Vietnamese Wood Duck SandwichesFirst, shoot a wood duck. Yank out a few of the flank feathers for streamer flies for your own stash or a fly tying buddy's. Breast the duck and brine the boneless, skinless breastmeat in water, about 2 cups filtered water and 1/2 TB of salt.
Meanwhile, check your spice cabinet, because this rub is awesome but lengthy in ingredients. You're gonna go to the store in a bit for some fresh sandwich stuff anyway.
Once you've got all the ingredients together and hopefully brined the duck a few hours, prepare the rub:
Southwest Espresso Rub4 Tablespoons espresso*
2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons paprika
1 Tablespoon ground coriander
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
*You want the coffee to be very fine. I had to grind mine myself because the Starbucks near me has machines that turn fresh beans into a shot, they can't get at the grounds before water hits them. I took a few of their fresh beans and put them in my grinder and just beat them all to hell. When done I ran them through a sieve so I was left with just powder.
Take the breasts and cut them to make them thinner and expose more surface area to the rub. Imagine butterflying the breasts, but then cut all the way through, so you have 4 breast pieces that look like extra-thin duck breasts. Put some of the rub in a bowl (you're going to have leftover to keep in a shaker or ziplock bag for next time) and really rub the spices in. It's enough when you can't see any duck through the spices.
Let the duck marinade in the spices for an hour.
Prepare the spread: start with 1 tablespoon of Thai Red Chili Paste and 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise. Taste and adjust, you might like it spicier or less spicy.
Prepare your vegetables: thinly slice a cucumber the long way, you want paper thin slices. A mandolin would be ideal here but I don't have one, luckily my box cheese grater has a slicer on one side that worked well. Get you some paper thin slices of red onion going, too. Wash some cilantro, tear the leaves off, and pat the leaves dry.
At this point, heat your skillet to HOT. Medium-high is good on my range, but it runs hot anyway.
Make the sandwich while the skillet heats: lay some of the chili mayonnaise down on a hoagie or poor boy style bun, put the cucumbers down, red onions, cilantro, and lettuce.
Now that your skillet is hot put about a tablespoon of oil in there. I happened to have toasted sesame oil and also some hot chili sesame oil. About a 50-50 mix is a good flavor. Set an egg timer and stand by the stove and work fast. Cook the wood duck for ONE MINUTE on each side. Not 2 minutes, unless you like to eat leather.
Let the duck rest on a cutting board for at least 3 minutes while you hide all the empty beer bottle evidence from your spouse. Slice the duck thinly, add it to the sandwich, and eat.
Shopping list:
Spices:
4 Tablespoons espresso*
2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons paprika
1 Tablespoon ground coriander
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Hoagie, poor boy or other good lookin sandwich bread.
Lettuce
Cucumber
Red Onion
Cilantro
Mayonnaise
Thai Red Chili Paste (ethnic section, small jar about 2-3 inches tall and one inch diameter)
Sesame Oil, Hot Chili Sesame Oil, or substitute with whatever you've got