Report & a Duck Dry-Aging Questions

Carl

Carl

Moderator
Staff member
Supporter
Got out this morning with my old duck hunting buddy. We've been regular partners since 1997. This is the first time to hunt together this year.
Morning started out slow, the hundreds of gadwalls that I scouted the day before just didnt seem to be around. We scratched out a spoonie plus 3 bluebills until around 9:00. Then gadwalls started trickling in, then pouring in. At one point we had over 30 circling us, gradually dropping. I totally blew a shot on a decoying single (miss then a dud shell, uggghhh). Some additional very bad shooting resulted me in taking me much longer than him, but we both ended up with limits, 4 gaddies, a bluebill and a buffy for me, 2 bluebills, a spoonie & 3 gaddies for him.

Now for the dry-aging question: I dont have an old fridge to age the whole bird. Can I age just the bone-in breast or the breast fillets in the fridge? Will be placing them in a tupperware type container which can be ventillated if needed. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!
 
[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]
Now for the dry-aging question: I dont have an old fridge to age the whole bird. Can I age just the bone-in breast or the breast fillets in the fridge? Will be placing them in a tupperware type container which can be ventillated if needed. Any advice would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Carl,

I breast my birds out all the time. I age the breast meat in the fridge for about a week before eating or freezing them. I keep them submerged in a bath of water so that the meat does not dry out. I've never tried it "dry" so I can't comment on that, but It would be my guess the meat would dry out too much. Leaving the birds whole ( standard aging process) would provide additional moisture and help prevent drying of the breast meat.
[/font]
 
Last edited:
they do not age prime cuts of beef in a brine. you can draw your birds and hang them whole in the fridge or breast them with or without bone and place in the fridge. This year I breasted without bone placed on a rack(such as a jerky rack made for ovens) and placed over a pan in the fridge for about five days. The meat lost moisture into the pan, firmed up and turned the nice dark color I like for my "good" cooking breasts.This time of year I can hang them in an unheated garage for days and not worry about them and get the same results. There is a reason dry aged meats are more expensive.
 
I generally breast birds early season and hang the whole late season. All through November I just hang the whole birds(be the neck and not drawn) in an unheated shed for up to a week.
 
Glad you are getting into some birds. We are in our split right now, so no hunting right now...

You certainly can dry age in your fridge. It will give you a different result than the wet aging that Dave describes. I like both depending on what I'm doing. One thing to try is to pluck the breast and then take off the breast plate and leave the skin on. As the meat ages, you won't lose as much to dessication as the skin will keep the top surface moist, but you'll still lose moisture from the meat (which is the end goal with dry aging). The key is to have the birds on some type of rack so they can stay dry.

Here is a link with some info and references to other websites and chefs.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118920026703920971.html

Let us know how it turns out.

Best,
Steve
 
Thanks for all the advice!
I will have to work on some sort of wrack to keep them dry.
Hanging just isnt an option here, its in the upper 50s/low 60s most days, so its just too warm outside. Next year, I plan to have a mini-fridge in the shed to age them whole.
 
Its not a tailgate shot, but its a cleaning table shot.
The bluebill and buffie are immature drakes. We had pile of buffies in & out of the decoys all morning. Almost all looked like hens, very few colored drakes. We've got more buffies right now than most years, pretty early to have this many. Not many bluebills yet, that should change with this cold front.

[inline IMG00126-20101204-1316.jpg ]

View attachment IMG00126-20101204-1316.jpg
 
Congrats on the birds! I have a quick question on hanging whole birds. Do you guys gut the bird before you hang them in the shed/garage?

Thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top