Dabbling duck VS Divers

[fishincoop]

There must be a gene for “liking duck meat”, if you don’t have the gene then duck breasts are just “flying liver”, no matter the recipe…

The best eating ducks I ever had were some we shot around Thanksgiving, soaked the meat in salt water for 3 days, changed them over to marinade, then forgot to cook them. They sat in in my MIL’s outside fridge for 3 weeks. When we came back for Christmas, there was no rank smell, so we grilled them - best duck ever, all the “liver” taste was gone.

 

[Shadowrider]

Never could bring myself to like duck, no matter how much I wanted to hunt them. I can't even stand a commercially bred/store bought duck. Nasty dark liver tasting meat that no amount of bacon and charcoal can fix. I can't eat them, that's why I don't hunt them.

 

[Okie4570]

We go straight from the field to the tailgate to pluck breasts then filet the breasts out. Then either straight to the grill or to the fridge and grill that evening. No soaking or marinating for days. Tastes just like a beef steak if you'll leave the skin on and cook medium rare with a sprinkle of s&p and garlic powder. The fat in duck skin makes all the difference. They even sell it to cook with, there's a reason for that

 

[ElkStalkR]

Leaving the skin on makes all the difference in the world imo. Common mergansers are nothing more that sea gull or a crow imo lol. Never eaten a goldeneye but have eaten plenty of redheads, canvasbacks and shovelers and they're no different than a mallard or a wigeon. Teal are still the best though.

Yea I’ll admit teal are amazing and maybe my favorite duck to eat they are almost like a large dove honestly.

Crows…ever eaten one? I have and honestly I liked it better than duck. LOL. Never had the pleasure of eating a gull though. You?

 

[Okie4570]

Yea I’ll admit teal are amazing and maybe my favorite duck to eat they are almost like a large dove honestly.

Crows…ever eaten one? I have and honestly I liked it better than duck. LOL. Never had the pleasure of eating a gull though. You?

No gulls or crows for me thanks, I'll trust your review on the crow no need for me to try to disprove you lol

 

[AER244]

I have never cooked a diver in the exact manner you mentioned, and maybe that makes all the difference. I’ve never thought of divers as inedible, but I’ve always thought there was a noticeable difference between them and dabblers. If given the choice, I’m a dabbler man every time. The smaller the bird, the better- for me anyway.