Thread: Over duck shooting

Another variation which goes down very well (I'm cooking it tonight as a matter of fact, on request from the kids):

• Cut breast meat into ~5mm thick slices across the grain
• Submerge breast slices (plus legs, if you kept them) in a mix of 1L cold water + 1tbsp salt + 1tbsp pickling spice. Cover and leave in fridge for 24hrs.
• Remove from brine and coat with flour and a good shake of chinese 5-spice. I just shake them in a plastic bag to coat.
• Fry until golden brown. If you kept the skin, fry it alongside at the same time so that the fat cooks out - with a good duck you don't even need to add extra oil. The slices don't take long to cook, but the legs are a bit slower.

Brining is the secret, as PaulNZ outlines above. I just brine whole breasts though.

For skinny breasts, or lots of pin-feathers, remove the skin, slice across grain into nugget size and cook using coat-and-cook. Turn out superb

Originally Posted by PaulNZ

Another variation which goes down very well (I'm cooking it tonight as a matter of fact, on request from the kids):

• Cut breast meat into ~5mm thick slices across the grain
• Submerge breast slices (plus legs, if you kept them) in a mix of 1L cold water + 1tbsp salt + 1tbsp pickling spice. Cover and leave in fridge for 24hrs.
• Remove from brine and coat with flour and a good shake of chinese 5-spice. I just shake them in a plastic bag to coat.
• Fry until golden brown. If you kept the skin, fry it alongside at the same time so that the fat cooks out - with a good duck you don't even need to add extra oil. The slices don't take long to cook, but the legs are a bit slower.

I've done that kind of thing with parrie breasts, it makes them edible, more or less!

Originally Posted by Old_School

Personally I find it hard to justify the cost of a license for a 4 week season, and someone starting out with poor success, it seems underwhelming to say the least.
To top it all off, my friends say that wild duck tastes like shit and tough as old boots, nothing like restaurant duck, although Im still keen to try it. Just need to shoot my first duck and get it before the eels do.

I've had a go with a seasoned duck shooter for 2 or 3 seasons. Mostly all we bring home are parries and the odd mallard. I like eating mallard but I gotta say, even the dog turns up his nose at a paradise duck breast. The only thing I haven't tried to do with one of those was turn it into sausages/salami.

In the words of my wife - it's a lotta time, effort and resources for not a lot of meat vs deer or even goats. You really do have to love the shooting and the duck eating to get the most out of it. I definitely love the shooting, but I'm lacking in the gear and the right social circle, and I can't give a hunting dog the time it would truly deserve. I can see still see myself getting a shotgun and training up a good dog later in life but I think I'd rather wander the dry hills in search of some upland birds on a sunny day than sit freezing in a maimai.

Butterfly breast season with what ever you want over night. Then crumb and cook in butter. Make duck schnitzel

When I was younger, an old hunting mentor used to say that duck needed 12months in the freezer to 'mature'. We'd enjoy a roast dinner of last year's duck on opening night. Not sure if the theory holds, but I don't remember any complaints about the meal!

Ducks like any meat shoot the younger birds aND your in honey.dont shoot parries in pairs and you.l find flock birds much better and tastier

Nothing wrong with parrie breast.
Casserole, cut thin in a stir fry, chunks not to thin with coat and cook.
To be honest I prefer them to ducks for the simple reason I am lazy.
Far easier to breast out a parrie or 3 than pluck and gut a duck.
And to be honest if it's a small grey I would need two for a feed anyway

A lot depends on what they have been eating. 20 years ago around here a lot of the ducks were sitting on cockys effluent ponds and they literally tasted like shit.

These days that isn't the case, and if you can get ones that have been feeding on grain maize paddocks it's next level.

I agree that it can be hard justifying the cost of a license for opening morning if that's all you do, and I think the 4 weeks we get here in the Waikato is very short.

There is however a much longer upland game season and spending a cool clear winters day hunting scruby gullies with 2 or 3 mates is a very enjoyable day out and well worth the effort.