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Wild Duck vs. Store Bought

Posted on 12/10/15 at 4:39 pm
Posted by MontyFranklyn
T-Town
Member since Jan 2012
24280 posts
Posted on 12/10/15 at 4:39 pm
What I'm looking for here? I'm in a duck mood and I can get a wild one from my FIL or I can buy one. I'm going to smoke it slow use the fat to make a gravy and fry potatoes. Which direction should I lean?
Posted by Babewinkelman
Member since Jan 2015
1352 posts
Posted on 12/10/15 at 4:42 pm to
Wild duck is great smoked, but the fat has a stronger taste than a domestic duck
Posted by GingerMerkin
Member since Oct 2012
811 posts
Posted on 12/10/15 at 4:46 pm to
Store.
Posted by SUB
Silver Tier TD Premium
Member since Jan 2009
23015 posts
Posted on 12/10/15 at 4:51 pm to
Wild duck does not have a lot of fat. I'm not a big fan of it, unless it's wrapped in bacon to mask the gamey flavor.

Store bought (farm raised) should be fantastic.
Posted by LSUballs
RayVegas LA
Member since Feb 2008
38886 posts
Posted on 12/10/15 at 4:53 pm to
I think a store would be a hell of a lot easier and turn out a better product. And I've never bought one and love wild duck
Posted by MontyFranklyn
T-Town
Member since Jan 2012
24280 posts
Posted on 12/10/15 at 4:53 pm to
So farm raised. Are their any other things I could do with the fat other than the gravy and frying potatoes?
Posted by Twenty 49
Shreveport
Member since Jun 2014
19999 posts
Posted on 12/10/15 at 5:34 pm to
A wild duck compared to a farm raised duck is like a deer compared to a grain fed steer.

The wild will have little if any fat and may be gamy. The farm duck will have a ton of fat that you will need to render off.

Rotisserie works well for that. I like to poke many holes in the skin with a slender knife. Approach almost from perpendicular to prick the skin but not into the meat. Some folks dunk the pricked bird in boiling water a few times to melt off fat, but it sounds like you want to catch it in a drip pan.

The Dad Cooks Dinner blog has some good posts on both ducks and rotisserie cooking in general.
Posted by lilwineman
Baton Rouge
Member since Dec 2008
1053 posts
Posted on 12/10/15 at 5:35 pm to
Render out the fat and remove the skin, slice in into little strips, and fry them back up into duck cracklins
Posted by Martini
Near Athens
Member since Mar 2005
49182 posts
Posted on 12/10/15 at 8:07 pm to
I'm not sure the rendered fat from a smoked duck would make a good gravy. I believe I would buy a whole domestic duck and trim some fat from around it and render that. Then smoke the duck.

But I'll bet wherever you end up buying a whole domestic they also have duck fat in tubs so look for that and problem solved.
Posted by REB BEER
Laffy Yet
Member since Dec 2010
17048 posts
Posted on 12/10/15 at 10:10 pm to
I'm no help here, I've never even seen a store bought duck cooked, much less eaten one.
Posted by jeepfreak
Back in the BR
Member since Oct 2003
19446 posts
Posted on 12/10/15 at 10:52 pm to
Get the farm-raised. More fat and cleaner flavor. Also much bigger, usually in the 4.5-5 lb range.
Posted by Larry Gooseman
Houston
Member since Mar 2014
2729 posts
Posted on 12/10/15 at 11:03 pm to
I have recently improved cooking wild puddle ducks (greys, teal, etc).

1. Pluck breast feathers only. Carve breast with skin attached
2. Brine as long as you wish or have time for
3. Salt/Pepper breast cook skin side down in bacon fat in skillet. Flip when meat is browned halfway up side.
4. Poke meat until it feels medium rare- medium
5. Slice/enjoy
Posted by Lambdatiger1989
NOLA
Member since Jan 2012
2388 posts
Posted on 12/11/15 at 5:23 am to
You can use the fat to make a roux. Duck fat roux gumbo is crazy good
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