Legs, thighs & wings
Photo by Holly A. Heyser
These are the most flavorful parts of a duck or goose, but they also need long, slow cooking to become tender. Not so much as the legs of upland game birds like pheasants — they do a lot more walking around than ducks do — but you still can’t eat a goose leg rare without a lot of chewing. And the wings? Man, but they can be tough. Think about it: Ducks and geese migrate thousands of miles. That’s a lot of work for those muscles.
Below are recipes both easy and advanced. I’d start with the confit and move to the braises. The deboned, stuffed duck legs recipe at the bottom is definitely not for beginners…
- How to Make Duck or Goose Confit
- English Duck or Goose Pie, a giant “pot pie” you can eat hot or cold for lunch
- A quicker method for getting close to a real confit I wrote on Simply Recipes
- Shredded Duck Confit with Pasta, lemon zest and garlic (also hosted on Simply Recipes)
- Duck Buffalo Wings
- Braised duck legs with leeks
- German braised duck Niederwald
- Tagine of duck with chestnuts
- French Salmis of Duck or Goose
- Stuffed Duck or Goose legs, deboned and filled with sausage
