This is great info guys.  Thanks.

[270Shooter]

I had some blackjacks and bluebill the other day, didnt taste any different than mallards and gadwall to me. I like how they cook better on the grill though because they are a thinner piece of meat.

What I do with duck breasts is I will soak them in salt water for atleast 24 hours (after I have cleaned them thourghly) Then after the 24 hours I will marinade them in Italian dressing and beer, sometimes a little worshtitshire (sp? lol) sauce as well. For about another 24 hours, then I just BBQ them, some dont take as long to cook as others so you just have to keep watching them. Dont over cook them, leave them quite rare and they wont taste bad, and they will be much more moist.

You can tenderize them also if you would like to.

Ducks are like flying steaks, its all about how you cook them.

[Special T]

Alcohol tends to break down all kinds of meat... EVERY kind of marinade with it ends up good.... ts the Nectar of the gods after all....