Hunting Season Recipes
- September 09, 2020
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My duck-hunting friends are getting antsy for the season to arrive. They’ve been busy preparing for what I believe is one of men’s favorite times of the year. Shotguns have been cleaned and oiled, and probably a small fortune has been spent on shells. The duck blinds have been reworked and stand ready for that first cold front to blow in from the west. Decoys have been retrieved from storage to be marked or tagged. Now it’s just a matter of time before they can go forth to their camps, get up before dawn, walk through the wind, rain, and mud, then sit in a wet duck blind. Not my idea of fun. I too am ready and waiting for the season to begin, only because I enjoy the spoils of the hunt. I am quite fond of a roasted duck or a good sausage and duck gumbo, or duck prepared in any number of ways for that matter. Whenever I’m fortunate enough to receive a gift of a couple of ducks, I get out Papa's recipes. PAPA'S ROAST DUCK Makes 4 servings 4 teals or 2 mallards or pintail ducks 3 cloves garlic, slivered Salt Cayenne 2 cups coarsely chopped green bell peppers 2 cups coarsely chopped onions 1/2 cup dry sherry All-purpose flour 4 strips thickly sliced bacon 1 cup chicken broth 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced 1 pound tompinambours (Jerusalem artichokes), peeled (optional) 2 tablespoons chopped parsley Make one or two slits (number depends on the size of the duck) in the duck breasts with a sharp, pointed knife. Insert one or two slivers of the garlic in each hole. Rub the outside and the cavities of the ducks with a liberal amount of salt and cayenne. Place the ducks in a large deep bowl. Combine the bell peppers and onions in another bowl and mix. Stuff half of the mixture in the duck cavities and put the remaining half around the ducks in the bowl. Add the dry sherry. Cover and refrigerate for at least four hours, turning the ducks once or twice in the marinade. Remove the ducks from the refrigerator, drain and reserve the marinade. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Dust each duck liberally with flour and set aside. Fry the bacon in a large cast-iron pot over medium heat until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels. When the bacon is cool, crumble and reserve. Add the ducks to the pot and brown them in the bacon grease, turning often to brown evenly. Add the chicken broth and cook for 10 minutes. Add the reserved marinade, cover and bake in the oven for about one to one and a half hours, or until the ducks are tender. Baste occasionally with pan gravy and add more broth if gravy becomes dry. Add the mushrooms and the topinambours, cover and cook for 30 minutes, or until the topinambours are fork-tender. Remove from the oven. Add the reserved bacon and the parsley. Let the duck sit for 10 minutes before carving to serve. GRILLED DUCK BREASTS Makes 2 servings (3 per serving) 1 stick butter 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon chopped garlic 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced 6 duck breasts (preferably mallard), removed from the bone and skinned Salt Freshly ground black pepper Cayenne 6 thick bacon strips 6 slices of white bread, toasted and buttered Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the Worcestershire sauce, garlic and mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally, for three to four minutes, or until the mushrooms are slightly soft. Remove from heat and set aside. Light a fire in the barbecue pit and allow the coals to get glowing red hot. Rub the duck breasts generously with salt, black pepper, and cayenne. Carefully wrap each breast with a strip of bacon, securing it with toothpicks. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. When the coals are ready, grill the breasts quickly, three to four minutes on each side if you like them juicy with a little blood in the meat; longer if you prefer them well done. Baste with some of the butter sauce. To serve, place the duck breasts on the toasted, buttered bread and pour the remaining butter and mushroom sauce over each breast. Accompany the breasts with a tangy, tossed green salad and wild rice tossed with a handful of chopped roasted pecans. When a cold front blows through, there is nothing better in my book than this gumbo. DUCK, OYSTER AND ANDOUILLE GUMBO Makes 6 to 8 servings 2 mallards, dressed, rinsed in cool water and patted dry Salt, black pepper and cayenne 1 ¼ cups vegetable oil 1 cup all-purpose flour 3 medium-size yellow onions, chopped 2 medium-size green bell peppers, chopped 8 cups (about) water or chicken stock 2 pounds andouille sausage, cut crosswise into ¼-inch slices 2 dozen oysters with their liquor ¼ cup chopped green onions (green part only) Cut the ducks into serving pieces and season generously with salt, black pepper and cayenne. Set aside. Heat ¼ cup of the oil in a large, heavy pot (preferably black iron) over a medium-heat. Add the duck pieces and brown evenly on all sides. Remove and transfer the duck pieces to a platter and set aside. Drain off the oil in the pot. In the same pot, over medium heat, combine the remaining 1 cup oil and the flour, and stirring slowly and constantly, make a dark brown roux. Add the onions and bell peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft and golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Return the ducks to the pot and slowly add enough warm water or stock to cover the ducks completely. Add the andouille and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, until the ducks are tender, about 2 hours. Add the oysters and their liquor, and the green onions and cook until the edges of the oysters curl slightly, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve hot over rice.