How to cook delicious duck, without cooking your goose
Many duck hunters may be guilty of having a bird in the bottom of their freezer from the last hunting season – or the season before.
Let’s face it – duck isn’t always the easiest meat to cook, and as a result, it’s not always great to eat.
We tend to either roast the hell out of it until it’s tough and dry, and hide the fact with gravy, put it in an oven bag with some orange juice and hope we’re going to produce a palatable duck l’orange, or give the birds away, so we can avoid cooking them altogether.
But this season, which started today, there’s no more reason for ducks to become mystery meat in the bottom of the freezer.
Cohen Stewart, of Fish & Game, has provided us with a quick and easy recipe for a crispy duck schnitzel burger, so you can eat what you shoot.
And it’s so easy you could whip it up on the barbecue in the maimai for brunch after a (hopefully) busy morning on the pond. (Check out the recipe below.)
But first, some tips:
‘‘It’s really important that you look after the duck meat – pluck it promptly rather than leaving it in a pile till the next day, and keep it cool,’’ Stewart said.
‘‘Try to dry age it in a fridge for a few days if you can,’’ he said.
And the chances of serving up duck burgers to your mates on opening day are looking pretty good in Otago and Southland.
Stewart said Fish & Game’s monitoring flights in the southern part of the South Island, to assess duck populations, showed numbers similar to 2019, which was a record season.
‘‘Expect plenty of birds. We’ve had two wet springs in a row, which is good for duckling survival, so it’s looking pretty good.’’
He said the Southland flights showed particularly good numbers in a number of areas around the Gore area, on the Aparima River at Thornbury, and in the Riversdale and Balfour area.
‘‘But all it would take would be a good rainfall and that would all change, so it really depends on the day.’’
Further north in Otago duck hunters can also look forward to an above-average season this year if the weather plays its part.
This year’s mallard monitoring results were 10 per cent above the average count since 2015, Otago Fish & Game officer Bruce Quirey said.
‘‘Rivers and other permanent bodies of water are likely to offer the best shooting for mallards due to dry conditions, unless there is substantial rain before opening weekend on May 1,’’ Quirey said.
But some parts of Otago are very dry and there are variances between areas across the region.
A third of all ponds surveyed had no ducks, and several ponds were dry, but parts of the Clutha and Pomahaka rivers had some of the highest recorded concentrations of ducks since 2015.
‘‘One river section had almost double its previous highest count.’’
If the weather conditions are right, hunters should be in for a good harvest.
‘‘Hunters want low cloud, rain and some wind on opening weekend,’’ Quirey said.