Well two friends and I had a great cast and blast at the coast on Monday. We ended up with a mixed bag of redheads,pintails and spoonbills. I placed the duck fillets in a salt water brine for 24 hrs, drained and rinsed. Then another 24 hours in a rasberry/chiopotle marinade. I then pan seared them and set them to rest for ten minutes....I cut the meat at an angle and it was medium rare...then I tried the first bite. It was gamey, smelled strong, tasted strong, and not good. Dog food! Any help would be appreciated.....

Thats why I stopped shooting all of them.....TASTE!!!

I loved the "sport" of shooting ducks but hated the meat so....

First off I always cook my game meat well. No chancing it. Some seem to not mind but I just cant do rare wild game.

Try fired. or wrapped in bacon. I have found several good ways to cook duck, it just takes practice.

I have never cooked duck in a pan, always on a grill or fried so I dont know about that.

Update....my German Shorthair Pointer wouldn't even touch it...wow

Rob,

I used to duck hunt alot, my prefered way was to brine first as you did, smoke 1-2 hours and then dice into the gumbo pot. a good gumbo roux and some spice and veggies and brother you got a fine meal. otherwise do em like a dove breast/jalapeno/onion and bacon and grill and bust out the cerveza!

Thanks Rebel, I think I'll try both the next time around

Sounds like you will be needing lots of those maybe thats the key to eating duck

The pintail should have been good, spoonie not so good, especially the ones on the coast. Need to make sure you have blood clots all cleaned out, helps to cut in cubes. Kabob with bacon and jalapeno is the best way I have found to cook duck.

Man that looks awesome Guy!

That does look good!

Here is another way to cook it, and I prmise you will never know it is duck, duck chimichanga, or you might call it a taco. whatever.. Pix worth a thousand words, so more pix than words..

Only spice used, I’m pro simplicity...



Chopped up good, spice it up, put in fridge 24 hrs (optional)...





Flour tortilla...



Dabble duck on with spoon..



Cheese...



One tooth pick...





In the fryer...

Love that cheese coming out...







Cooked good, I like mine rare, but family likes it more done...



Need some guacamole. Not sure about you guys, but I like my guacamole strait up, avocado, lemon (some use lime, I use lemon), and salt. Nothing else...

My son-in-law took me early teal hunting in Sept and we removed the breast meat to make a small fillet (2 per duck), put in a zip-lock bag full of water and iced/refrigerated overnight. Cut an onion into quarters (about the size of the chunk of duck breast), lay the duck in the onion quarter, cut a jalepeno into quarter lengthwise, devane/deseed and lay on top of the duck, dust with favor seasonings. Wrap with thick cut peppered bacon and secure with wooden toothpicks, put on the smoker on low heat (150*) for about 30-45 minutes heavy smoke, then move down to hot part of the pit and cook until bacon is done ... actually came out tasting very good and I have never been a big fan of duck.

Try this for the heck of it....
skin um, put them in foil with salt, pepper, butter, japalinos and cook for a little while. Everyone I ever fed them to liked them.

all looks good, chimichangas!

good lord those chimi's look so dang good. Next on my list to try...

Etouffee base:
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbs. butter
1 quart duck, chicken, or turkey stock
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper, preferably a bit overripe and blushing, seeds and membrane removed
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup orange juice
3 dashes Tabasco
1 tsp. Creole seasoning
1 lb. andouille sausage
2-3 pounds of cooked, coarsely chopped duck, chicken, or turkey meat, preferably from leg quarters
4 oz. mushrooms, preferably wild or exotic, sliced
3 green onions, tender green parts only, snipped finely
1. Make a dark roux with the flour and oil in a small, heavy pan, stirring constantly. The quantities will make about two or three times as much roux as you need for this recipe, but if you make any less it won't come out right. When the roux reaches the color of an old penny, remove it from the heat and stir in about 1/4 cup of stock until smooth. Let it cool. Reserve all but about 1/4 cup of the roux mixture for other uses.

2. In the same pan (after removing the roux to cool), heat the butter until bubbling and add the chopped bell pepper, onions, celery, and garlic. Cook until they're soft and the onions are clear.

3. Add the remaining stock to the pan and bring to a simmer. Whisk in 1/3 cup of the roux mixture until smooth. Add the rest of the etouffee base ingredients and cook on a low boil to reduce by about a third.

4. Slice the andouille sausages from end to end twice, to get four sticks from each sausage. Cut across the sticks to make quarter-round pieces.

5. In a heavy skillet over medium heat, cook the andouille to render out some of the fat and brown the edges of the andouille pieces noticeably. Pour off any excess fat. Add the duck, chicken, or turkey meat and the mushrooms to the pan and cook until the mushrooms begin to get limp.

6. Stir in one cup of the etouffee base. Lower the heat to medium-low. Cover the pan and cook for two or three minutes, until everything is piping hot and well imbued with the etouffee base.

7. Check the seasonings and add salty, pepper or Tabasco as needed. Serve over rice or on its own. Sprinkle green onions liberally over each plate and serve. Baked sweet potatoes would be the perfect side dish.

Serves four to eight.

I found that if you soak the breast for 5to6 hours in pinapple juice. Place thin slices in the breast and add chopped pickled Jalapeno's. Season with OB Q's steakmaker we use it on all of our wild game and it will eliminate any gamenes. Wrap in bacon and grill to medium rare to medium. You will swear your eating filet mignon,

Equal parts soy sauce and Coke. 12 hours max. Grill med rare. If they taste like crap then it's the meat and nothing is going to make it taste good.