Care to Share Recipe & Cooking ideas for Duck, Moorhen, Coot, Rail...

[fpspecialk]

Ok, buleyed-goof, on another thread you talked about eating moorhens...do you mind sharing exactly how it is that you 'cook it up'??

I agree with Duckwhacker about not taking anything we are not going to eat. And we have been wanting to try moorhens & coot. So yesterday during an area survey, I got a moorhen to try. going to have it, a coot & some duck for supper tonight. We normally marinade the pieces of breast, wrap them in bacon, place on a skewer & light the grill!! (Marinade recipe is available upon request- we have posted it before but will again if anyone missed it.)

Anyone with a special recipe, & favorite way to cook any type of bird... please post up & share!! :)

[blueyed-goof]

I really like coot and eggs. My buddies scoff and shake their heads but oh well. You're supposed to let the coot soak overnight in a half and half mix of vinegar and water but I really don't like that because the coot will soak up A LOT of vinegar and make it extremely bitter, so if anything soak it in salt water or buttermilk. Pan fry some bacon, enough so you have plenty of fat in the pan to cook your coot in. After taking out the bacon, put in the coot and cook it until it's done. After it's done, scramble up some eggs to your liking and you have breakfast. (This is really good in a well seasoned cast iron skillet)

I usually just cook moorhen using the coot and eggs recipe but I don't soak the moorhen in anything. After cooking up the bacon and adding the birds to the pan I also added two fresh red jalepenos that I had sliced up and cooked them with the birds. Gave it a good flavor.

We've grilled whole moorhen over pecan wood and coals that was good and I tried moorhen using a recipe that I use generally for teal. You need a whole bird for this though and I usually skin the birds: place part of an apple and onion in the cavity (sometimes I will substitute a lemon for an apple), sprinkle some white pepper on the breast and lay bacon over the breast. I also add blackberry wine to the cavity when I have it, but not a lot. Then I'll generally cook it wrapped in parchment paper in the oven for a bit. The moorhen is good this way, IMO, but there is not as much meat on the breasts of moorhen as there is teal so I try to wrap the bird so that the legs help seal the cavity closed and they get some of the apple/onion/wine flavor in them.

[uncle D]

Haven't tried coot/moorhen/mudhen, but here's one for Rail/Marshhen.

4-6 rail

Pull skin from breast and legs. Remove breast as you would a dove and seperate legs. Quarter breast and legs. Dry, salt and pepper.

In large sauce pan or large skillet, 2 tblspns melt butter. 1 tblspn olive oil

Sautee 1/4 to 1/2 cp total fine chopped onions, fine chopped green peppers and/or fine chopped celery until soft and clear. Omit any undesired veggie


1+ teaspoon or more fresh chopped garlic.

Add Rail quarters w/ veggies and cook until lightly brown.

When rail begain to brown, add 1/2 oz cooking sherry, (white wine or bourbon can be used), for flavor.

Then add 2 cups mixture of water and chicken stock (one cup each). Bring to boil.

Add 1 cup white rice, bring to boil, stirr. reduce heat to low. Cook as you would rice. (approx 20 minutes).

Serve w/ sliced tomatos, greens, corn bread and sweet tea.

Duke

[N. Cook]

This being the time of Octoberfest.....any and all of the forementioned can be treated as the Hausfraus of Stuggart Arkansas do....black iron skillet or baking pot....put in game, cover with saurkaurt and bake for about an hour.....season saurkaurt with lots of sugar, dry mustard and mustard seeds. a little white wine for liquid....never tried it but beer might even do better.

[Steve W]

I either BBQ my rails seasoned with Italian Dressing or cook them in a pan with onions, garlic and olive oil.

[fpspecialk]

This is the recipe we use:

1/4 cup Dales Steak Seasoning
1/8 cup Worcestershire Sauce
3 shakes of Liquid Smoke
1/4 cup light brown sugar
small onion
1 heaping spoon minced garlic
Basil
Oregano
Rosemary Leaves
Thick sliced Bacon
4 Duck Breasts

Put onion, garlic, and dry spices in chopper and finely chop. Add this to wet ingredients and sugar. Mix well.
Bone out duck breasts and cut into 4 or 6 pieces depending on size, and place in marinade for about 4 hours.
Wrap meat in bacon and put on skewers with space between each piece.
Grill over medium heat till med rare.

Good eatin', hope ya'll like it.

[novaalex]

K
Long ago I was annointed the official cook of the 8 Street Gang according to the gang and my wife I am a good cook! I personally do not care for duck but I will impart a recipe for fun. I firmly believe that the key to cooking any meat is searing it to ensure the flavor stays inside. I recently experimented on my children with some duck. I had vacuum sealed some mottleds from last year. I took out one breast which had been stored in whole milk and Emeril's essence. Once thawed I remarinated with some Chef Paul Prudhommes Magic sauce. I let it rest for a few hours in the fridge. While I chopped onions, garlic, roasted pimientos, basil, and rosemary. I combined this in a sauce pan added 2 tablespoons of lard and sauteed. In a seperate pan I seared the duck breast and a piece of pancetta ham briefly. I then placed the breast and pancetta in the pan with all the other stuff and put it in the oven on high broil for 10 minutes. I quickly used the initial duck searing pan with all of it's juice to create a reduction of balsamic vinegar (1 cup) and 2-3 tablespoons of sugar. Whisk until it thickens. Right before taking the duck/pancetta out of the oven I sprinkled blue cheese all over it and let it melt. You take it out pour the balsamic vinegar over it and serve on a bed of white asparagus! Call me crazy bit I am a bit of a closet gourmet cook!

[Wilbur]

And a d@#n good one at that. You should look into hosting your own TV cooking show in your "spare time". Just one question, was the breast whole or boned out and was the skin on it? I think we are going to have to give this recipe a try.

[novaalex]

KEEP the skin on and take it off the bone. I only leave the bones in when I stew something and even then I try to beat it up with a mallet so some of the marrow seeps into the stew! It's all about the flavor!

[Randy Clark]

i just had to ask was that recipe from blueeyed goof cook the bacon throw out the coot and cook some eggs and toast and have an egg sandwich