Diver Veggie Soup (Corrected)

Carl

Carl

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Made this over the weekend. Turned out fantastic. I used 5 buffies because that is what I shot last week.
This is more of a stew than a soup, when I made it, it was very thick. Add more or less stock to suit your taste.
Bufflehead & Veggie Soup
Ingredients
Ducks
  • 5 Buffleheads, breast meat filleted & cleaned (any duck meat will actually do, as will venison)
  • ½ small onion, diced
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, smashed
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ¼ tsp pepper
  • ½ tsp oregano
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • Olive oil
  • Water to cover
Soup Base
  • 3 stalks celery, chopped
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 12 green beans, chopped
  • 1 small head of broccoli, florets removed and stalks peeled and chopped. (YES, use the entire head, florets & stalks, once peeled & cooked, broccoli stems are delicious)
  • 1 can diced tomatoes w/garlic & oregano
  • 1 can great northern beans
  • 1 can of corn
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 3 cups beef stock
  • Olive oil

Preparation.

Ducks:
Day before making soup, sauté celery, onion & garlic in a 1 quart sauce pot until tender. Add duck breast meat and lightly brown. Add ½ cup of water & deglaze pot. Add all other ingredients and enough water to cover. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 hours. Remove duck breast, cool and shred. Discard stock.

Soup:
Sauté celery, onion, carrots & garlic in a large soup pot until tender. Add green beans and sauté for 1 minute. Add all other ingredients as well as duck meat. Simmer for at least 1 hour, longer the better. I cooked it for 3 hours. This is more of a stew than a soup, mine was very thick. Add more stock it is too thick for your taste.
I served this with a hot loaf of home-made whole wheat bread. There was none left when the family got done with it.


 
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I forgot the Carrots! Add a couple of diced carrots to the soup!
I should also note this is really more of a stew, it will be very thick.
And, yes, use the broccoli florets and stalks! Once peeled, the stalks cook up nice & tender.


 
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Carl:

I assume discarding the stock helps remove diver "fishiness"? If I was doing this with venison or beef or chicken or mallard I'd probably keep it for flavor.


Sounds good--may try with some whistlers I have.
 
That is my thinking, I don't skim the broth while they cook, so you get a lot of fat & other "stuff" in the cooking broth.
The meat still tasted like duck but it wasn't strong at all. My wife even liked it and that says a lot for my big city girl!
 
Sounds pretty good, I usually cube my buffleheads up and use them as chilli meat which is good, but I have a freezer full of divers so I will definitely be giving this a try thanks!
 
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I'm going to have to give that a try. I've found that buffleheads are the strongest tasting "fowl" I've tried to eat with exception of mergansers. Coots are even mild compared with them and I know most folks don't clean the coots they shoot or won't attempt to shoot them in the first place.
 
Coots are a lot better eating than people think.
If you puncture the body cavity, the don't smell the greatest when you clean them, but you aren't eating the guts anyway.
 
Carl, yesterday I made this and it turned out excellent. I did deviate from the recipe slightly by putting everything in the crockpot after I browned and shredded the meat but it turned out great, thanks for sharing this!
 
Glad you enjoyed it!
Crockpots are great, no need to keep checking the stove top every 15 minutes...
 
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