doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT: Eating Ducks

Should be on another thread, but since there was some interest, here are pics of fat scaup right out of the stripping wax showing the posterior and anterior cleaning cuts made with a single edge razor blade prior to snipping out the backbone and synsacrum. After the snip merely work fingers down inside of ribs to pull lungs, then move hand forward, and with a finger or two under esophagus, pull feathered head, neck, lungs, heart, and liver downward to butt cut. Put a thumb in the front opening to hold the bird, and with the other hand wrap two fingers around butt and twist and whole unit is out with little blood and no cut intestines. Rinse out any pieces of lung and the adrenals above the legs inside the remaining piece of the synsacrum. Fold the legs inside the cavity and hold in place with a rubber band before freezing. No more dried out duck legs. Drooling as I am thinking about the can and redhead roasting at 275F in my oven as I write. In about four hours, the fat will have rendered out, and the tasty skins will have lifted away from the breasts.

Tom - the Domestic War Department has classified Coot Booya. If she told me, she'd have to kill me. But here are a few hints:

No soaking in milk is required. The skinned coot breasts are parboiled to remove all fat (and the fishy taste). Then they're cut up and cooked until tender in a sauce that includes cream, vinegar, onions, bay leaves, peppercorns, and other mysterious seasonings. The booya is served over ultra-high density potato dumplings. And no matter how big the recipe, there have never been any leftovers.

Oh - and accompany the booya with a tall glass or two of Pilsner Urquell or Czechvar beer (pivo).

The original Old World recipe called for veal heart, but you basically need any flavorful, fairly dense meat that won't fall apart under long simmering. We've had booya made with deer, caribou, antelope, moose and mountain sheep hearts as well as coot - it's all delicious!

All this talk of booya has me wondering. I am of czech heritage and never heard of the stuff ---although I can make a wicked pork loin roast with sauerkraut and potato dumplings. I have an old hunting companion, also a full-blooded bohock (even speaks the language!) who insists he shot tons of coots on Grass Lake in NE Illinois for their gizzards alone! Anyone ever hear of eating coot gizzards? His bro-in-law owned a tavern in Chicago and they put out a free spread each fall of coot gizzards. Also he claimed that domestic pigeons made a fine soup. Anyone else ever hear of such stuff? Chopperlump

You don't like cats, because you don't know how to cook them right!
I found Asiatic dish where mutton replaced by mallard with rise is one of the best dish I ever eat!

Markart,
I make the local duck into a pate' , using pork and duck. It is certainly excellent. On the salt chuck we sometimes get a foul tasting duck and cook it in soy sauce.
Could you send me an e-mail with you new shop address?
jas

Duck is probably my favorite game. In a year I'll eat grouse, quail, dove, woodcock, and maybe some venison.

My method for cooking duck (or any dark meat bird) seems to be different from most who've posted--I cook 'em quickly at high heat. I crank the oven up to 500 degrees and roast the whole bird (covered in softened butter, salt, pepper, parsley) in a copper lined skillet. I give a mallard 20 minutes, teal, woodies etc. less time. Remove from oven and set on cutting board. In the same pan on the stovetop I'll begin to make a white butter sauce with shallots, deglazing with red wine. Before reduction is complete, I cut the bird(s) in half and put it in sauce cut edge down for about ten seconds to sear the cut edge. I finish the sauce with the butter and about a tablespoon of black currant jelly. I cook woodcock breasts just about the same except instead of roasting they get sauteed in butter. The legs of the woodcock get braised in wine, rosemary and shallots. This is really a pretty simple recipe that doesn't take a long time to do.

Cooking duck this way yields a rare bird with no hint of the liverish taste I've gotten trying to cook with lower heat and longer times.

If I could get my hands on a duck press I'd like to try making a stock from the bones to use in the sauce. The ones I've seen are awfully expensive for as much as I'd get to use it.

Never had canvasback or chukar, but would love to try them! If anyone has some good grouse recipes I'd like to try them.

It's great to see all the good recipes here from folks who eat what they shoot.

I've never understood people who kill wild game but don't eat it. Not a judgment, just a puzzlement. To me, consuming life for life is a natural process, and eating the game that I shoot completes the cycle.

Jack, I think a good part of the problem is that none of these guys (my guys) can cook worth a damn, and their wives won't allow dead critters in the house unless they come from the supermarket. My parents' generation grew up with chicken coops, rabbit hutches, and corrals for goats and cattle that they raised for food. My, my, how things have changed.

My wife grew up in a hunting family, but hated game dinners until I showed her the best ways to prepare it. She still refuses to cook it, but eats it when I prepare it. Last year, she gave me permission to hunt pheasants whenever I want, just because one of my pheasant recipes was such a success. Too bad wild pheasants are so scarce around here.