Wild Duck Gumbo Recipes

WILD DUCK GUMBO

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven over medium heat, brown duck in batches in oil. Remove and set aside. Discard all but 2/3 cup drippings. Add flour to drippings; cook and stir over medium heat until brown, 12-14 minutes. Add sausage, onion, green pepper, celery, parsley and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. , Stir in the next eight ingredients. Add duck; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 60-75 minutes or until duck is tender., Remove duck. Cool. Debone and cut into chunks; return to pan. Simmer 5-10 minutes or until heated through. Remove bay leaves. Serve with rice.

DUCK AND WILD MUSHROOM GUMBO

Steps:

• Rinse the duck under cold running water both inside and out. Remove any excess fat at the cavity opening and at the neck. Use a sharp boning or butcher's knife to cut the back on either side of the spine. Remove the spine and reserve for stock. Cut through the breastbone of the duck to give you 2 halves. Cut the legs from each half as well as the first two digits of the wings. Set the legs aside, and cut the breasts in half horizontally.
• Season the duck with 1 teaspoon of salt and the black pepper. Place a large Dutch oven over medium heat for 2 minutes, or until hot. Place the seasoned duck, skin side down in the pan and sear until golden brown, about 7 to 8 minutes. Turn the duck over and sear on the second side as well for an additional 7 to 8 minutes. Remove the duck from the pan and place on a platter while you make the roux.
• Add the vegetable oil to the pan as well as the flour. Using a wooden spoon, stir the roux continuously over medium heat until the color of dark chocolate, about 20 to 25 minutes. Add the mushrooms, onions, celery and peppers and garlic to the roux and stir, gently until the mushrooms and vegetables are slightly wilted, about 4 to 5 minutes. Pour the beer over the vegetables and stir to incorporate. Add the stock/water to the pan with the thyme, bay leaves, Essence, cayenne pepper and the remaining 3 teaspoons of salt. Stir the pot well to ensure that the roux and the stock are well blended. Raise the heat to medium-high and bring the gumbo to a boil; then lower to a simmer. Return the seared duck pieces to the pan and cook (skimming any foam that may rise to the surface), for 1 hour and 30 minutes. After an hour and a half, remove the duck pieces from the gumbo and place on a platter to cool. Once the duck is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and meat from the bones and add the meat to the gumbo. Discard the skin and bones and re-season the gumbo, if necessary.
• To serve the gumbo, ladle 1 cup into a heated soup bowl with 1/4 cup white rice. Garnish with the green onions and chopped parsley.
• Combine all ingredients thoroughly.
• Recipe from "New New Orleans Cooking", by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch, published by William Morrow, 1993.

WILD DUCK GUMBO

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven over medium heat, brown duck in batches in oil.
• Remove and setaside.
• Discard all but 2/3 cup drippings.
• Add flour to drippings; cook and stir over medium heat until brown, 12-14 minutes.
• Add sausage, onion, green pepper, celery, parsley and garlic.
• Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add next 8 ingredients; mix well.
• Add duck; bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat; cover and simmer 60-75 minutes or until duck is tender.
• Remove duck.
• Cool.
• Debone and cut into chunks; return to pan.
• Simmer 5-10 minutes or until heated through.
• Remove bay leaves.
• Serve with rice.

DUCK AND WILD MUSHROOM GUMBO

Steps:

• In a large pot, heat the 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Season the duck pieces with Rustic Rub. When the oil is hot, sear the duck pieces for 2 minutes on each side. Remove the duck from the oil and set aside. Combine the remaining oil and flour in the pot. Continue to cook, stirring the mixture constantly for 12 to 15 minutes, until a medium brown roux is formed; the roux should be the color of peanut butter. Add the onions, bell peppers, celery, and duck pieces. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms and garlic. Season with salt and cayenne. Add the thyme and bay leaves. Cook the mixture, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Add the stock and water. Bring the mixture up to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 2 hours, skimming any fat that may rise to the surface. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Serve the gumbo in shallow bowls and garnish with the rice and green onions. Serve with crusty bread.
• Combine all ingredients and store in an air-tight container.

DUCK GUMBO

Steps:

• Broth:
• To a large stockpot, add the ducks, onions, bell peppers, garlic, bouillon, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and enough water to cover the ducks. Bring to a boil and cook the ducks for about 1 hour, until tender. Remove ducks and pull the breast meat from the bones and chop them into small pieces - use only the breast meat and discard the rest of the bird or save for another use. Strain the broth and save. Set aside the chopped duck breast and broth to use later.
• Roux:
• In a large, deep, black skillet or kettle, fry the bacon. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, leaving the grease in the pan. To the hot bacon grease, slowly add the flour, if the mixture is of a paste consistency, add more bacon grease or oil until it's loose and easy to stir. Stirring constantly, flour-grease mixture should cook on medium heat until a dark caramel color is obtained. Add the salt and pepper and stir. As soon as the salt and pepper are stirred into the roux, add the remaining ingredients to make the gumbo.
• To the hot roux, add broth, then the onions, peppers and tomatoes. Add the seasonings. Then add sausage, duck, bacon pieces and okra. Next add the shrimp, cook until shrimp is pink. Finally, add the gumbo file and stir. Let gumbo simmer for about 1 hour. The longer it simmers, the better it gets.
• Serve over white rice with hot French bread

DUCK AND ANDOUILLE GUMBO

Steps:

• DUCK STOCK: Quarter the onion, cut the celery stalks in half and place into a medium stock pot with the three ducks. Cover the ducks and vegetables with two quarts of water, add salt and bring to a low boil for approximately 90 minutes. After cooking, remove the ducks from the stock and put aside to cool. Strain the broth and set aside, this will be the stock for the gumbo. Discard the onion and celery; it was only there for flavor. After the ducks have cooled, pick all meat from the bones and set aside to be added to the gumbo later.
• ROUX and TRINITY: Start the roux by pouring the oil in the bottom of the stock pot or Dutch oven you plan to make your gumbo in and set to medium heat. When the oil is hot enough that a pinch of flour causes it to sizzle like it is frying begin adding the flour to the oil while stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon. The roux requires constant stirring while cooking to prevent it from burning and it may be necessary to reduce the heat during cooking several times to prevent the roux from burning. You will notice the roux slowly beginning to get darker as you stir it with your whisk. The correct shade for a gumbo roux will look like a dark melted chocolate. It could take 30-45 minutes for the roux to reach its desired shade, be sure to keep an eye on the heat during the cooking process so that the roux does not burn. Once the roux has reached its correct shade add the onions, celery and bell peppers (trinity) to the roux, add the garlic and set heat to low. Allow the mixture to simmer for about 10 minutes.
• GUMBO: Add the wine, strained duck stock, duck meat and sausage to the pot with the roux/trinity and set heat to medium. Add all seasonings and remaining ingredients to the pot and stir gently until the roux and stock blend together. When the pot begins to boil reduce heat to low and cook over low heat for 2 hours. The gumbo may look thin when all the ingredients are first added to the pot but it will cook down into a very nice consistency over the next two hours.
• During the cooking process some oil from the roux and fat from the sausage will float to the top. You can use a big gravy spoon or something similar to skim it off the top. It makes for a better finished product.
• Any gumbo is best served over white rice with a big piece of French bread and your favorite beer or wine.
• Enjoy!

OLD FASHIONED WILD DUCK/GOOSE GUMBO

Steps:

• Cut up the duck or goose and season with salt and pepper.
• Pour cooking oil into large black iron pot or any other heavy cooking pot. Heat oil and add cut up duck or goose.
• Brown all sides of meat, gradually adding small amounts of water to keep it from burning. Keep browning it until you get a good dark crust on the bottom and sides of the pot.
• When it's browned enough, remove the meat and pour off any excess oil left in pot. Return meat to pot and add enough water to cover the meat.
• Cut up the sausage into thick slices and add it to the pot.
• Add all of the chopped vegetables and additional salt and pepper. You can also use optional seasonings, like 'Tony Chachere's' or 'Slap Ya Mama' if you can get your hands on it.
• Simmer until the meat is tender - this is the key. Ducks will tenderize alot quicker than geese will. I have simmered geese as long as 3 or 4 hours - to the point where the vegetables had all cooked to nothing. I happen to like alot of 'floaties' in my gumbo, so, if that happens, I add more and cook until they're also tender. Keep adding water as it cooks down to keep the level up.
• Turn gumbo off for a while so that any excess grease or oil from the sausage will rise to the top, then skim it off.
• Ladle this into a bowl of steamed long grain rice and serve with a side of potato salad. Good on cold, wet winter days. Well worth the effort.