It is rare that I cook the protein or meat for meals. I have always been the vegetable or side dish girl. Sure I can cook chicken breasts, roast a whole chicken, make meatloaf, hamburgers, etc, but I never cook anything of substance. I make casseroles & I use my slow cooker a lot. I live in the mid-west, I have a long commute, enough said. Needless to say, I have also never cooked wild game. Yes I grew up in the mid-west, but until recently I never was exposed to it. As fate would have it, I ended up with a hunter.
He brought home some wild duck and I decided that I would try to cook it. I love duck, but I have never had wild duck. My hunter does not even like it very much. He says it is too gamey and bloody, which is what many people say. I decided that I would look to various recipes for wild duck and thought of a blog I follow (Food for Hunters) as surely they would have some recipes for this wild game. They had a few recipes and I decided to adapt one of them to my own needs.
Wild Duck Stew (Adapted from: Apricot Wild Duck with Swiss Chard & Goat Cheese Polenta )
- 2 to 3 wild duck breasts (depending on the size of the duck), skinned & cubed
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 C of all-purpose flour
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1/4 C whiskey (or water)
- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced
- 1 C red wine (make sure it is drinkable so you can it enjoy with dinner)
- 3 C vegetable stock
- 1/3 C good honey
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 2 sweet potatoes
Heat a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil. Salt and pepper the wild duck and coat in flour. Shake off excess flour and cook in the dutch oven until browned on all sides. Remove duck and set aside.
Reduce heat down to medium and add the carrots. Cook until slightly tender, about 5-10 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly. Add the whiskey, or water, and turn heat back on. Allow liquid to evaporate with slight stirring.
Add the duck back to the pan, the adobo pepper, the wine, the vegetable stock and slightly stir. Add the honey while stirring so it does not settle to the bottom of the pan. Add the dried thyme and additional pepper to taste. Allow the mixture to come to a boil for 3-5 minutes.
Place cover on and put into a preheated 350F oven and bake for 2.5 hours or until tender. Remove from oven and place on stovetop. Remove cover and reduce liquid to desired consistency (about 10-15minutes).
Approximately 45 minutes before stew is finished, start to boil water for the sweet potatoes. Boil potatoes for 30 minutes. Remove skin and mash. Serve duck stew over potatoes and enjoy wild duck.
