Holly just had to respond to this as we are big waterfowl hunters here. Teal are numerous and my favorites both to shoot and to eat either roasted whole, Cooked down slowly in a gravy, or split marinated and grilled quickly medium rare as all ducks should be. My recipe for whole teal is as follows. Clean and dry plucked birds rub with olive oil, season with an all-purpose cajun seasoning. Wrap with bacon and grill over medium hot fire moving the birds to keep from burning until bacon is done and maybe charred a bit. When done move to indirect side of fire and glaze with the following sauce which can be varied wildly according to taste by using the flavor of jelly you like. One of my favorites is red plum jam. Sauce melt 1 Jar of jelly with 1/2 stick of butter about 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce and 2-3 tablespoons of Worcestershire. Let the glaze get sticky or candied. You can take the legs off if you like but the breasts eaten whole on the bone oh boy. Im sure you know what I mean the salty sweet thing going on with medium rare duck breasts is something special indeed. Of note this exact recipe which I taught to a friend was used at a culinary contest in New Orleans judged by Paul Prudhomme. For that Black currant Jamb was used and the Teal breasts were sliced thin so a little of the sauce could drizzle into the cuts.
Yet another wonderful recollection. I've missed your long form writing.
Last year I switched to a new place and more teal came into the picture. I'm going to try this splitting method. Also, I know this is heathen and I'd never admit this around cooking purists, but I cook them in the air fryer. Crispy skin and juicy. Don't tell.
Do you ever take the ribs off/ other bones out of the breast leaving you with a bone in wing and leg with boneless breast? Advantages or disadvantages of cooking it that way? Is it not worth the extra work and easier to debone after cooking?
I haven't tried that. I HAVE tried the popular leg (bone in)-breast (no ribs) combo for big ducks and the legs are always too tough.
Also, it is SO easy to peel the breast meat off the ribs and breast plate - more clean than fileting off uncooked for sure. And I love getting a little of that bone flavor!
Agree on the big ducks done in that manner and I take your and Hank’s advice on cooking the parts separately. I do that for all puddle ducks wigeon or bigger. When you get down to green wing teal size it becomes kind of absurd to cook the legs and wings separately. Although I have put 20 teal legs in one sous vide bag before to make confit. A funny looking sight.
I will have to try this method soon. It solves a lot of problems I have with cooking spatchcocked teal, namely good pan contact (which I solve by using a grill and trying to avoid starting a grease fire as the fat renders).
In thinking about it more, I’m sure the bones on the breast slow down the cooking of the breast a bit and thus allow the legs to be more done without ruining the breast meat.
Sounds like you've given the science more thought than I have, lol! All I know is it works. Shorter cooking time for snipe and dove, but I LOVE both cooked this way, especially with a hit of smoked paprika at the end.
Thanks for the video accompanying this. Gives me an idea of what kind of marsh/water you hunt. Here in North Texas, I think most of the duck hunting happens on the big reservoirs which is harder for a non-boat, non-dog owning hunter. There are some WMAs with wetlands or creeks to hunt but it's neat to see a marsh like that with the ducks flying.
Oh yeah, we have places like that, but most of our public wetlands are completely walkable. It makes it possible to be a duck hunter without MASSIVE expenditures. A lot of us here hunt without boats, ATVs or dogs.
Technically, I think what I do isn't spatchcocking, because I don't cut the backbone out. Do that, and you lose the tail, which is one of my favorite bites of any bird. I use scissors and cut up one side of the back
Ah! I lose the tail from the start because they're the main ingredient of rendered fat.
When I first started doing this, I left the spine and keel bone in. But I prefer starting with two equal pieces that should cook at the exact same rate. It also allows better flattening.
Bet you could cut out all the spine EXCEPT for the tail - plenty of infrastructure down there to hold it in place. Or not - ain't nothin' wrong with personal preference!
The ducks don't even stop here anymore. They keep on flying. We used to have continuous flocks of thousands coming in over the last 3 years it has dwindled to this year we spotted one.
I'll try that. I usually split teal, quail and the occasional dove up the back, flatten and broil, but cutting them into two pieces seems like a better method. Also, yes to green-winged teal. They are among my very favorite ducks to hunt
The thing I like most about spatchcocking is how funny the word is. I hate the way spatchcocked birds look - very Venus of Willendorf (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_of_Willendorf). Splitting them in half definitely makes them easier to handle, and about 10 times easier to freeze - very flat!
The hunt was your lucky day. The easy was your recipe. Here in Souteast Michigan, we rarely see teal anymore, and this year, duck season was almost non-existent.
So sorry to hear that! I think everyone who hunts migratory game will be navigating a lot of change these days. Question is where ducks will be when they're normally in our home marshes. If they aren't here, they're somewhere else. Question is whether I can get there, and whether I can hunt there!
That recipe won first place.
John Hardy
Holly just had to respond to this as we are big waterfowl hunters here. Teal are numerous and my favorites both to shoot and to eat either roasted whole, Cooked down slowly in a gravy, or split marinated and grilled quickly medium rare as all ducks should be. My recipe for whole teal is as follows. Clean and dry plucked birds rub with olive oil, season with an all-purpose cajun seasoning. Wrap with bacon and grill over medium hot fire moving the birds to keep from burning until bacon is done and maybe charred a bit. When done move to indirect side of fire and glaze with the following sauce which can be varied wildly according to taste by using the flavor of jelly you like. One of my favorites is red plum jam. Sauce melt 1 Jar of jelly with 1/2 stick of butter about 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce and 2-3 tablespoons of Worcestershire. Let the glaze get sticky or candied. You can take the legs off if you like but the breasts eaten whole on the bone oh boy. Im sure you know what I mean the salty sweet thing going on with medium rare duck breasts is something special indeed. Of note this exact recipe which I taught to a friend was used at a culinary contest in New Orleans judged by Paul Prudhomme. For that Black currant Jamb was used and the Teal breasts were sliced thin so a little of the sauce could drizzle into the cuts.
Best
John Hardy
Hunt Fish and Dine
Yet another wonderful recollection. I've missed your long form writing.
Last year I switched to a new place and more teal came into the picture. I'm going to try this splitting method. Also, I know this is heathen and I'd never admit this around cooking purists, but I cook them in the air fryer. Crispy skin and juicy. Don't tell.
Hey Holly,
Do you ever take the ribs off/ other bones out of the breast leaving you with a bone in wing and leg with boneless breast? Advantages or disadvantages of cooking it that way? Is it not worth the extra work and easier to debone after cooking?
I haven't tried that. I HAVE tried the popular leg (bone in)-breast (no ribs) combo for big ducks and the legs are always too tough.
Also, it is SO easy to peel the breast meat off the ribs and breast plate - more clean than fileting off uncooked for sure. And I love getting a little of that bone flavor!
Thanks Holly,
Agree on the big ducks done in that manner and I take your and Hank’s advice on cooking the parts separately. I do that for all puddle ducks wigeon or bigger. When you get down to green wing teal size it becomes kind of absurd to cook the legs and wings separately. Although I have put 20 teal legs in one sous vide bag before to make confit. A funny looking sight.
I will have to try this method soon. It solves a lot of problems I have with cooking spatchcocked teal, namely good pan contact (which I solve by using a grill and trying to avoid starting a grease fire as the fat renders).
In thinking about it more, I’m sure the bones on the breast slow down the cooking of the breast a bit and thus allow the legs to be more done without ruining the breast meat.
Sounds like you've given the science more thought than I have, lol! All I know is it works. Shorter cooking time for snipe and dove, but I LOVE both cooked this way, especially with a hit of smoked paprika at the end.
YUM. We're going out this weekend and I am hoping fervently to come home with something I can try this on! Great video -- it makes it look super easy.
Definitely easy! Sharp knife and scissors matter, though...
Thanks for the video accompanying this. Gives me an idea of what kind of marsh/water you hunt. Here in North Texas, I think most of the duck hunting happens on the big reservoirs which is harder for a non-boat, non-dog owning hunter. There are some WMAs with wetlands or creeks to hunt but it's neat to see a marsh like that with the ducks flying.
Oh yeah, we have places like that, but most of our public wetlands are completely walkable. It makes it possible to be a duck hunter without MASSIVE expenditures. A lot of us here hunt without boats, ATVs or dogs.
Holly,
Great determination!
Great hunt!
Great meal!
Thank you!
:-)
Technically, I think what I do isn't spatchcocking, because I don't cut the backbone out. Do that, and you lose the tail, which is one of my favorite bites of any bird. I use scissors and cut up one side of the back
Ah! I lose the tail from the start because they're the main ingredient of rendered fat.
When I first started doing this, I left the spine and keel bone in. But I prefer starting with two equal pieces that should cook at the exact same rate. It also allows better flattening.
Bet you could cut out all the spine EXCEPT for the tail - plenty of infrastructure down there to hold it in place. Or not - ain't nothin' wrong with personal preference!
Wow! Can’t wait to try that! I had one of those days on Sunday and brought home a beautiful mixed bag including some fat little Teal.
I'm so glad to hear you had a day like that too!
The ducks don't even stop here anymore. They keep on flying. We used to have continuous flocks of thousands coming in over the last 3 years it has dwindled to this year we spotted one.
Crazy!
I'll try that. I usually split teal, quail and the occasional dove up the back, flatten and broil, but cutting them into two pieces seems like a better method. Also, yes to green-winged teal. They are among my very favorite ducks to hunt
The thing I like most about spatchcocking is how funny the word is. I hate the way spatchcocked birds look - very Venus of Willendorf (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_of_Willendorf). Splitting them in half definitely makes them easier to handle, and about 10 times easier to freeze - very flat!
The hunt was your lucky day. The easy was your recipe. Here in Souteast Michigan, we rarely see teal anymore, and this year, duck season was almost non-existent.
So sorry to hear that! I think everyone who hunts migratory game will be navigating a lot of change these days. Question is where ducks will be when they're normally in our home marshes. If they aren't here, they're somewhere else. Question is whether I can get there, and whether I can hunt there!
Yummy! Doesn't get easier than that.
Lucky you.
The hunts aren't always this easy, but the cleaning and cooking is!