A simple way to treat SMALL duck - and it's a HUGE hit! It's like having steak. Use the breasts, save the rest of the bird for a stew or stock.
Excellent recipe. A tip for those who want to eliminate the "wild game" taste as much as possible is to soak the duck breasts in salted ice water for about an hour before using. I suggest about a Tablespoon of salt per quart. Make sure to use ice water as it will draw out blood. Then rinse the breasts thoroughly and quickly pat dry with paper towel before adding to the marinade. This recipe is a keeper!
Read More
This was the first time for duck breast for us, so we thought we'd try an easy marinade. The flavor of the marinade was fine, but our meat still had a little "wild" flavor. Next time, we will soak it a little in brine before we marinate. We also grilled this for about 10-12 minutes on each side and as you can see in the picture, it still came out medium rare. I guess duck is an extremely bloody meat. Thanks for the recipe, RKC. I will try this marinade again.
Read MoreExcellent recipe. A tip for those who want to eliminate the "wild game" taste as much as possible is to soak the duck breasts in salted ice water for about an hour before using. I suggest about a Tablespoon of salt per quart. Make sure to use ice water as it will draw out blood. Then rinse the breasts thoroughly and quickly pat dry with paper towel before adding to the marinade. This recipe is a keeper!
The best tip I can give when cooking any duck breasts is do NOT overcook. Cooking on grill is best. Breast should be medium to medium rare. Allow meat to rest 10 mins before cutting. If you overcook- it will give a more wild taste. We eat a variety of game meat all the time. This is the best tip someone should use.
I cook on a grill as hot as I can get it (500+) for a very short time dpending on the size of the duck breast. there is no substitute for a meat thermometer when you cook game birds. The grilled duck breast should be cooked to 130 degrees F and then removed from the grill to keep it from tasting gamey. It will look very red when cut and should run pinkish juice. You do not have to soak it in brine. I do half my ducks with this recipe and the other half using Soy instead of Worcestichire sauce. The rule with wild duck is to not overcook it.
This was the first time for duck breast for us, so we thought we'd try an easy marinade. The flavor of the marinade was fine, but our meat still had a little "wild" flavor. Next time, we will soak it a little in brine before we marinate. We also grilled this for about 10-12 minutes on each side and as you can see in the picture, it still came out medium rare. I guess duck is an extremely bloody meat. Thanks for the recipe, RKC. I will try this marinade again.
Awesome recipe! Like other readers, we put the duck in a bath of ice water & salt and that definitely made the duck not gamey at all. This recipe was so great we made it two nights in a row. Thanks for sharing. :)
Best goose marinade I've ever tried. My wife and kids will now enjoy my ducks with me during duck season. Makes mallard and pintails even better and will make divers and even coots delicious to eat. A must tried for all duck hunters!
Amazing!! My husband and I hated duck before this recipe. My daughter (8yr.) loved it as well. We were all fighting over it at the dinner table. I did soak it in ice salt water for an hour, so I don't know if that helped with eliminating the game taste. Thanks!
Easy to make and the kids loved it!!!!!Let the meat rest from the grill for a few minutes. Slice it up and serve over a pasta or rice. We will try this again.
My husband has recently taken up duck hunting & I've never liked duck before. The way my mom fixed it it always tasted like a mixture of rotting fish & mud. This recipe worked very well to eliminate that taste and I can actually say I enjoy duck now. Even my picky 4 year old liked it. I did do the salty ice water soak suggested in some of the comments.
Thank you for this recipe! My boyfriends dad gave us a bunch of wild duck breasts and I had NO idea how to cook it. We marinated it overnight and cooked it on the barbeque the next day. Delicious!
It's an excellent and simple way to cook small and large duck breast. Takes away any hint of what some folks think is a liver flavor. My wife loves it and she has to be converted due to beibg a city girl. With a bock beer, and rice, this makes a fantastic dinner. Two large duck (mallard, gadwall, etc...) breasts a piece is plenty. You will feel like you had a light and not overpowering meal. The sauce and garlic are just right. we had it with woody's too which are known to be more livery. Just as good. Dont cook too long. You want duck to be medium rare. It's a red meal like tenderloin. We have added it to our normal rotation of meals - during duck season. Cheers! Peter and Maggie Madison, Wisconsin
We used this marinade for both duck and pheasant that we fondued with a group of friends; it was delicous. We served the duck with mint jelly. We had several meats and the duck, believe it or not, was the favorite!
Well, I guess duck meat isn't for me. I overcooked a little bit which I know is a big no no but neither hubby or I can stomach the look of rare meat so I didn't have much of a choice. With that in mind, I think this is an excellent recipe for those that don't mind the blood. The marinade is very flavorful and seemed to really tenderize the meat. If I get any more wild duck, I will try this again and soak it in the salt water like other reviewers mentioned.
Excellent! I soaked the breasts in an ice water with salt for an hour and a half and used more worcestershire sauce and the duck tasted great! I will use this recipe again!
This Recipe was great and easy to follow! The man who gave me the duck fresh from that morning's hunt gave it to me in milk. The milk works just like the salt water mix does to pull the milk out of the meat and tenderize it a little. Worked great for us!
This was a great recipe. My kids loved it. We did need to cook it about 35 minutes on the grill. We cooked it with the bone.
Fantastic! This recipe is simple and delicious. I had been looking to do a little something different for dinner after getting a bit tired of chicken, pork, fish and beef most nights, and the duck breast was just the ticket! I also soaked the breasts in icy salt water for an hour per the suggestion of another reviewer, which was easy and they did not taste 'gamey' at all. Please note that since duck has thick/fatty skin that it did catch 'fire' and char on that side, BUT that did NOT affect the cook time. Next time, I'll grill the meat-side down first for 5 minutes and then grill the skin side for 3 minutes at most, to avoid the char. While the recipe was incredible by itself, I also served it with some Hoisin Sauce on the side to dip pieces into, which was fantastic. In China, they serve duck with scallions or chives, which would also taste good chopped over the finished duck. Thank you for sharing this recipe - we'll be having this again!
Throw some paprika and brown sugar in there if you really want to be delighted!
Excellent recipe for wild duck. I have used it twice now and the second time it had to marinate for 48 hours-still delicious! Both my 7 and 10 year olds gobbled it up.
This is an excellent marinade with wild duck or goose. Have enjoyed it everytime I use it. Letting it marinade for at least an hour in the fridge works well also I would soak the meet for several hours in salt water before hand.
Good recipe. I was short on time, so I brined the breasts for two days, marinaded the breasts for two days, then I grilled them. They were delicious, even to my picky teen eater. Great marinade.
Was so good. Totally tasted like steak. I did the salt water thing and then marinated them for 8 or 9 hours and they were really good. Thanks for the recipe!
Super easy recipe to make. had family over who normally don't eat wild meat and they loved it. I used Teal duck instead of Mallards and it was a great success too only downside to Teal is they have such tiny breast so make sure you have plenty...
Great recipe for those who think they can't make ducks taste good! I used a teaspoon of Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce in mine and it was perfect.
I have tried duck many ways but this is exceptional. Everyone seems to LOVE it. Thankyou.
SO good! Make this recipe. I could not believe how amazing it tastes. I also did the ice/salt bath (which, btw, the guys at the butcher had never heard of) and grilled skin-side down for most of the time. DE-LISH!!!
We grilled duck and goose and they were phenomenal! I soaked the breasts in an icy brine before marinating them. So tender and flavorful!
My husband like this a lot. I did not think it was bad. But I still don't like duck.
Used the tips suggesting we soak the duck and there was no gamey taste at all. Possibly could have rated this recipe 5 stars but, in spite of my repeated warnings, my husband overcooked the breasts. They were still quite good.
I followed this recipe pretty close, but I also soaked the duck in ice water and sea salt for 1 hour before marinating. I used a whole duck and split it length wise in half and marinated the Mallard per recipe in the refrigerator for approximately 2 hours in a gallon zip lock bag turning occasionally. I rubbed sea salt on both sides of the duck and scored the skin before cooking on a 400-450 gas grill for approximately 7 minutes per side, (skin side down first). After cooking, I then let it rest for 5 minutes. It turned out medium rare and very tasty!
My son hunted duck yesterday morning for the first time. He shot three. Didn’t know how to prepare them but this recipe was perfect. The breasts were tender and flavorful with no wild game taste at all. This is a keeper.
Really good marinated for about two hours could probably go longer though but the flavor was really good. Would recommend
I added a glaze of maple surop during the last 5 minutes on the BBQ. Medium rare is good. Slice and enjoy. Duck breast is our new favourite!
I don't normally give reviews, but wow, I gotta tell you, this is without a doubt the best marinade for grilled duck breast I've ever tried. I did substitute the Worcestershire which I'm not a big fan of for Soy sauce and added just a tablespoon of the Worcestershire ... I marinated it over night. I also did the ice water cleansing for lack of a better term. FANTASTIC!
Loved this! I've picked up duck hunting and found duck needs to be prepared right. The salt water trick works very well - you can literally see all the blood that gets pulled out. Marinade was great. I cooked mine to medium well (not brave enough yet on wild duck to do less even though I'm sure it's safe) and didn't feel like it was too gamy. Did this on wigeon.
Awesome. I usually cook these with bacon. today I tried without it on freshly harvested wild duck. All I can say is "Awesome"!
Soaked in brine for one hour. next time I may try to soak in milk. grilled to 130 degrees, which was perfect. Still a tad gamey but not too overpowering
This was a good recipe. I used 4 wood duck breast and 4 goose tenders. My wife, who usually doesn't eat duck very much loved it. My 1 and half year old ate two of the tenders and demolished them. Will definitely add this to my ways to make my duck.
I soaked my duck breast in buttermilk and salt for a day and then follows this recipe exactly. Wow! It turned out wonderful! My first time cooking wild duck. Reminded me of beef fillet. Great recipe!!
Great marinade, I still grill bacon wrapped with a jalapeno. Don't overcook it and it will be hard to beat. Only way my wife will eat wild duck.
Marinade was fantastic and simple. I grilled the meat until the internal temp was 125 degrees. At 135 or higher the meat takes on a texture similar to beef liver. Dinner was served under 60 minutes including marinade time.
Really surprised at how it got right through the gamy taste. Even my kids enjoyed it. Thanks for posting :)
Amazing. Went out goose hunting, came back with ducks. Thought I'd give this a try before making everything into Jerky (not a duck fan). But wow, so simple. I left out the hot sauce and added a bit of soya sauce. Marinated over night and pan fried to just red in the center. Simply amazing. Make sure to clean the breasts properly (no fat, skin or silver lining, and soak the breasts in water, rinsing until the water is just pink. These wild ducks have absolutely no game taste whatsoever.
This is an excellent recipe! I don't normally care for the taste of duck (gamey and swamp-like), but this has a great garlicy steak-like taste. I soaked my ducks in salt water for two days to draw out the blood then marinated for two additional days. I poked holes in the meat with a fork to tenderize and allow the marinade to really sink in. Grilled it over charcoal, being careful not to over cook. This is the best waterfowl I have ever had! Full of flavor and very tender. I will definitely be using it again and am looking forward to trying it with goose.
This duck is fantastic. My husband is a hunter, so I'm always looking for duck recipes. This is easy and we loved it. Personally, I think the key is not overcooking the duck. Well done equals tough duck.
My first time cooking duck and this was great. I did brine it a couple of days then marinated for about 8 hours. It's too cold to grill, so I wrapped it in bacon and cooked it in a hot iron skillet for about 4 minutes a side.
I was short on Worcestershire, so I used half and half with Maggi. Poured the marinade over the duck breasts in a small zip-lock back. Marinated while the grill heated up. So simple, yet perfectly tasty. Served with mashed sweet potatoes and prepackaged fettuccini Alfredo. Great week night break from the ordinary.
After being disappointed the last time I cooked duck I could not believe it. NO game taste and tender and juicy like a steak. Now just need more ducks .....
My favorite marinade for wild duck breast. I and soy and brown sugar. Very tasty without hiding the taste of the duck.
The recipe was fantastic and the advice of Scott Porter on how to grill without using a brine was spot on. :)
I soaked the breasts in salt water for three days changing the water everyday. The result was like a beef filet with no game taste. I cook all my ducks on grill about 8 min a side med-high heat to a medium just a little pink. Carl B
My teenage son came home beaming on Thanksgiving morning after his first successful hunting venture with several skinless duck breast fillets. What now? We never eat game. I had gamey venison jerky once and could not choke it down, so I was leery of any recipe purporting to produce edible meat. Brined the breasts in ice water as others suggested. Followed the recipe exactly as written and grilled the breasts medium rare. TASTED LIKE BEEF STEAK! Tender and delicious! Every skeptic at the dinner table agreed. Can’t wait to use the cooked meat in fajitas, sandwiches, etc. I am so happy we can enjoy the duck my son brought home. Thank you!!
Excellent! Mallards soaked in salt and ice water for 2 hours and marinade for 3 hours. Best we have ever fixed.
I made this as the recipe states and it was delicious. I stopped grilling when it was about 145-150 degrees (about 20 minutes total.)
Tasty! Used this recipe for the duck and then added the duck to rice and stir fried vegetables.
I used brine with 3tsp non iodine sea salt per quart of cold water overnight for about 12hrs. I mixed up the marinade at the same time in a gallon ziploc bag. The next morning I took the breasts, dried them off, and transferred them to the marinade for the remainder of the day. We made them for supper that night. Grilled over high heat (550°F) for about 6 minutes a side. Turned out tender and not gamey tasting at all! Super recipe! Will be using it again, I think. And a definite recommendation to anybody who has never made wild duck before!
Wow! Maybe it's the Worcestershire, but you could fool someone into thinking this is steak. This dish is fabulous as is. Remember to pull the fat off the duck breast and marinade several hours. Duck breast is expensive, but you won't be disappointed.
