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Aging ducks is AWESOME

31K views 35 replies 22 participants last post by  agengo02 
#1 ·
I've been experimenting a lot with different methods of aging, hanging, and brining ducks over the past few years, and I think I've found the best thing yet. Clean your ducks by using game shears to snip the ribs and wishbone and lift the whole breastbone and both breasts out at once, still on the bone with the skin on. Cut down to the leg joint and remove the legs, peeling the skin off as you go and lift both legs out. Age in the refrigerator, lightly covered, for about 5-7 days, then remove the skin, bone out the breasts, and then sear in a hot skillet to medium rare=the best tasting duck ever! I really think this aging process makes a huge difference, tastes like good roast beef to me. I've only tried this with puddle ducks, but I think it would work with divers too. Try it out and see how it goes!
 
#2 ·
Heck I hang mine for A week or more and have never had one go bad in my whole hunting life. I also do like to age them in the fridge some too as it gets all that dang duck blood out of the meat. then marinade, brine, or dry rub.
 
#3 ·
very cool, thanks for letting us know how long. I have a couple that I prepared like this in the fridge now, I soaked them in salt water with a little meat tenderizer yesterday for a couple hours, now they are in the fridge, but in a zip lock. I may move to uncovered or lightly covered as you mentioned.

I think what i'd like to do from there, is cut it into thin slices to make a roast beef sandwhich type medium... but with duck.

thanks for the tips!
 
#6 ·
didnt' work for me last night. here's what i did:

the duck had been aging in the fridge after about 2-3hrs of saltwater/meat tenderizer soak for about 5 days. I had left the meat on the breast bone with the wing meat still attached as well.

Last night I cut the meat into thinner strips, to make a duck sandwhich (ala roast beef). I sauteed in water with cayan, cajun, montreal, garlic. It was a great combo. cooked very quick, and the meat was still very juicy and tender. The meat itself was a perfect consistency, but it retained the game flavor unfortunately.

pile it up on on french bread with mayo, lettuce, avacado, onion, tomato, and it was a delicous duck sandwhich!
 
#7 ·
Just food for thought but I like to soak mine in Pet Milk for a day or two which helps get the blood out and add as slight sweet taste to the meat, try it.
 
#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
Dustin07 said:
LaRedneck said:
Just food for thought but I like to soak mine in Pet Milk for a day or two which helps get the blood out and add as slight sweet taste to the meat, try it.
pet milk... like cats? you can milk anything with nipples i suppose.
:no:
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#11 ·
Dustin- I think that you won't really see a difference in taste until at least 5-6 days. I've never tried brining and then aging, just straight brining or just dry aging in the fridge. I ate some duck last night that had been aging for 5 days, it was good but not as good as the last ones I ate that had aged 7 days. Maybe you really start getting some benefit from aging after 5 or 6 days? I think I'm going to try for 8-10 days on the next one, we'll see how that goes.
 
#12 ·
Pumpgunner said:
Dustin- I think that you won't really see a difference in taste until at least 5-6 days. I've never tried brining and then aging, just straight brining or just dry aging in the fridge. I ate some duck last night that had been aging for 5 days, it was good but not as good as the last ones I ate that had aged 7 days. Maybe you really start getting some benefit from aging after 5 or 6 days? I think I'm going to try for 8-10 days on the next one, we'll see how that goes.
well I got one more in the fridge just sitting there all tender and stuff :thumbsup: today makes 6 days, and I won't be able to eat it until AT LEAST tomorrow. (ducks unlimited banquet tonight! w00t) so we'll see, maybe I'll give it till Sat/Sunday and see how it goes?

It will of course be a skewed experiement, since as you pointed out, It did soak first in salt, but hey at least we have two comparrisons.
 
#13 ·
I ate a mallard last night that had been aging in the fridge for 11 days, it was great! It was really mellow, tender, and had just the right amount of ducky flavor to it. This really proves to me that you need at least 5-7 days to really begin to see a change in flavor.
 
#14 ·
Pumpgunner said:
I ate a mallard last night that had been aging in the fridge for 11 days, it was great! It was really mellow, tender, and had just the right amount of ducky flavor to it. This really proves to me that you need at least 5-7 days to really begin to see a change in flavor.
so i ate my mallard last night too. Still had a little game flavor to it but I loved it. very very very tender. I had left the meat on the rib bones and grilled it for about 30 minutes on a closed BBQ. I had soaked it in a marinade for about 45 minutes prior with a mix of junk in there.

cayan
montreal steak seasoning
garlic vinegar
garlic
hard apple cidar
liquid smoke
cajun
olive oil
sun dried tomatos

and it seems like there was something else too... but either way it was AWESOME. I had purposely seared the actual breats, cooking it upside down at first for a couple minutes to lock in the juices.. then I flipped it rightside up and let it finish.
 
#15 ·
Sounds good man, I'm a really big fan of that Montreal seasoning, I love to roll venison or elk backstraps and roasts in it if I'm going to smoke them, it goes really well together. Glad the aging thing worked out for you!
 
#16 ·
yeah it was great! usually if I leave raw meat in the fridge that long I assume it's on the fringe of being no good anymore. I know my wife definitely wouldn't eat a chunk of meat that was left in the fridge for over a week thawed out!

I have about 2 dozen + legs from a snowgoose hunt sitting in the fridge now, only going to get about 5.5days in before the thanksgiving cook, but i figure every little bit helps.
 
#17 ·
LaRedneck said:
Dustin07 said:
LaRedneck said:
Just food for thought but I like to soak mine in Pet Milk for a day or two which helps get the blood out and add as slight sweet taste to the meat, try it.
pet milk... like cats? you can milk anything with nipples i suppose.
:no:
:lol: :lol: :lol:
 
#18 ·
I found this idea interesting as I have 2 ducks in the fridge that i was going to cook up but wife made other plans. It has been almost 2 weeks now. I only cleaned them and popped em in a plastic zip lock.

Question - How long can raw meat (duck or any other) be kept in fridge before it goes bad ? I normally freeze my ducks right away so i dont have to worry about dates.

Is duck meat soo bad that even spoiled meat tastes better than fresh meat !!!
 
#19 ·
Open the bag. Stick your nose in. Seal bag around nose. Inhale deeply. If you gag :eek: it aint no good... :wink: Put some marinade or dry rub on it, that does tend to help cure it. Our forefathers did not have refrigeration so they salted or cured all meat. Also generally the fat is the only part that will go rancid so remove it if you have to let it sit in the fridge for A while. :hi: Many great steak houses age meat for A long long time so it can't be all bad. The more blood you can get out of duck the better in my opinion.
 
#20 ·
I age mine whole in the fridge for usually at least 4-5 days. Then I totally pluck and gut the birds (I typically shoot mallards, teal and wood ducks... all quality eaters) and often they will go in the freezer.

When I'm ready to eat them, I'll defrost and then marinate at least 24-36 hours in Moore's (Dales works too), with brown sugar and crushed pineapple.

I grill mine whole, and usually serve with a french plum jelly that melts into a sweet sauce when you microwave it.... its almost too good to be fit for just a king.... I'd put it up there with the finest things I'll probably ever eat.
 
#24 ·
I pull the breasts and legs of 4-5 birds, cut off all fat and put them in a quart jar with water to cover and then add lots of canning salt and dark brown sugar. The amount doesn't matter. Then I let it sit for a few days. Wash and brine again for a few days. Wash and let soak in fresh water for a day. Then change the water and go another day. You should have the meat where it doesn't have any more blood leach out. I know a lady who actually squeezes out the blood as well. The meat will be OK for several days doing this. Then cook as you normally would. All the soaking takes out strong flavors and leaves the meat nice and mild.
 
#26 ·
Pump that is real similiar to how we age our game but rather than the fridge we keep the whole ducks (plucked and gutted), quartered deer what not in a bigass cooler on ice for 7-10 days before final processing. make sure everything is clean and rinsed real well, no glands, hair or feathers left on the critters. the deer we then cut up and freeze, the ducks if we are roasting get put in the fridge uncovered for a day to let the skin dry out, makes it real nice and crispy, always leave the skin and fat on the birds, the best part. for divers we do the same but don't pluck the birds, ust put the breast meat, legs and thighs skinned nto bags and let them age that way :thumbsup:
 
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