Editor’s Note: Elite Series pro Terry Scroggins has long been known as a great cook. In this column, he shares instructions on how to cook some of his favorite foods. See his other recipes for Pork tenderloin, Tequila chicken, Venison kabobs, Mustard fried venison, Beer can chicken, Peanut butter cup pie, Smoked ribs with red pepper jelly, Shrimp-stuffed jalapeños, Crab-topped grouper, Teriyaki injected tenderloin, Grilled spaghetti, Fried ribs, Sausage dip, Grilled half shell redfish, Taco salad.
GRILLED QUACKERS
For this month’s feature, I decided to go with an awesome duck recipe a buddy of mine gave me a few years back. Before this particular recipe, I was never the biggest fan of grilled duck – seemed I could never cook it just right. This recipe has changed that, and I genuinely look forward to fall every year knowing I’ll get some duck from my buddy to throw on the grill. To me, it’s all about the marinade and making sure you don’t overcook the meat. The original recipe is portioned for six duck breasts, so any exact measurements you see below are for a serving of six. I had more, so I scaled all the ingredients up to match the number of duck breasts I had. Follow these steps and you’ll have some mouth watering wild game for the dinner table.
Ingredients: Mallard breasts (can be substituted with teal, goose or other water fowl), white wine, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, minced shallot, crushed garlic gloves, minced rosemary, salt and pepper.
Tools: Grill – grill stones (charcoal or pellets) – tongs – mixing bowl – marinating tub – measuring cups (cup, tablespoon, teaspoon).
Prep time: 10 minutes prep time and three to five hours marinating.
Cook time: 3 1/2 minutes per side at 325 degrees for medium.
To begin, you need to make the marinade. Start with adding approximately 2 cups of white wine to your mixing bowl.
Next, add 1 cup of packed brown sugar to the marinade.
Then comes a slew of sauces and spices – I start with 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and another tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.
Followed by one minced shallot. A shallot is a small type of onion and to mince it I just chop it up relatively finely.
Then add your minced shallot to the mixing bowl.
Next on the list is adding crushed garlic cloves. My buddy’s recipe said four garlic cloves so I used four spoonfuls.
Then I’ll add fresh rosemary. The taste of rosemary is powerful; make sure to only add around one sprig for every six mallard breasts.
Last but not least add a healthy amount of salt and pepper for taste.
Stir the ingredients in your mixing bowl well, then pour evenly over your duck breasts in a marinating tub. Turn the breasts to ensure an even coat.
The most time consuming part of this recipe is the marinating. Refrigerate your duck breasts and let them marinate for three to five hours.
Towards the end of the marinating process, heat your grill up to around 325 degrees. Add another sprinkle of salt and pepper for taste and place your duck breasts on the grill.
Be sure not to overcook the meat. Duck can go from delicious to dry very easily when overcooked. Cook each side for three to 3 1/2 minutes at 325 degrees.
After six to seven minutes on the grill, remove the duck and let it cool.
After it has cooled off, it’s time to dig in! This dish goes great as finger food for a group of guests…
…or pair it with a few side dishes (I grilled some baked potatoes and asparagus this time) and it makes a delicious entrée. So good it might make you wanna take up duck hunting!
