Branching Out: Duck

[TAFKAP]

I'm not a duck hunter, and really don't foresee that changing in the near future. So it appears that I'm relegated to eating farmed, White Pekin ducks for my waterfowl dietary needs. Honestly, I could count on one hand and have fingers leftover if I counted the number of times I've actually eaten duck. So, I picked up the last frozen bird at Kroger today. It's a little over 5 lbs, and @ $2.19/lb, I figured if this bombed, I wouldn't have wasted a tremendous amount of money. Besides, at least I can get some duck fat out of it, a la Poser. There are a couple of good ways suggested to recover it in this recipe.

I thawed the bird tonight, quartered it, and it is now brining in the fridge. I'll report back with some pictures tomorrow when I've cooked it.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alto ... index.html

 

[Trapper John]

That is the recipe I based mine on. I will say the steaming part takes it past medium-rare/medium. Still tasty, but very well done. It does render much of the fat though, and on a domestic that is critical because there is a lot of it.

And you're right. I always save the rendered fat as well. Makes killer fried potatoes.

 

[rabbit hunter]

Breast wrapped in bacon and stuffed with cream cheese on the grill!

 

[TAFKAP]

That is the recipe I based mine on. I will say the steaming part takes it past medium-rare/medium. Still tasty, but very well done. It does render much of the fat though, and on a domestic that is critical because there is a lot of it.

And you're right. I always save the rendered fat as well. Makes killer fried potatoes.

Thanks for the input. I may cut back the steaming then from 45 minutes to about 30, just to do it right. But again, this is a starting point. I'm thinking that because it's still on the bone, it ought to help control the amount of overcooking.

But even still, overcooked by steaming would be better than most other dry methods. We use the same method for his chicken wings, and they turn out phenominally.

 

[ruger7mag]

Breast wrapped in bacon and stuffed with cream cheese on the grill!

That's how I do mine as well. I also will add a slice of jalapeno or pineapple, just depends on the crowd that is coming.

 

[TAFKAP]

Branching out from my usual wild game fare of cream cheese, bacon, and jalape�o, as well.

This recipe ought to be good. I'll report back. Time to start the steamer.

 

[TAFKAP]

It's almost time to eat....here are a few photos of the progress so far.


Beginning the steaming process....I had to put a small cake insert in there to keep the meat from getting wet & boiled

Chopping the Swiss Chard

The stems are really good roasted in the oven

Boiling the water out and resting the breast portions.....they go in after the leg quarters

Everything together in the oven

Time to go pull it out and wilt the chard in duck fat.

 

[TAFKAP]

I don't think my skillet is big enough. The skin wasn't in good contact with the bottom. So there are a couple REALLY NICE looking crispy skin parts, and the rest is pale and gummy looking. So I turned them right side up to give them a little hot air and hopefully get this thing browned a bit.

 

[TAFKAP]

OK, here's the result. Overall, the dinner was incredibly delicious. I'm in the process of reducing the water/fat mixture from the steaming process. I wasn't expecting it to be as difficult to eat as it ended up being. The meat wasn't tough, but it was a little tough to pull off the bone. But since Trapper John said it overcooked, I steamed it for 30 minutes, and it came out medium in the breast.

I'm now a duck fat/crispy duck skin addict.

You can see how I had a tough time getting the breast section to fully brown well. It'll just take some practice, I guess.

But all in all, it came out well. The Swiss Chard in duck fat was exceptional, too.

 

[BowGuy84]

Looks good.

Duck fat is like gold!

Also in my experience waterfowl hunters will gladly give up birds a fair amount of the time if you touch base with them on it beforehand.