Yukon Mike
Well-known member
Honestly, one of the top 5 most succulent, savory, flavorful things I have ever eaten.
There's no sense me retyping the brine recipe or process cuz anyone can look it up nowadays, but what you would find useful is that I did a test on 4 species of wild duck and two different brine times with varying results.
I used skin on breasts of Buffy, Scaup, Widgeon and a Common GE. I picked ones that had no shot holes in them and were really fat. Into the brine for 12 hours and 24 hours as a test. A piece of pork loin was put in too as a control because I know what ham is supposed to taste like.
After brine, dried with a fan to get ready for a cold smoke in my Little Chief, one run of smoke ( approx 2 hours) then onto the oven to finish. I always use a meat thermometer now 1. to be food safe 2. better tasting product. At 170'F I pulled the duck breasts out. I couldn't wait to try so I cut thin slices which were laid in a hot cast iron pan. The fat melted like butter, the smell was amazing and in seconds I had my answer - exquisite! I bought some stuff in France one time that looked like duck bacon and that's what this method produced. It is an incredible transformation of meat.
Two friends dropped by so we fried up some more, same result. "OMG this is good!" Crackers were spilled on a plate, creammy cheeses came out of the back of the fridge, some green olives, black olives and a TOMATO. We ate pretty much all of it.
Here's the conclusions of the experiment.
Buffy's were excellent even the 12 hour one .
The scaup needed more time than 12 hours to cure, but 24 was enough.
The Widgeon's fat was thick and creamy and white like interior pork fat and rendered most quickly once it hit the hot pan. 12 or 24 hours made no difference to the Widgie. Both were amazing.
The pork turned out too, but was outshone by the duck breasts. I've got to get out before the end of the season and collect some really fat birds.
The real test was on the GE. They are one of the most challenging birds to make pallatible, but I love hunting them. The verdict - awesome. 24 hour brine did a better job, the fat was great, people loved it.`
Anyone can try it, all you need is a few birds worth of meat to get cooking a batch.
Mike
There's no sense me retyping the brine recipe or process cuz anyone can look it up nowadays, but what you would find useful is that I did a test on 4 species of wild duck and two different brine times with varying results.
I used skin on breasts of Buffy, Scaup, Widgeon and a Common GE. I picked ones that had no shot holes in them and were really fat. Into the brine for 12 hours and 24 hours as a test. A piece of pork loin was put in too as a control because I know what ham is supposed to taste like.
After brine, dried with a fan to get ready for a cold smoke in my Little Chief, one run of smoke ( approx 2 hours) then onto the oven to finish. I always use a meat thermometer now 1. to be food safe 2. better tasting product. At 170'F I pulled the duck breasts out. I couldn't wait to try so I cut thin slices which were laid in a hot cast iron pan. The fat melted like butter, the smell was amazing and in seconds I had my answer - exquisite! I bought some stuff in France one time that looked like duck bacon and that's what this method produced. It is an incredible transformation of meat.
Two friends dropped by so we fried up some more, same result. "OMG this is good!" Crackers were spilled on a plate, creammy cheeses came out of the back of the fridge, some green olives, black olives and a TOMATO. We ate pretty much all of it.
Here's the conclusions of the experiment.
Buffy's were excellent even the 12 hour one .
The scaup needed more time than 12 hours to cure, but 24 was enough.
The Widgeon's fat was thick and creamy and white like interior pork fat and rendered most quickly once it hit the hot pan. 12 or 24 hours made no difference to the Widgie. Both were amazing.
The pork turned out too, but was outshone by the duck breasts. I've got to get out before the end of the season and collect some really fat birds.
The real test was on the GE. They are one of the most challenging birds to make pallatible, but I love hunting them. The verdict - awesome. 24 hour brine did a better job, the fat was great, people loved it.`
Anyone can try it, all you need is a few birds worth of meat to get cooking a batch.
Mike
