Hook Em & Cook Em January Submissions

[Dave k]

Loaded up the yak(s) and headed east this time instead of west. No fishing gear, just some decoys, a shotgun, camo and ammo.

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while but finally met up with someone that has experience with this type of hunting and went for it. Used the yaks to get into some areas that have no access by foot, and with stretches too shallow to get through on a boat even with a mud motor (or a mirage drive for that matter).

First light came and the shooting was fast. Missed on a few shots simply because I couldn’t reload fast enough. Mostly green wing teal, with 1 spoonie. Teal are the smallest ducks we have, but some of my favorite to hunt. They’re fast with lots of quick movements making them tough to hit at times. While you don’t get a ton of meat off of them due to their size, they’re one of the best eating ducks around. We shot limits, (the photo is a few shy of limits since we lost a few in the reeds that we couldn’t recover after lots of searching. (Note to self: I need a dog).



Not sure if this was from this hunt or not, but thought it was a cool pic of a spoonie…











Now for the recipe…
First off, I know lots of people have a negative opinion on how wild duck tastes, but when it’s done right, I’d put it up there against most other meats.

Everyone loves country-fried steak, so I decided to do it with duck. Now duck is more gamey and tough than beef, so I filleted the duck breasts and soaked in milk overnight. The milk does 2 things. It pulls some of the blood from the meat to reduce the gaminess, and the lactic acid also breaks down the meat a little acting as a natural tenderizer.

You can see how dark the duck meat is in this photo…



I should have taken a pic of the meat after soaking in milk but didn’t. It turns to a much more gray color. You can see by the color of the milk though how much blood gets pulled from the meat.



For the batter, I took flour and mixed in some salt, pepper and paprika. Pat the meat dry and give it a nice thick coat of batter. From there, straight into a deep pan with oil. The trick with duck where most people go wrong is they try to cook it like chicken any other poultry and make sure it’s cooked thoroughly. You need to treat it more like a steak and cook it rare to medium. Since these were some small fillets I only did them for about a minute to minute and a half on each side.

I had a couple extra little chunks of duck meat as well, so I put a small piece of Roquefort cheese on each, wrapped in a short strip of bacon, and grilled those. This is a spin-off of my go-to dove recipe. You can add a piece of jalapeno on there and it’s amazing, but since this was more of a side project and I didn’t have any jalapenos, I skipped that. The contrast you get from the bacon and cheese is really good.

For sides, I tried to keep it healthy and did some Couscous, and Brussels sprouts. I know Brussels sprouts get a bad rap, but marinate them in oil with some garlic, and then cook (you can sauté or bake, but sautéed this time) with little chunks of bacon. You will not be disappointed with this.

Thought about topping the fried duck with some gravy, but opted for a homemade concoction instead. Ketchup, hot sauce, balsamic, and a little brown sugar. Basically a spicy bbq sauce.

Pics below, hope you enjoy. Only 8 more months till duck season opens up again…


Here you can see how the meat is best fairly rare.



And a close up of the bacon wrapped nugget…

[rhyak]

Okey the duck hunter wins. Looks yummy.

Ryak

[StinkyMatt]

Crabs...ducks.....don't nobody fish anymore?


Damn, both of the posts look great....hungry.

[alanw]

Kayaks and shotguns, what's not to like?

[TJones]

[WCW Moderator]

Looks like a strong finish! Let's see some more today!

[William Novotny]

Dave the duck Hunter had my vote. Something about gunning something down from a kayak.

Do you just grab the breast meat and tear it off like dove?

[Smthtnnr]

I have had a very similar duck recipe, and let me say it is damn good. Looks awesome

[WildernessWanker]

I too was disappointed yesterday afternoon when I realized nothing was posted, then I look this afternoon and was blown away. Every recipe looks absolutely amazing, WTG!

[TJones]

Ain't cutting it , I got to win that bubba blade .

[jorluivil]

Originally Posted by TJones

Ain't cutting it , I got to win that bubba blade .

Post whatever you have.

[TJones]

Josh and I started the day around 7:30 am on January 15th. The surf was very small, around 1 to 1.5 feet. It was a smooth launch even if Josh did not like my run and gun technique. Finally after hours of looking for the fish we came across a school, and I dropped down my blue and white salas jig. When I looked on my meter and saw my jig in the middle of the school, I started reeling as fast as I could. My rod quickly doubled over and I was hooked up. My drag was set pretty tight and the fish was quickly subdued. I look on my meter and saw the school coming through again and quickly dropped back down. The same technique and I was hooked up again. Although these fish were similar in size, the second one didn't want to give up so easily. Estimated weights are high 20's to low 30's.


Recipe as follows:
Marinade the Yellow Tail fillets with Soy Vay - Teriyaki Marinade for at least half an hour. Grill the fillets to your liking or until you have the proper grill marks for presentation. The fish was complemented with grilled asparagus that was lightly seasoned and drizzled with olive oil. A slight sprinkling of parmesan cheese to finish it off. The final side dish was some authentic Armenian rice.

We are not wine connoisseurs so we grabbed what we had on the shelf which was a bottle of Chardonnay. Enjoy everyone . Tight lines .

[StinkyMatt]

Tony, I am very stoked for you. That fish means a lot to you and you can tell. I love the raw/unedited/ straight from the ocean/ got home, still in the excitement of it all photos.

Good for you.

[WCW Moderator]

Bump Congrats Ojos Raros for this month's winning entry!