Breasts
Photo by Holly A. Heyser
Duck or goose breasts are best seared rare-to-medium, and either served with just some salt and pepper (celery salt is excellent, too), or sometimes with a nice pan sauce.
I also have my recipes for ground duck here, too, because it is really hard to get meat off a little wild duck leg to grind, so I mostly grind the breast meat of lesser ducks, like scaup or spoonies.
Here is my technique for cooking a duck breast, and you can find a selection of my wild game sauces here. Below are a few special duck or goose breast recipes; and remember you can always use domestic duck instead of wild duck, although you will have more fat to deal with.
WHOLE BREASTS
- Duck Jerky, flavored with garlic, thyme and Worcestershire
- Baked Duck Tenders, flavored with pepper, allspice, cinnamon and garlic
- Duck Fried Rice, made with wild rice and foraged ingredients
- Classic German Jaeger Schnitzel, made with duck breasts pounded into cutlets
- French Laundry Duck Roulade, an elegant duck breast dish
- Goose breasts with orange and ouzo
- Duck Bigarade, the original version of the classic duck l’orange
- Duck Breasts on a bed of roasted apricots, from the Cottage Smallholder
- Ducks in the Orchard, sauteed duck breasts with apples and a cider sauce
- Goose Breasts with Winter Vegetables - definitely a date night dish
GROUND OR CHOPPED BREAST MEAT
- Duck or Goose Meatballs, made from the breasts of sea ducks, diver ducks or snow geese
- Duck Sliders, little hamburgers topped with onions and cheese
- Diver Duck Burgers, with caramelized onions and fried apples
