Wood Duck Recipes

Buddy gave me a few he killed this morning…always wanted to try cooking them. Y’all got any suggestions? Preferably not a grill recipe because I’m without a grill at the moment

To me Duck is dry. I’ve fried the breast with breakfast sausage or bacon. It adds flavor. Few eggs and good to go. Never grilled one.

Don’t overcook them and keep them on the rare side and they’ll be great. Google some recipes and see what sounds good. Can sear in a cast iron and the place in the oven to get done like a steak.

I like to grill them using olive oil and some sort of steak seasoning.

If you plucked and drawn them they’re good roasted

Pan sear in cast iron, add a spoon full of fig balsamic glaze and cook additional min or so. Be sure to start skin side down to render fat and sear. Rare to med rare doneness

^^ I agree with this. Use a little oil to get it started searing before the fat rendering starts. After rendering the fat on skin side flip and cook on the other side till medium rare. Don’t go past medium rare.

Yep. Breast them out but leave the skin on. Medium rare at best. I like to put a red wine reduction over the breast after slicing it into 1/2” pieces.

As everybody else said, medium rare is how you want them. Leave fat on the breast. Rinse and pat dry the breast. Add garlic powder and cracked black pepper and place in a ziploc bag. Add a little olive oil and then some Allegro marinade and then let chill for a few hours. No need to over complicate it. Watch out for the steel shot that may be in the breast. Last thing, set the breast out for about 30 minutes to warm up to room temp. It cooks better that way.

Salt and pepper, cook them in a black iron skillet in butter. Leave the skin on when you breast them out Eat them medium rare.

Cooked whole like pot roast are delicious over rice

I butterfly the breast out (makes it easy to find the steel shot), lightly coat with olive oil, season ‘em up and throw ‘em in a hot grill. No more than about 2 1/2 minutes per side. If you go over medium rare, they’re nowhere near as good.
I know you said, no grill recipes, but I think it would work just as well in a hot skillet.
I sometimes brush on a thinned down barbecue sauce to finish them off.

Woodies and Teal are TOP-SHELF tablefare!!

The only thing better than a teal is a speck in my opinion. But you are right they are both delicious

Finished product…

Well that looks delish 👍🏼

First thing is to age them in the refrigerator for a week or so. That really makes them tender and even more flavorful. No way would I breast one and waste all that good meat I cook them about 10 minutes in the pellet grill, but an oven works ok.

My wife was out of town and the only reason I got away with this method.

Looks like those are gonna be tasty
I’d always heard throw ducks in a dark closet for several days up to a week and then clean them. Also heard of hanging them by the head until the bodies fall and then clean them.

I like your method better.

It ain't my method; I got from a web article by a chef at a fancy restaurant. He was, of course, telling how he aged tame duck as part of an elaborate cooking method. I didn't do many of the things he talked about, but aging them in the refrigerator really helped them.

Maybe the rain will bring some wood ducks to our place. I haven't seen any at all so far this year.

I’ll take a wood duck or anything at this point. No water. I’m about to sit down at the creek and see what happens but I’ve not seen any flying.

I will lay them on the cold concrete floor in the garage for a few days. Breast up. Them again i usually just breast them out with skin on. I don’t have the patience to pluck em.

You probably already know this, but for the benefit of someone reading this who doesn't you have gotta scald them before plucking. I heat a dishpan of water to just below boiling and then submerge the duck in it for about 10 seconds. The feathers will come off a lot easier then.

We used to do turkeys the same way, and still do if I decide I want to bake one.

Then singe the fine feathers with a torch.

I took some customers on a trip once and we plucked a bunch of green heads and then smoked them. He stuffed them with all kinds of stuff. They were delicious. We put them in hot water, but I decided then I would not pluck another duck. Y’all have more patience than me.

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Yeah I’ve done that. I’ve tried the paraffin wax and even some rubber gloves. The only thing bearable to me was a commercial duck plucker that had those rubber fingers on it. Feathers flew every which way and clean up from plucking was work.

The best I found was a big black man in Clarendon that charged $3 a duck to pluck and clean. lol.

Plucking a turkey would be a new level of torture I bet.

Found a new use for turkey legs, crock pot with Italian seasoning and a jar of pepperoncini peppers

Crock pot on high for minimum 8 hrs is the only way you can eat turkey legs, unless you got stainless steel teeth and woodpecker lips.

Nope overnight on slow and they were nice and tender. We’ve done this several times now and it works. The thigh had the bone left in it. The leg itself had the tendons removed. I don’t know if it’s the vinegar in the jar of pepperoncinis or what but it was tender and tasty. We made sandwiches with it. Reminds me of dove in flavor.

Basically a Mississippi pot roast

In Arkansas we used to hunt the last week and stayed on several houseboats up river. We’d cook breasted out mallards and wood duck that had been pounded and tenderized then marinated in zesty Italian salad dressing. The drop in flour and cook in cast iron pan with oil. Those breast were really good.

If done whole I’d use a pot roaster with posts of veggies stuffed in the cavity. Oranges always adds a good flavor to duck.

Here's the long article I read last year. There's a bunch of different links for it, but the one on aging crowns is the part that I tried to replicate.

https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-get-the-most-dang-for-your-duck-a-very-serious-eats-project