How to cook a duck.....

[buckmaster_kp]

Any one out there have a good way to prepare a merganser? I just shot my first today and heard that they are not the best eating. Definitly had a "fishy" smell to it, which makes sence, that's all they eat.

I know some chef out there has a good way to cook these things.

[dukkillr]

Dig a hole.
Place merganser in hole.  
Cover with dirt and let decompose.
Order pizza.
Repeat as necessary for each merganser.

[buckmaster_kp]

That bad huh?

[dukkillr]

well the problem is that taste is subjective... some people eat coots, some love bluebills, some people think venison is best meat on earth...

then there are those who don't lie to themselves... i wouldn't even put a merganser in my kitchen... of course everything depends on how hungry you are.  I kill lots of puddle ducks every year and have no reason to eat a mud-duck.  

Is it a common or a hooded merganser?

[buckmaster_kp]

Hooded Merganser.....

I do very little duck hunting and up until today all I've killed were puddle ducks. This is the first diver I've ever killed so was just curious if what I've heard about them was true.

[Bill in IL]

I agree with dukkillr, you would be best served to order a pizza. The people I know that have cooked merganzer - have only done it once.

[Specklebelly]

Want some good eating?  Nothing better than a Northern Shovelor or coot.   :-D

I suggest you cook the Merg and give it to your mother-in-law.  :shock:  Actually thats not very nice, just throw it out and let them fly by next time you see one.

dukkiller- Thats a good way to lower your property values.

[Nightrain52]

Recipe for Merganser

Take one 18in long by 12in. wide by 1in. thick pine or knotty pine board. Place one cleaned and stuffed and seasoned merganser on pine board and heavily wrap board and merganser together with tin foil. Put into 350 degree oven and bake 1 hour. Remove from oven and let set for 10 minutes. Carefully remove foil and merganser from pine board. Put foil and merganser in the trash and eat the pine board. :-D    :-D  

This recipe also works great for Carp.  :-D    :-D  

[rockbilly]

:roll: Nightrain52.  While I agree with you on the merganser, I have to add you are missing out on some good eating by turning your nose up at carp.  In most every other country in the world carp is highly prised for it's high protien content.  Most every five star establishment in Europe offers both carp and eel on their menu. I have tried both, it ain't bad.  It is mostly baked or smoked, but also used to make a fish soup that is very tasty. Spain has some of the best catfish, pike and bass fishing in the world, but most of the spainards fish for carp over the others.  In Japan, korea, and many other places in that part of the world, carp are raised in thr rice paddys as a supplemental protien source.  They have several ways of preparing it that makes it very good.

Point is, don't knock it, till you have tried it!

[qajaq59]

Put duck in a 1 gallon pail of water with a red brick. Add salt and pepper then boil for 24 hours. When cool enough toss out duck and eat the BRICK.  

[osceola]

My friend shot a hooded merganser.  Took it home, cut the breast into strips, marinated them over-nite in Italian dressing and fried them.  His dog enjoyed all but the 1st piece.

[KLR]

C'mon guys...meat is meat. I usually save my older geese, divers and mergs (BTW a merganser is NOT a duck) and make a batch of summer sausage....why let it go to waste???

[dukkillr]

C'mon guys...meat is meat. I usually save my older geese, divers and mergs (BTW a merganser is NOT a duck) and make a batch of summer sausage....why let it go to waste???

I kill far more things in a year than I can eat or give away.  As such I can't figure out why I shouldn't choose to eat the things that taste the best.  Elk is better than deer, ducks are better than geese and pheasants are better than turkeys.  I make jerky out of some of the other stuff, particularly geese and deer. 

If you'd like I could send some divers, squirrels and venison your way.   

[Ahab]

Marinate for 24 hours in a mixture of 1 cup apple cider vinegar to 1 quart dry red wine and 2 tablespoons soy sauce. You can add a little hot sauce if you like. Some use chinese 5 spice for an oriental flavor. Rinse and cook as you would any other duck. I serve over brown rice.

[osceola]

Hello KLR,

This site calls the Merganser "a duck",  a diver type duck,  http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i1310id.html . 

They look like a duck, swim like a duck, fly like a duck but taste like the bottom of a garbage pail smells.

[CallaoJoe]

The only thing you can do with a hooded merganser is take him to yer taxidermist.....

Other than that...might make a good catfish bait is you let it lay in the sun for a while....

Guess this is where good duck identification comes in....  I've only shot one in my life, and he's sittin on a bookshelf, which is the reason I shot him.....

[Rogue Ram]

There is, IMVHO, only one way to deal with waterfowl, and that is throw it all in the pot and have summer sausage made out of it. If you have not tried this, TRY IT. You will never cook a blankety-blank duck of any sort again. Mallards, Pintails, etc., I can kinda sorta get to cook OK., but throw em all in the sausage pot.......coot, teal, whatever, they all come out the same.

Try it once, trust me, you'll never look back. Make yer own or just take it somewhere.

Regards

RR

[jrlinz]

When I was a kid, we used to shoot seaducks over the bay.  They had been feeding heavily on fish, and tasted, smelled very 'fishy'.  My aunt would cook them with a fancy french recipe called "Duck L'Orange".  It was absolutely delicious.  Not sure if it would work on a merganser, but worth a try.  Do a google search for the recipe.  I know it has cointreau and orange juice, peels in it.

[jrlinz]

2 mallard (or maybe merganser) ducks
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons Lawry's brand garlic salt
1 large Granny Smith apple
2 garlic cloves
2 sage leaves
1 teaspoon light olive oil
L'Orange Sauce (recipe follows)
Sprinkle chili powder and garlic salt all over ducks.
Cut 1-inch slice in skin of ducks on both sides of breasts. Puree garlic, sage and olive oil and fill in slices in skin with mixture.
Chop apple into 1-inch pieces and stuff inside ducks.
Bake at 350*F (175*C) for 1 hour and 10 minutes for slightly rare ducks.
Makes 4 servings.

L'Orange Sauce:

4 tablespoons mango chutney (Major Greys bottled found in grocery store)
2 tablespoons peach preserves (low sugar)
Juice of one whole orange
3 tablespoons of duck drippings from pan
1/4 cup of red wine (Cabernet)

Put ingredients in saucepan and heat until alcohol simmers off, about 6 minutes. Serve L'Orange sauce over sliced duck breasts.
Makes about 1 cup.

[lewdogg21]

There is, IMVHO, only one way to deal with waterfowl, and that is throw it all in the pot and have summer sausage made out of it. If you have not tried this, TRY IT. You will never cook a blankety-blank duck of any sort again. Mallards, Pintails, etc., I can kinda sorta get to cook OK., but throw em all in the sausage pot.......coot, teal, whatever, they all come out the same.

Try it once, trust me, you'll never look back. Make yer own or just take it somewhere.

Regards

RR

I guess the ducks you've eaten haven't spent much time in the rice feeding.  I can make ducks that even non duck eaters like.