Huey,louie,dewey,,,Stewy?

[Dutchman]

I'm so confident about limiting out tomorrow. :rolleyes: I thought I would ask for some good recipes.I like to breast the birds rather then pluck. How about you? Good luck to all!!

[Steve]

Tranferring to wild game recipe forum.

[Salmonsmoker]

Dutchman,

On a duck, certainly the breast meat is the best. Breasting the bird is quick, gets probably 75% of the meat and eliminates the need to pluck & singe. Whatever proceedure that you use, I highly recommend that the bird be field dressed as soon as possible and put on ice. Fowl have a higher body temperature than mammals - thus more prone to bacterial growth. If you breast the bird, put the breast in a small plastic bag and then place that in a cooler with ice. This process is well worth the effort for improved flavor.

On the other side of the issue, stuffed-roasted duck is good (but very difficult with only the breast.) Also, Smoked Duck is excellent and the remainder of the body cavity, when cooked off the bone, makes a wonderful soup stock.

Duck is full of pin feathers that stick to the skin. If you are going to pluck them, singe them well before cooking.

As for recipe's - with duck there are two schools of thought. Most people want it cooked till it falls off the bone. Personally, I feel that the flavor and texture of the meat is vastly improved if served rare (while the meat and juices are still pink.)

If you prefer your duck well-done, then roasting is the way to go. If you have plucked and singed, the skin helps to keep the meat from drying out during the cooking process. If skined, you will need to completely cover the meat with strips of fatty bacon to accomplish the same purpose.

Either way, for well-done duck - roast it in a preheated, 350 degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes per pound of meat. The bacon eliminates the need to baste - however - a basting-mixture of equal parts of melted butter and Burgendy gives an excellent flavored to the meat.

If you want your roasted-duck to be rare, preheat oven to 500 degrees and roast the duck for 12 to 15 minutes per pound. At that temperature, you will need to baste the meat at 10 minute intervals or use a double layer of bacon to cover it.

If you have a young duck, the breast is good on the grill. I preheat the grill and put some dampened cherry-sawdust on the coals or lava rocks(a 6" square of metal screen prevents the ash from droping down into the rocks). Once the grill is smoking profusely, I put the duck breast filets on and cook as I would a steak - basting frequently to prevent drying (again, an equal mixture of melted butter and Burgendy is excellent.)

As for a stuffing, equal quantities of chopped apple, onion and celery dusted with a little nutmeg makes a supurb stuffing. If used, you will need an additional 15 minutes on the roasting time.

Hope this helps. Let us know how it works out.
ss

[This message has been edited by Salmonsmoker (edited 10-08-2000).]

[Dutchman]

Thanks I'll try roasting some breast up this week.

[Salmonsmoker]

Making current

Salmonsmoker