Cooking duck with Hank Shaw

Oh, Hank Shaw... my secret Internet crush. I own two of his cookbooks and am a frequent visitor to his gorgeous website Hunter Angler Gardener Cook. This man cooks wild foods in a way that elevates hunted and foraged edibles into gourmet meals. The dishes he makes are inventive and beautiful.  And the best part is that he breaks it down in a way that makes it totally accessible.

I want to talk about his book Duck, Duck, Goose.  Why? Because those two drakes killed this week needed eating.  It seems like a lot of people are afraid of duck and have read or been told by someone that it's going to be a greasy mess. Not true.  Promise.  Cooked properly and done up medium-rare duck is absolutely fantastic.

If you hunt or raise waterfowl or just love to cook this book is a must-own.  Hank gives you all the information you could ever want here and it's beautifully photographed.  He goes over basics like plucking, parting up your duck and dry aging it.  He talks giblets and fat.  He goes into the culinary differences between domesticated and wild ducks.  Then he takes that further by going into the culinary differences between different species of wild ducks and how diet and habitat affect flavor and treatment in the kitchen.

The recipes range from very basic to advanced and he even explains which species of duck works best for each recipe.  How great is that?

Everything in here looks delicious but I wanted to try Duck Bigarade. He's shared that recipe on the website and you can find it by clicking here.  I did notice that this is slightly different than the one published in the book but it looks like the result is the same.  What is the result?

This.  Damn delicious, that's what.

It was really good and really easy. This is what I started with - a mix between a runner duck hen and a mystery drake.

It wasn't a bad sized bird to end up with - I have no idea why they leave the neck on.

We also had homemade bread and Chardonnay.  Dinner was amazing.

You can find Duck, Duck, Goose on Amazon by clicking here. 

An affilliate link? Sure.  I love when bloggers add affiliate links and wish more people would do them. I dislike shopping and get overwhelmed when there are too many choices to wade through.  If you love something, tell me about it and why!  Obviously If I'm reading your blog we share some common interests and I'd like to hear about it.   I think I initially heard about Hank's website from another blogger.