Best Tasting Duck

In order:

1. Canvasback
2. Redhead
3. Pintail/Black duck
4. Bluewing/ Cinnamon
5. Greenwing
6. Wigeon
7.Ringneck
8. Mallard
9. Gadwall
10. Bluebill
11. Shoveler
12. Bufflehead
13. Goldeneye
14. Sea ducks and Mergies (them's good too)

Cormorant is a dish that should be eaten more too.
 
dave_t73 said:
what about wood ducks?
Click to expand...
Sorry, its been 10 years since I ate one. To be honest the worst duck I've EVER eaten was one wood duck. Don't know why but it was absolutely rank. All the others have been fine though.

In order:

1. Canvasback
2. Redhead
3. Pintail/Wood Duck/Black duck
4. Bluewing/ Cinnamon
5. Greenwing
6. Wigeon
7.Ringneck
8. Mallard
9. Gadwall
10. Bluebill
11. Shoveler
12. Bufflehead
13. Goldeneye
14. Sea ducks and Mergies (them's good too)

Cormorant is a dish that should be eaten more too.
 
Last edited:
I have yet to try a Woodie... or shoot one.

No real expertise or order here, but I like Blacks, Ringnecks, Teal ( and if you include geese as ducks, they are #1)

I have 16 pieces of Blackduck breast meat in my fridge, can't wait to try them as they have been feeding on wheat for about a week.
 
Cans and redheads
bluewing teal (sorry greenwings too small)
pintail
widgeon
mallards
lesser scaup


Screwed up and Shot 2 shovelers on saturday... still wondering what to do with them!
 
M12shooter said:
Cans and redheads
bluewing teal (sorry greenwings too small)
pintail
widgeon
mallards
lesser scaup


Screwed up and Shot 2 shovelers on saturday... still wondering what to do with them!
Click to expand...

Not sure what a shoveler tastes like, but on one hunting show, they cooked "fishy" ducks with assorted seafood apparently it is good.
 
Early season shoveler is not fishy. Here are the results of a blind taste test we conducted this fall that I posted on another forum.

Duck taste testing (skinless breasts).
Came back with teal (the blue and green flavors), gadwall, mallards, Shovelers, and a canvasback yesterday and decided we would cook them all the same way and try to determine flavor differences.

We selected skinned, clean, unshot breast fillets from each duck and seasoned simply with salt and pepper and grilled each to med-rare on the grill, let them rest and then lined them up and conducted a blind taste test with 2 other people -- of 4 tasters, I was the only one who knew what bird was what -- the rest only got small pieces that they could not determine the size of the breast fillet from.

Results?

Everyone liked all the ducks.
Teal were indistinguishable from each other and were rated the most mild and tender.

The mallard had the coarsest grain and was rated as very "beeflike".

The gadwall was very similar to the mallard in taste but with a much finer grain (therefore a little more susceptible to becoming livery and tough due to over cooking -- that didn't happen in this taste test though).

The spoonbill was "the most flavorful" not in a bad way though, it was tender like the teal but with a stronger flavor than the mallard. We all agreed that it would be a great duck to use if you had some red wine sauces or sauces based on beef/game stocks.

The canvasback was the bird most guys thought would be best for a formal dinner. The breast fillet was uniform throughout (didn't have that tear drop shaped depth puddlers do) so that every bite was cooked to the same doneness as the last. The flavor was just slightly stronger than the mallard and the grain slightly finer.

Soooo. Mallard, gaddie and canvasback were rated the best with mallard being probably the "most forgiving" duck if improperly cooked and probably the best to braise for a long time as it had the coarsest grain and would be less likely to turn to mush.
Canvasback was judged the best duck to hit with "hot and fast" heat and that anyone who cooked it more than medium rare should be "shot in the guts and left to die in the sun".
Gadwall was judged the easiest to screw up by leaving it a minute longer on the grill than needed.

Spoonbill was the next favorite, surprisingly. That all of us eat and like duck probably helped that rating since shoveler was the "duckiest" tasting of the ducks.

Teal were rated the lowest. Too bland, not enough texture etc. in comparison to the others. However, we did agree that skinless teal breasts would be the best duck to serve to a first time duck eater. We realized that there is a reason that we usually leave the skin on teal as it imparts most of the flavor to the duck.

Next taste test will be of the same or similar birds with the skin on the breasts. Later we will do a whole roasted taste testing too.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom