Colorado Hunter's Wife

If you’re a hunter’s wife and haven’t yet figured out that the recipes you use will be vastly different from the ones your neighbors use, you’re about to have a revelation that will change your life. The food you prepare for your family can be just as delicious and decadent as food prepared around the neighborhood, and twice as healthy.

But, there are a few tricks to learn.

Wild duck has an interesting flavor, and it isn’t all that appetizing, if not prepared well. The first rule of the day is to marinate in milk. Not a long time, but at least a few hours, because milk sucks out the wild taste and gives the duck a richer texture.

The image of a wild duck floating around on a pond of milk may come to mind, but… you need to skin him first. So, it’s not all that weird to marinate him in a little milk.

Toss the milk. It’ll look pretty awful and would taste rancid, so just toss that little bit of milk down the sink (after you remove the tasty duck, of course).

Prepare a bake dish by spreading some sauerkraut on the bottom of the dish. Place your duck pieces on the kraut and top with more kraut. This, along with the milk, is a preparation, not an edible part of the cooked duck (although the kraut can be a tasty side dish served with the duck). Pour over 1/2 cup orange juice and bake about 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven until duck is cooked.

Separate duck from kraut and place duck on serving platter.

To serve kraut:

Saute 1 cup chopped onion in a little olive oil. Stir in Kraut from duck bake, add 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/4 cup brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste, and lightly brown in black iron skillet. Takes about 15 minutes.

This is a tasty meal when served with wild rice and mushrooms.