...Jen, who is Chinese, can really cook and she proved it last night with the dinner she served me. It was a kind of duck stew, sort of like a gumbo without the roux, served over wild rice and it was truly delicious.

I asked her, jokingly, if it was an old family cajun recipe, and she said, no, she just made it up. It was so good, that I really didn't believe her. So, after about an hour of intense quesioning, I finally got the following out of her. This is partially the result of us having to move the contents of 3 freezers, so we are cooking it as we come to it.

She cut up into pieces a couple of wild ducks, brand unknown, possibly blackjacks. Note, I think this recipe would work just as well if you used finally sliced venison or similar. She braised duck in oil after coating it with salt and pepper. Note, to her, salt means Tony Cacheres. Set aside and cooked in a wok, finally diced onions, carrots, mushrooms, celery, and garlic addindg soem basil and thyme in with vegetables. Mixed with duck, and simmmered until duck was falling apart. Mixture will have many small bones in it, especially from necks. Somewhere along the way she poured a 1/2 cup or more, depending on size of meat serving, of red wine into simmering mix. I suppose, with experimentation, this could be done in a slow cooker, but Jen is not a fan of slow cookers.

Fixed wild rice, put a couple of chicken stock cubes in wild rice water. Poured duck mixture over generous pile of wild rice and served with broccoli on side. Really fine. See my earlier thread on buying wild rice from Singing Pines. Highly recommended and this is a wild rice time of year. Excellent with all game.

If you don't understand my recipe, ask and I'll try to get more information out of her, but no guarantees, when she starts muttering in Chinese, I know it's time to quit while I'm ahead.

Once upon a time at considerable stress to me I killed a goose and cleaned it. Asked my wife to make something with it. She made gumbo with it. She cooked that damned goose a very long time and it never got tender enough to eat. The gumbo was great but she demanded that I give away any more geese I might kill in the future.

Joe

I love wild duck stir-fried. I usually do it with some sort of Asian sauce but yours with red wine sounds pretty good.

I also love wild duck if it is cooked right. Unfortunately many times it is not, and many recipes are obvious attempts to hide the "gamey" flavor.

Not unrelated, but I have hunted in many countries, killed thousands of birds and hundred of animals, if you count hogs, and my absolute warm my heart memories ALL involve wild fowl hunting, mostly in Saskatchewan, Canada. Another is sitting in the blind with my then young teenage son, as a big Kudu came in, watching him shake like a dog passing peach pits, and make a perfect shot with his .308 with TBBCs.

Hey Gato....sounds like you borrowed my brother's wife. She's Chinese and Jen too....also a great cook.

BTW what's a blackjack? I've killed almost every kinda duck there is to kill and never heard one called that.

Local name for a ringneck.

quote:

Hey Gato....sounds like you borrowed my brother's wife. She's Chinese and Jen too....also a great cook.

If she's anything like my wife, he is a very lucky man. Mine is a treasure, the best thing I ever did was ask her out to eat some oysters and the rest is history.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:

quote:

Hey Gato....sounds like you borrowed my brother's wife. She's Chinese and Jen too....also a great cook.

If she's anything like my wife, he is a very lucky man. Mine is a treasure, the best thing I ever did was ask her out to eat some oysters and the rest is history.

Yes, she's great and they have 3 great kids too.

Goose breast wrapped in bacon on the grill sells out quick, even among ninnies who don't know its origin.

quote:

Originally posted by TomP:
Goose breast wrapped in bacon on the grill sells out quick, even among ninnies who don't know its origin.

Yes, but only if you drink an 18-pack before sitting down to eat it.

After many years of trying I've yet to find goose palatable in any form.

quote:

Originally posted by Norton:

quote:

Originally posted by TomP:
Goose breast wrapped in bacon on the grill sells out quick, even among ninnies who don't know its origin.

Yes, but only if you drink an 18-pack before sitting down to eat it.

After many years of trying I've yet to find goose palatable in any form.

This may not be you, but take a quarter stick of butter, melt an appropriate amount for size of goose breats, rapidly cook whole Canada goose breasts in butter in frying pan until very rare in middle. Serve with toast, dribble pan sauces over breasts and toast. Tastes just like prime rib eye to me.

Back in the 80s bust in the oilfield I worked out a deal with my barber in Odessa. He would trade me haircuts for wild game. He had health problems that demanded that he ate no fat / grease; the leanest meat he could get. I got him to accept duck and geese only once. He told me if I tried to bring another to him, he would ban me from the building.

quote:

Originally posted by Norton:
Hey Gato....sounds like you borrowed my brother's wife. She's Chinese and Jen too....also a great cook.

BTW what's a blackjack? I've killed almost every kinda duck there is to kill and never heard one called that.

Norton:

After asking, I am informed by an old duck hunting buddy that a "blackjack" is a "bluebill" or greater scaup. So, I've been eating the wrong duck all these years. We have a local small pond on my place, about 12 acres, that, for some odd reason, the bluebills love and stack up there in the winter.

quote:

Originally posted by Kensco:
Back in the 80s bust in the oilfield I worked out a deal with my barber in Odessa. He would trade me haircuts for wild game. He had health problems that demanded that he ate no fat / grease; the leanest meat he could get. I got him to accept duck and geese only once. He told me if I tried to bring another to him, he would ban me from the building.

Another man with no tastes, or, more likely, didn't know how to cook waterfowl. Some of, if not the finest, meals I've ever eaten were duck something by Cajuns.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:

quote:

Originally posted by Norton:
Hey Gato....sounds like you borrowed my brother's wife. She's Chinese and Jen too....also a great cook.

BTW what's a blackjack? I've killed almost every kinda duck there is to kill and never heard one called that.

Norton:

After asking, I am informed by an old duck hunting buddy that a "blackjack" is a "bluebill" or greater scaup. So, I've been eating the wrong duck all these years. We have a local small pond on my place, about 12 acres, that, for some odd reason, the bluebills love and stack up there in the winter.

Interesting. Either way they both fall into the "bay" duck category along with canvasbacks and redheads. Never really thought any in that group were great eating but back in the market gunning days cans drew the highest price.

If I knew how to post a pic now that photobucket is dead I'd post the list.

Thai place we go to does a crispy duck in a pineapple curry with peppers, basil and rice

Real, or as close to real as you can get, Peking Duck is to die for. Some restaurants in NYC have a good version. At this remove have forgotten their names.

As its name would suggest, peking duck is the specialty of the house at Peking Duck on Mott St......last time I was there was maybe 10 years ago and the same guy carving your duck table-side had been doing it for about 40 years. Delectable indeed.

That's the one I was referring to. I ate there several times over the years, but the last time was at least 20 years ago. At this point, I can't remember whether is was the company (beautiful sexy woman) or the food which left the greater impression. I still remember the woman, so I guess now I know.

Been hunting ducks in Texas for 50 plus years.

A Blackjack has always been a Ringneck in the area I hunt in. A bluebill is a scaup.

BTW. Duck must never be cooked past rare unless you are a fan of tough liver. If you don’t enjoy rare steak, better pass on a wild duck.

A goose, on the other hand, I’ve never been able to make palatable.

I'll guarantee that she is an excellent cook. I think my Grandson ate 3lbs of her steak.