Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 13

WILD KITCHEN

Grilled duck or goose
Grilled duck breast, or in the case of the photo, grilled
goose breast is a bedrock skill every waterfowler ought to
know. But while it ain't rocket science, grilling duck breasts
isn't as simple as slapping some breasts on the grill.
I recommend avoiding birds with fatty breasts like storebought ducks or geese or wild ducks like California pintails
or grain-fed mallards. Greenwinged teal can also be super
fatty. This fat presents problems.
One trick I learned using fatty
duck or goose meat is to sear the
skin side of the duck in a pan
before it hits the grill.
Grill cold meat, which is normally not what you'd want. Grill
skinless duck breasts and very
small skin-on breasts, like those Hank Shaw hunts
from wood ducks or teal, right and fishes across the
out of the fridge. Larger breasts, country, has penned
like mallards, store-bought multiple wild game
Pekin or Muscovy, or snow cookbooks and keeps
goose breasts, need a few min- an award-winning food
utes to warm up. Only really big blog at honest-food.
breasts, like those from domestic net. His cookbooks are
available at the Game
or Canada geese, need the full
and Fish Store.
warm-up time; they're more like
steaks, anyway.
Any species of duck or goose will work with this recipe.
I prefer to grill larger duck and goose breasts because they
don't cook up instantaneously. Serve with vegetables of
your choice. If you are looking for a starch bread is a good
choice, but so are grilled potatoes or grilled sweet potatoes.

(Photo by Holly A. Heyser)

Ingredients

4 large duck or small
goose breasts
Salt
Olive or vegetable oil
Black pepper
Vegetables of your
choice: onions,
zucchini, tomatoes,
peppers

Preparation
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Serves 4 people

1. Take duck breasts out of the fridge and salt them
well. Let them sit on the counter for 30 minutes
to come to room temperature. If you are working with skinless breasts, keep wild duck breasts
in the fridge and take domestic duck or goose
breasts out of the fridge only 15 minutes before
you cook them.
2. Get your grill ready by setting up a hot side and a
cooler side. Make sure the grates are clean. When
you are ready, pat the duck dry with paper towels
and coat them with a little oil. Set the duck breasts
skin-side down on the hot side of the grill. Keep
the cover open, and have a spray bottle of water
ready. If the breasts are skinless you won't have

flare-ups. If they are skin-on but fairly lean, there
might be one or two, but it'll be okay. If they are
fat, however, you will need to be diligent with the
spray bottle to douse flare-ups. Keep grilling the
skin side until the skin is nice and crispy, about
6 to 8 minutes.
3. Turn the duck over and grill on the meat side
until they're nicely browned, about 2 minutes
on a hot grill.
4. Move the duck to the cooler side of the grill and
poke it with your finger. Use the finger test for
doneness to determine how done the breasts are.
Chances are with larger duck breasts, and definitely with goose breasts, you'll need to finish
them with the grill covered on the cool side of
the grill for a few minutes.
5. When the duck is ready, move it to a plate and
let it rest uncovered skin-side up for 5 minutes
before slicing.
Wyoming Wildlife | 13

https://honest-food.net/grilled-duck-breast-recipe/ https://honest-food.net/

Wyoming Wildlife magazine

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