Food Wisdo

Fried wild duck, especially sapphire-green, stuffed with rosemary, onion, apple, clove, with a Sauce based on drops, dry Sherry and cream.

Did you know that you can catch wild ducks in this country only if you strike them yourself or if you have exceptionally generous hunting friends who share your prices?

That’s the Law. Some migratory birds may be hunted seasonally, but not sold.

We have been the lucky beneficiaries of a few teal ducks recently from our hunting friends Hank and Holly. I had never eaten wild ducks, let alone cooked, and let me tell you that it’s a very different experience working with ducks from the supermarket.

The following is a loose recipe and some tips for cooking wild ducks, for my own benefit, so that I remember next time, as well as all the others who might have the opportunity to cook wild ducks.

For all those who have been experienced duck hunters, do not hesitate to make cooking suggestions in the comments.

Wild duck is best cooked and eaten.

The first thing to note is that wild ducks do not like chickens or turkeys that they have to cook until they no longer see a rose. Wild duck is best eaten rarely.

Well cooked, the juices are red, not clear, more like a beautiful juicy red steak. The flesh itself is a deep garnet red.

If you overcook the wild duck, it tastes like liver
It’s easy to overcook meat, like a pork tenderloin. Unless you overcook the wild duck, the wild meat tastes like liver.

The taste of wild ducks strongly depends on where this duck was fed. Depending on the pleasure of cooking, shallow-water ducks that feed on local grains such as mallards, Widgeons and blueberries can be very juicy, while diving ducks feed on fish and affect their taste.

Wild ducks have more flavor than domestic ducks
Wild ducks are much tastier than domestic ducks, because their muscles are constantly trained, which is why their meat is so Red. The taste is closer to Steak than chicken.

I have experimented with two recipes, one with rosemary in the cavity and a Sherry cream sauce and the other with orange peel in the cavity and an orange juice reduction sauce. We all agreed that the rosemary recipe is excellent, and the orange recipe is not worth repeating.

So here is the recipe we liked, note that there are no set quantities, this recipe is more of a guideline than anything else.

Ingredient

• Duck(s) whole wild (not domesticated), prepared (gutted, head and feet removed, cleared of feathers, pulled and removed all wounded places)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Coarse Salt
• Rosemary
• Onion
• Potato
• Whole Eyelets
• Dry Sherry
• Cream