Pintails taste funny?

[the spank]

All mine go to the sausage or jerky pile.

 

[hoytcanon]

Well... odd one out... I like eating ducks. Early teal and woodies are delicious. Fat mallards and blacks are delectable, slice into half inch strips "across the grain" and keep the centers pink. We don't have pintails out this way, but I also eat bluebills, whistler's and buffs, but they generally get stewed or stirfried.

 

[madtrapper143]

Well... odd one out... I like eating ducks. Early teal and woodies are delicious. Fat mallards and blacks are delectable, slice into half inch strips "across the grain" and keep the centers pink. We don't have pintails out this way, but I also eat bluebills, whistler's and buffs, but they generally get stewed or stirfried.

"Pink" is the key. If you like liver cook past that point. I often do but I do like liver.

Darryl

 

[1963beretta]

Did someone say GW Teal??? Delicious when slow cooked whole in fresh homemade tomato sauce. Heres the before...cant find the after pic...

Roasted duck stuffed with all the fixings and seasoned with salt, pepper and smoked paprika. Mouth watering!!!

I also grind up duck and/or goose and mix with pork in a 60/40 ratio. Add you preferred seasoning...I like smoked paprika, whole fennel, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder. Seal in freezer bags....

And use as a replacement for anything that requires ground beef...such as burgers....

Or as Spank suggested....the good ’ol sausage.

Needless to say, waterfowl make some of the best tablefare in my opinion.

 

[1963beretta]

Ooppss, now that I posted the photos, I realized I posted the wrong photo of the GW teal. In any event, the photo still illustrates how they would clean up and how I cooked them

 

[Got Juice?]

As with all birds, their gaminess is going to be influenced by what they have been eating.

As for grouse, their is a big difference in the colour of their meat and flavour (gaminess) based on the species.
The best eating is the ruffed with its white meat and delicate flavour (more like domestic chicken than any other grouse). Best in summer annd early fall. Once the snow hits and they switch to eating pine and spruce needles, they will get gamier.
Next comes the blues, which as considerably bigger, a little darker meat,and can be a little tougher to chew.
Sharptails come next with a darker red meat, and a bigger birds as well. These can be pretty gamey later in the fall, after the green leaves and grasses are gone.
Spruce hens are very dark meat and very gamey.
Ptarmigan, also have a very dark meat and gamey flavour.

I have never duck hunted, but imagine that they are as varied in meat color, size and taste as the grouse are. Have eaten domestic duck and like it. My wife makes duck for our Easter meal every year.
Have hunted Canada geese once, and have eaten them twice. Not bad. But I think if they had been cooked by someone with more knowledge in their preparation, then it would have been better.

Everyone has their own preferences on wild game flavour. I do not shoot the sharptails or spruce hens as I do not care for their strong taste, but my mentors grandson prefers them to all others.

Ruffies taste is similar to a Rock Cornish hen... very tasty... unless they have been feasting on juniper berries in which case they taste like turpentine.

 

[elimsprint]

Just goes to show tastes are different. I love having a nice roasted mallard for Sunday dinner but I can't be bothered to even bring a .22 or 410 along when deer or moose hunting for grouse any more. I find grouse meat dry and boring. My buddy is crazy about shooting them. He just about foams at the mouth whenever he sees one.

One time we made a bed of cabbage leaves in a dutch oven, put three or four grouse in there, covered them with onions and a bottle of home made elderberry wine, covered that with more cabbage leaves and cooked the whole mess slowly in the coals of a fire. That was okay.

You should have drank the wine, then you wouldn't have cared what the ducks tasted like

 

[Longwalker]

I also wonder if people understand how to handle birds before they reach the kitchen. Cool promptly and keep them from getting contaminated while cleaning. Piling freshly shot birds together, and in a warm place and not cleaning them promptly won't result in good tasting meat. You must also keep them clean while dressing, avoid gut contents contamination, rinse thoroughly after dressing, and preferably brine soak for a few days in the fridge to age and tenderize the meat.

 

[45CAT]

Grouse fried in butter(garlic or onion) or bacon fat served with homemade grape jelly

 

[blasted_saber]

I also wonder if people understand how to handle birds before they reach the kitchen. Cool promptly and keep them from getting contaminated while cleaning. Piling freshly shot birds together, and in a warm place and not cleaning them promptly won't result in good tasting meat. You must also keep them clean while dressing, avoid gut contents contamination, rinse thoroughly after dressing, and preferably brine soak for a few days in the fridge to age and tenderize the meat.

They dont. Its pretty simple. Goes for more then ducks too.

"I shot this duck at first light and didnt clean it for 8 hours. Was hot out there today!"

Gee, I wonder why it tastes like ####?

"Also, I shot this buck last night, dragged it home through the swamp and hung it, then gutted it 6 hours later after some beers. Tastes like #### though, must be the cedars it was eating"

 

[smokin'stoegie]

Found a recipe on OOD for East/ West duck sausage.
Some of the best sausage I've had.

 

[cant_rope_the_wind01]

Fine with me. The more people who believe that, the less competition in the duck fields.

ya what he said

that being said I've heard a lot of people say Pintails are an acquired taste and do taste different
I've never really noticed cuz I just grind em all together in one grinding session
each species has its own texture and flavour
, its like a fall snow goose when they first arrive and have been feeding on the tundra mosses and vegetation they are skin and bones not much to them ,but give then 3 weeks in wheat field they taste different, but give them the winter feeding down south on prime crops they return in the spring with a totally different flavour they are fat and have some mass to them as well ,
I could never understand the term wild taste , Pffft old wives tale
people are raised on cheap domestic bland tasting beef that's been fed growth hormones in their diets and minerals
(domestic meat from a grocery store is pure crap in my opinion), and pork that's raised and injected with steroids and antibiotics and other unknown crap
when they get the expensive wildlife meat they try to marinate the flavour out it,
its like lets marinate the pig out of a pork , or lets marinate the poultry out of a roast chicken or lets marinate the cow or bull out of the beef
well PFFFFT think about what yer saying and doing I say
lets marinate the hell out of everything except a big mack and chicken nuggets because that's what everything should taste like
most people don't know how to cook wild game, I have cooked up wt deer steak for guests , and they have said its the best beef steak they ever tasted only to find out it was WT Deer they just ate

 

[MD]

Thanks for the post.

ya what he said

that being said
each species has its own texture and flavour
, its like a fall snow goose when they first arrive and have been feeding on the tundra mosses and vegetation they are skin and bones not much to them ,but give then 3 weeks in wheat field they taste different, but give them the winter feeding down south on prime crops they return in the spring with a totally different flavour they are fat and have some mass to them as well ,
I could never understand the term wild taste , Pffft old wives tale
people are raised on cheap domestic bland tasting beef that's been fed growth hormones in their diets and minerals
(domestic meat from a grocery store is pure crap in my opinion), and pork that's raised and injected with steroids and antibiotics and other unknown crap
when they get the expensive wildlife meat they try to marinate the flavour out it,
its like lets marinate the pig out of a pork , or lets marinate the poultry out of a roast chicken or lets marinate the cow or bull out of the beef
well PFFFFT think about what yer saying and doing I say
lets marinate the hell out of everything except a big mack and chicken nuggets because that's what everything should taste like
most people don't know how to cook wild game, I have cooked up wt deer steak for guests , and they have said its the best beef steak they ever tasted only to find out it was WT Deer they just ate

 

[pounder]

Pepper & salt on my caribou is all it needs.

 

[1963beretta]

Ground beef or ground duck/goose? I have yet to have someone notice the difference.

Easy recipe to follow for an delicious meal that can be used for just about anything...over nacho’s, in tacos, in chili, stuffed peppers, in lunch wraps, in lasagna or served on white rice or on pasta. The options are endless

Chop half onion and sautee
Add 2.5lbs of goose/duck/pork mix (this was a 70/30 split of watefowl/pork..waterfowl meat consisted of ground breasts from mallard, wood duck, widgeon, bufflehead and Canada goose)
Add 400g of chopped mushrooms
Add tablespoon of salt
Add tablespoon of pepper
Add tablespoon of whole fennel
Add tablespoon of smoked paprika
Add tablespoon of ground chili flakes
Add 4-6 table spoons of tomato sauce
Let simmer on low

Cook time is about 20 minutes

 

[Rugdoc]

See post # 52

Ground beef or ground duck/goose? I have yet to have someone notice the difference.

Easy recipe to follow for an delicious meal that can be used for just about anything...over nacho’s, in tacos, in chili, stuffed peppers, in lunch wraps, in lasagna or served on white rice or on pasta. The options are endless

Chop half onion and sautee
Add 2.5lbs of goose/duck/pork mix (this was a 70/30 split of watefowl/pork..waterfowl meat consisted of ground breasts from mallard, wood duck, widgeon, bufflehead and Canada goose)
Add 400g of chopped mushrooms
Add tablespoon of salt
Add tablespoon of pepper
Add tablespoon of whole fennel
Add tablespoon of smoked paprika
Add tablespoon of ground chili flakes
Add 4-6 table spoons of tomato sauce
Let simmer on low

Cook time is about 20 minutes

 

[BrotherRockeye]

do your ducks breast down with bacon across the back in a roaster. You'll be surprised at how good a duck can taste.

In a similar vein...
If you know what a Spruce Grouse is, then you know they generally taste like shyte...or pine needles...my buddy has a recipe that makes them not only edible but tasty. I stopped shooting them years ago but they are back on the menu because of that recipe. I can't share it with you because I like to feign ignorance of the process so he'll do the cooking.

oh and +1 to post #52

 

[ironsighter]

do your ducks breast down with bacon across the back in a roaster. You'll be surprised at how good a duck can taste.

In a similar vein...
If you know what a Spruce Grouse is, then you know they generally taste like shyte...or pine needles...my buddy has a recipe that makes them not only edible but tasty. I stopped shooting them years ago but they are back on the menu because of that recipe. I can't share it with you because I like to feign ignorance of the process so he'll do the cooking.

oh and +1 to post #52

Spruce Grouse is 100 times more edible than the wild ducks I've had. No special recipe required for the Sprucies. Breast 'em out, salt and pepper, then into a cast iron pan for about 90 seconds per side.

"Tataki" style. So damned good!