Pour It On!

  During the past few outings my fellow savages and I have enjoyed some fantastic weather and fun.  As of Sunday, we had a few Golden Eyes and Old Squaw.   Both are ducks of big water that are capable of diving deep in search of prey.  These ducks are active predators, and their diet of small bugs, shrimp, snails, small clams, worms, and what ever else they can catch gives them a stronger flavor.  Most people are turned off by the stronger taste of a diver, and prefer the plain taste of a puddle duck that has been eating day old bagels at the park.  I will admit, these ducks do have a strong taste, and i have been researching ways to make them table friendly to the masses.

  I came across some writings on the Internet advising to marinate the breast meat in milk.  I also uncovered that a second round of milk would soften the blow considerably.  Finally the consensus was to finish off the prep in a red wine soaking for several hours.
PART 1
    After breasting the birds out i sliced the breasts into 1 inch thick pieces.  I then took out a container with a top.  After filling the container with the duck meat i covered the contents in milk.  I let this concoction sit in the fridge for 12 hours.  Upon completing the 12 hour round of milk i took each piece out, washed it off with cold water, and placed it in a new container.  After all the milk was drained and the meat washed off i added the second round of milk, covered the container, and it was back into the fridge for 8 hours.  When i got home from work i drained the milk and washed the meat.  Now i added the red wine that was supplied by my hunting buddy ED who  also made the wine.  Unfortunately I broke the cork when opening the bottle, so after pouring the wine over the meat i had to drink the rest of the bottle.  If i didn't the wine would go bad.

PART 2

     In the Jan/Feb issue of Ducks Unlimited is a recipe for a chile.  I followed it closely; however, i made some changes like adding diced tomatoes.  I shoveled the onion, peppers, duck, and hot peppers over a thick bed of rice.  To be honest it came out great!  Try it some time and it think you will like it.

   I think the secret is the two rounds of fresh milk and i think you could cook these ducks any way you want to after completing part 1.