Duck Charcuterie

German smoked goose breast sliced on cutting board — Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Duck lends itself to charcuterie very well, especially when you mix it with pork fat. Below are some of the fresh and cured sausages I’ve made with wild ducks and geese, as well as a few other cured meats done with the breasts and legs.

Wild Duck Jerky or Goose Jerky

Thinly sliced pieces of duck or goose breast, salted, spiced and air-dried. A perfect use for snow geese or diver ducks.

How to Make Smoked Duck

When life gives you nicely fat ducks, you could do worse than to slow smoke them like this. A great use for pintails, mallards or other clean-tasting ducks.

Smoked Goose Breast

A very special German recipe for smoked goose breast, this is one of the most wonderful recipes on this website. Make this with domestic goose breast, or wait until you have a fat Canada or whitefront goose before you make this.

Duck Mortadella Sausage

Basically, this is what Bologna wishes it could be once it grows up. Not the easiest sausage to make, but one of the best.

Duck L’Orange Sausages

All the flavors of a classic dish, stuffed into a sausage casing.

Duck Prosciutto

Probably the easiest charcuterie project to do, this can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be.

Goose Leg Ham, Prosciutto D’Oca

Goose leg ham, a recipe from Northern Italy. It’s easy to cure, but to make it really well, you need to hang these legs for several months.

Goose Pastrami

Another awesome thing to do with goose breasts. This works best with Canada geese or domesticated geese.

Wild Duck or Goose Rilletes

Another easy charcuterie project, rillettes are basically a rough pate — think of it as a cross between pate and pulled pork. Great for a snack or as a party appetizer.

Wild Duck Terrine

A little more involved than rillettes, a terrine is a more elegant party appetizer or cold cut. You can actually slice it and serve the terrine as a sandwich — it’s aweseme this way.

Duck Hot Dogs

Yep. Hot dogs made from 100 percent duck or goose. They are one of my all-time favorite sausages to make.

Toulouse Sausage

An easy sausage that is a good place to begin if you are new to duck sausages. It’s a country style link with minimal seasonings, so you can actually taste the duck.

Duck Sausages Hunter’s Style

Another good beginner sausage, this one is a little more heavily seasoned with herbs and garlic.

Giblet Sausages with Sage

If you have lots of duck or goose giblets, grind them up for these sausages, which are heavily seasoned with sage. You will never know you are eating giblets!

Smoked Canada Goose Sausage

A basic smoked sausage recipe, this one is my go-to when I get a bunch of Canada geese. Works fine with all sorts of geese or ducks, though.

Polish Duck Sausages

A traditional Polish spice mixture used to make a very traditional duck sausage. This is an easy, delicious recipe good for beginners.