Well, almost all of it.. 3 mallards, I normally like to eat them “duck steak” style fresh and not frozen, but it turned out ok. Mallard breast skin on all one piece.

Dadgummit that looks good

Great Stuff, love em

I pulled mine out as well. Same. Mallard breasts skin on. I dry brined two in salt only and wet brined four in a salt, spice mixture. Honestly, I liked the dry brined better. They were firm and salty but not too salty. The wet brined were more moist, which was good, but I like the dry firmness setting in salt for a few hours creates.

I'll harp on this again. If you're going to breast out your birds, take the skin with them. It doesn't take that much longer and makes a world of difference. Lot's of flavor in that skin.

Those look good. Glad you enjoyed them.

I used to brine, but never could tell if it helped or not, so I quite messing with it. I will say eating duck like a steak, skin on, is best when cooked fresh and not frozen. I try to do most of the cooking with skin down to render the fat, results vary from bird to bird, and so does quality of the skin and fat. Was thinking of hitting the skin/fat with a cooking blow torch to fully cook it/make it crispy without over cooking the meat. I might try that next season. Score the skin before cooking it helps too, I always forget to do that.

I have heard that the more orange color the skin the more likely the fat and skin will not taste good. I tend to agree with this and it's based on whether they are eating seeds or bugs. The dry brine firmed up the skin but the wet brine did not but neither was as good as fresh.

I've thought about the torch as well and I may give it a try next year. I think you are on to something as many times the skin isn't fully crispy when the meat is ready. Probably should cook it hotter, I guess.

That's the way to do it! We kept our mallards, woodducks and pintails with skin on and cook like a steak, yum