Making the Most of It—Duck Dinner

Hunters know that pursuing game is a challenge. That’s what makes success so rewarding. Maybe that’s why duck hunting—doubly uncertain because these birds are both wary like all game animals and here only briefly—can be some of the most addictive of all hunting.
Add to that the fact that Badger state hunters can enjoy fast wingshooting in habitats ranging from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River to secluded inland marshes for more than a dozen species of waterfowl. It doesn’t hurt that the state’s official dog (the American water spaniel) is a duck dog, and that we have a rich heritage of decoy and skiff making dating back more than a hundred years.
Did I mention eating? Perhaps, slow-roasted goose with sauerkraut and apples. Quick-broiled teal seasoned with nothing more than butter salt and pepper. And then there’s mallard breast seared in a white-hot cabin skillet that’s juicy as any steaks. How about savory soups like duck with barley and mushrooms?
Wild duck can be singularly delicious. But it can also be strong and gamy, tough and leathery. The good news is that it’s easy to make a memorable duck dinner, and avoid common cooking pitfalls. Just follow these simple tips, and you’ll be able to do justice to these fine-feathered friends:

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• Practice selective harvest. Target species you know are good eating. In general, this means focusing on puddle ducks such as mallard, wood duck, and teal topping the list. Widgeon and gadwall also make fine eating. Ducks that consume animal matter—including shovellers and diving ducks such as mergansers, bufflehead, goldeneye, and bluebills—have a strong and sometimes disagreeable taste. Canvasbacks, redheads, and ringnecks that feed on submerged vegetation are also prime eating.
  
• Keep it clean. Ducks and geese bagged in warm weather need to be gutted on the spots. It’s also wise to keep them in the shade until they can be stored in a cooler or refrigerator, where they will keep (and become progressively more tender) for up to 5 days. Birds can hang or “cure” (with entrails removed) outside when the temperature is around 40 degrees.
• Fast and hot, low and slow. These are the two basic ways to cook duck, or really any wild game. The simplest way to cook any gamebird is to breast it out, season it with salt and pepper or the rub of your choice, and sear it in a cast iron skillet. Breasts can also be marinated in a high-acid liquid (such as lemon juice or wine) and then cooked to medium-rare over hot grill; plucked ducks can also be cooked this way with larger birds cut in half down the breast bone. To roast birds, place in a cool oven (250 degrees) and roasting pan with an inch of liquid. Stuffing with bread crumbs or vegetables also locks in moisture and flavor.
• Suitable sides. A good game dinner, in my mind, has a hearty starch and a sharp contrast, such as fruit or green salad. Keep it basic. Skin-on, garlic-mashed potatoes are crowd pleaser as is wild rice simmered in chicken broth and mushrooms. Spaetzli, or any kind of egg noodles, also fit the bill. Homemade applesauce and cranberry sauce are my go-to fruit dishes. Simmer a cup of water and a cup of sugar with a package of cranberries or core and chop apples and cook them until they reach your desired consistency. Green salad can be as simple or complicated as you want to make it.
• Wash it down, soak it up. Robust game meats like venison or duck call out for worthy drink. Any Malbec from Argentina will work well, as will dry European reds such as those from the Rioja region of Spain or the Cte du Rhone region of France. Beer drinker have their own favorite brews ranging from crisp lagers and pilsners to headier drinks like IPAs. Some like heavy porters or stouts. Crusty sourdough bread is a must from soaking up drippings; there’s something about the tang of sourdough and wild game that hits spot.

Whether your birds are bagged over a cut grainfield, on big water, or in a secluded marsh, say a special thanks to your Higher Power for this dinner. We, like these colorful migrants passing through the Northern Tier, are here only briefly. Let’s make the most of it.
Slow Roasted Duck
4 choice-eating, plucked ducks of choice
Coarse salt and black pepper to taste
4 tablespoons peanut oil or bacon fat
Cubed bread crumbs with browned and chopped onion, apple, and celery added in
1 quart of chicken broth, hot

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Season birds inside and out salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning
3. Heat a large skillet on the stovetop until it begins to gray over on the bottom. Add the drippings and brown birds well on all sides.
4. Loosely stuff birds; add broth to roasting pan. Place birds, breast side down, in the pan.
5. Bake, covered, until breast bone starts to break and meat is fork-tender—between 2 and 4 hours.
6. Thicken pan drippings, if desired, with flour or cornstarch.
7. Serve with wild rice and homemade cranberry sauce.