Duck Dinner on The Prairie
By Bill Klein
If you’re looking for the perfect ambience for your next wild duck dinner, may I suggest you go where the ducks dine. That’s it – right there on the prairie.
Hunger is nature’s best sauce. And a day of hunting on a marsh is the perfect set-up for duck dinner on the prairie. The relentless wind has been stripping calories off your body for hours. You are ravenously hungry. You’re thinking fast, hot and hearty. And this meal delivers on all three counts.
With a little planning and some pre-hunt preparation, dinner on the spot is as easy as a feet-down mallard over the decoys. Here’s how to make it happen.
Take List
Pack a hibachi-sized grill. One with a cover. I use a Weber Smokey Joe charcoal-fired unit if I think I can talk my partner into quitting the hunt a half hour early to go light the fire. If I’m hunting with someone who will probably want to hunt to the bitter end, like me, I pack an instant-heat gas grill.
You’ll need a razor-sharp fillet knife for breasting out the ducks. Bring a small open pan and a jug of clean water for fine cleaning the duck meat.
You’re going to pre-prepare a German potato salad at home (see side-bar recipe) and pack it in a low-riding glass casserole dish. Test to make certain the dish will fit under the cover of your grill before you leave home.
Save a couple of large late season tomatoes from the garden or farmer’s market and pack them in the cooler with a block of mozzarella cheese, a Vidalia onion and some Italian salad dressing.
Miscellaneous items you’ll need include a pepper grinder, a loaf of whole grain bread for Texas toast, steak knives, real forks, a pair of tongs and some stiff paper plates.
Dinner Preparation
Set up your prairie kitchen on the lee side of an abandoned farm house or outbuilding. You want the hibachi to be out of the wind. Start warming the German potato salad right away on low heat (stirring occasionally) while you are preparing the salad and your partner is breasting out the ducks.
Breasting out ducks is easy with a sharp fillet knife. First, pluck the feathers away from the middle of the breast, then cut lightly along the breast bone from neck to tail (just sever the skin, don’t cut into the meat). Pull the skin left and right exposing both breasts. Then starting at the breast bone, fillet the meat away in two single pieces, riding the edge of the knife along the bone under each breast.
Here’s the key to the meal: no blood in the breast meat. If your partner minced a mallard, tell him to choose your head-shot birds for the meal. And being meticulous about fine cleaning them in water will guarantee the non-gamey flavor you want.
When you think the potato salad is nearly hot throughout, move it to the side and crank up your gas grill to high. Or make room above your hottest charcoals for the duck breasts. Grind some black pepper on to taste. They’ll take about ten minutes a side – slightly more if it’s cold and windy. Never jab the duck meat with a fork. Use the tongs to turn.
Just before you’re ready to ring the dinner bell, pull the potato salad off the grill to make room for Texas toast. Lightly butter both sides of bread slices and cook them two minutes a side.
Dinner’s Ready!
Dig in! Nothing piques the appetite for a hearty meal more than sizzling duck breasts on a grill. But don’t forget to look up between bites to feast your eyes on nature’s end-of-day delights. Because nothing stimulates the anticipation for tomorrow’s hunt more than watching duck flights in the twilight. Soak up the golden, low-angle light of a prairie sunset. Then after your meal, linger a while and watch the constellations wink on in the eastern sky.
Good friends, plentiful ducks and great food – all in a glorious prairie setting. It doesn’t get any better than this.
Field Recipes from Bill Klein
Hot German Potato Salad Recipe
Pull this hearty delight together the day before your hunting trip. And don’t forget to keep it well-chilled in your cooler until you re ready to heat it up in the field.
3 pounds potatoes (about 9 medium)
6 slices bacon
¾ cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon celery seed
Dash pepper
¾ cup water
1/3 cup vinegar
Wash potatoes; pare thinly and remove eyes. Heat 1 inch salted water (1/2 teaspoon salt to l cup water) to boiling. Add potatoes. Cover tightly; heat to boiling and cook 30-35 minutes or until tender. Drain; set aside.
In large skillet, fry bacon until crisp; remove and drain. Cook and stir onion in bacon drippings until tender and golden brown. Stir in flour, sugar, salt, celery seed and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring until bubbly. Remove from heat; stir in water and vinegar. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute.
Crumble bacon. Thinly slice potatoes. Carefully stir bacon and potatoes into hot mixture. Heat through, stirring lightly to coat potato slices. Transfer to low-riding casserole and refrigerate until departure.
Buttermilk Breast of Canada Goose
1. Soak the breast fillets in salt water for two hours. Rinse well in cold water.
2. Place the fillets in a non-reactive covered container (Tupperware or
even a large baggie) and cover with buttermilk. Refrigerate in this
marinade for three days.
3. Take fillets from buttermilk and rinse well in cold water.
4. Two hours before goose is to be cooked, place fillets in this marinade:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
½ cup soy sauce (or Teriyaki – thin, watery version)
½ cup cream sherry
¼ cup dry sherry
¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
Combine ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Save a small amount of marinade aside to heat for sauce.
5. Wrap the fillets in thick bacon and pin with tooth picks.
6. Cook over a hot charcoal fire (direct method) fifteen minutes a side (total 30 minutes, turning once). Slice thin like London broil, drizzle warmed sauce over slices and serve.
Breast of Duck In Brandy Sauce
In a heavy fry pan, melt ¼ pound butter. Add ½ cup brandy and two tablespoons grape jelly. Bring to a boil. Add four duck breasts (8 fillets). Cover, reduce to low heat. Simmer for 30 minutes. Remove breasts. Thicken remaining sauce with cornstarch and water to form a thick paste. Pour sauce over duck breasts.
Mulled Orange Segments
Mix the following ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer for five minutes: ¾ cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1 cup dry red wine, 2 whole cloves, 1 stick cinnamon, 1 vanilla bean, ½ lemon, sliced. Peel six large seedless oranges (including all tissue membrane) and slice. Pour sauce over sliced oranges and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Wild Rice Casserole
1/2 pound wild rice
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 pound pork sausage (or venison sausage)
8 oz. fresh mushrooms (sliced)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup celery, finely chopped
1 green or red pepper, chopped (optional)
½ can Cream of Mushroom soup
2 teaspoons sherry
1/2 cup slivered almonds- toasted
Cover rice with cold chicken broth and let sit overnight. Drain the broth off and wash rice several times, then cover with chicken broth and warm slowly on the stove until rice absorbs broth.
Fry pork sausage with onions, celery and mushrooms. Add to the wild rice along with the soup and sherry. Place rice mixture in casserole. Toast slivered almonds and place on top of rice mixture. Bake at 300 degrees for approximately 1 hour.
Wine Braised Venison Loin
1 cup dry red wine
½ cup apple cider vinegar
1 medium onion chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger
¼ cup sesame oil
1 cup light soy sauce
Combine ingredients and whisk to mix well. Cover loin steak with marinade in a
non-reactive container and refrigerate for 24 hours. Place loin on a roast rack and
cook (indirect) on charcoal grill for approximately 45 minutes depending on size of steak. Baste a couple of times with marinade. Use a meat thermometer to achieve 145 degrees in the center of the loin.
Pheasant Cacciatore
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Two pheasants cut into pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion chopped
12 mushrooms, sliced
1 green pepper, cut into large cubes
½ cup sliced black olives
1 cup tomato sauce
1 small can tomato paste
½ cup dry red wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried mint
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
Freshly grated Romano cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat the oil in a large skillet. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the pheasant pieces and brown on both sides. Remove pheasant from skillet. Add the garlic and onion and sauté until browned. Place the mushrooms, green pepper and olives in a large baking dish. Arrange the pheasant pieces on top of the vegetables. Combine the tomato sauce, tomato paste, wine, broth, basil, mint, oregano and bay leaf and pour over the chicken. Bake about one hour. Sprinkle with Romano cheese.
Alternate Pheasant Recipe
Two pheasants. Bone and flatten breasts and thighs between wax paper.
1 cup flour with ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper and 1 teaspoon salt
1 cup Panko (Japanese) bread crumbs
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
Place the pheasant pieces on wax paper and refrigerate for two hours to set the cutlets and firm them for cooking.
Dip pheasant pieces in seasoned flour. Shake off excess. Dip pieces in egg and roll in bread crumbs and sauté in oil until golden brown. Do not overcook.
