Duck Gumbo Recipes

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven over medium heat, brown duck in batches in oil. Remove and set aside. Discard all but 2/3 cup drippings. Add flour to drippings; cook and stir over medium heat until brown, 12-14 minutes. Add sausage, onion, green pepper, celery, parsley and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. , Stir in the next eight ingredients. Add duck; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 60-75 minutes or until duck is tender., Remove duck. Cool. Debone and cut into chunks; return to pan. Simmer 5-10 minutes or until heated through. Remove bay leaves. Serve with rice.

Steps:

• Rinse the duck under cold running water both inside and out. Remove any excess fat at the cavity opening and at the neck. Use a sharp boning or butcher's knife to cut the back on either side of the spine. Remove the spine and reserve for stock. Cut through the breastbone of the duck to give you 2 halves. Cut the legs from each half as well as the first 2 digits of the wings. Set the legs aside, and cut the breasts in half horizontally.
• Season the duck with 2 teaspoons of Essence. Place a large Dutch oven over medium heat for 2 minutes, or until hot. Place the seasoned duck, skin side down in the pan and sear until golden brown, about 7 to 8 minutes. Turn the duck over and sear on the second side as well for an additional 7 to 8 minutes. Remove the duck from the pan and place on a platter while you make the roux.
• Add the vegetable oil to the pan as well as the flour. Using a wooden spoon, stir the roux continuously over medium heat until the color of dark chocolate, about 20 to 25 minutes. Add the onions, celery and peppers and garlic to the roux and stir, gently until the vegetables are slightly wilted, about 4 to 5 minutes. Pour the beer over the vegetables and stir to incorporate. Add the stock/water to the pan with the thyme, bay leaves, Essence, cayenne pepper and the remaining 2 teaspoons of salt. Add the sausage. Stir the pot well to ensure that the roux and the stock are well blended. Raise the heat to medium-high and bring the gumbo to a boil; then lower to a simmer. Return the seared duck pieces to the pan and cook (skimming any foam and fat that may rise to the surface), for 1 hour and 30 minutes. After an hour and a half, remove the duck pieces from the gumbo and place on a platter to cool. Once the duck is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and meat from the bones and add the meat to the gumbo. Discard the skin and bones and re-season the gumbo, if necessary.
• To serve the gumbo, ladle 1 cup into a heated soup bowl with 1/4 cup white rice. Garnish with the green onions and chopped parsley.
• Combine all ingredients thoroughly.
• Recipe from "New New Orleans Cooking", by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch, published by William Morrow, 1993.

Steps:

• Prepare the roux: In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high. (A large stockpot works, but a Dutch oven is ideally shaped for whisking a roux.) Slowly shake the flour over the oil with one hand while whisking with the other hand. Continue to whisk until the roux darkens to a glossy, dark red-brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Reduce the heat to medium and stir the onion, celery and bell peppers into the roux to prevent it from burning, about 3 minutes. Stir in the sausage and cook until coated, a few more minutes.
• Gradually add the stock, stirring constantly as you add the liquid. Add the thyme, oregano, bay leaves and garlic and simmer over medium-low, stirring and skimming every 20 minutes, until the flavors have melded, about 2 hours. For a thinner gumbo, add water, as desired (up to 2 cups).
• Stir in the duck meat just before serving and cook until warmed, 3 to 5 minutes. (An extended cook time would turn the meat mushy.) Add the salt and hot sauce to taste. Serve over rice or potato salad.

Steps:

• Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook duck legs in the hot oil, skin-side down, until duck legs are browned and skillet contains rendered duck fat, about 10 minutes on the skin side. Flip and cook 3 to 4 minutes on the meat side. Remove duck legs from skillet, leaving rendered duck fat in the skillet.
• Whisk 1 cup flour into the duck fat, adding enough vegetable oil to make the flour mixture a thick and smooth roux. Turn heat to medium-low and cook the roux, stirring constantly, until it turns a rich reddish-brown color, about 40 minutes. Whisk 2 more tablespoons flour into roux and cook for 2 minutes.
• Whisk chicken broth into roux, 1 cup at a time, until all broth has been incorporated. Remove roux mixture from heat.
• Brown andouille sausage in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, about 8 minutes; stir in onion, peppers, celery, and 4 green onions, cooking until onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir thyme, bay leaf, black pepper, and cayenne pepper into sausage mixture, followed by diced tomatoes. Stir to combine.
• Place smoked ham hock into the center of the sausage and vegetables. Pour roux mixture over ham hock along with enough water to cover. Place duck legs into mixture. Bring to a simmer, turn heat to low, and cover with a lid set at an angle to let steam out. Simmer slowly, stirring occasionally until duck and ham hock meat are tender, about 4 hours. Skim as much fat as possible off the top as it simmers.
• Remove duck and ham hock to a bowl and let cool. Stir pickled okra into gumbo. Pick meat from duck legs and pork hock and return meat to the gumbo. Simmer gumbo for 45 more minutes.
• Turn heat to medium-high, bring gumbo to a boil, and stir in shrimp and crawfish tails. Cook until shrimp and crawfish tails are bright pink, about 3 minutes. Stir in 1 tablespoon green onion, taste and adjust seasoning, and serve.

Steps:

• DUCK STOCK: Quarter the onion, cut the celery stalks in half and place into a medium stock pot with the three ducks. Cover the ducks and vegetables with two quarts of water, add salt and bring to a low boil for approximately 90 minutes. After cooking, remove the ducks from the stock and put aside to cool. Strain the broth and set aside, this will be the stock for the gumbo. Discard the onion and celery; it was only there for flavor. After the ducks have cooled, pick all meat from the bones and set aside to be added to the gumbo later.
• ROUX and TRINITY: Start the roux by pouring the oil in the bottom of the stock pot or Dutch oven you plan to make your gumbo in and set to medium heat. When the oil is hot enough that a pinch of flour causes it to sizzle like it is frying begin adding the flour to the oil while stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon. The roux requires constant stirring while cooking to prevent it from burning and it may be necessary to reduce the heat during cooking several times to prevent the roux from burning. You will notice the roux slowly beginning to get darker as you stir it with your whisk. The correct shade for a gumbo roux will look like a dark melted chocolate. It could take 30-45 minutes for the roux to reach its desired shade, be sure to keep an eye on the heat during the cooking process so that the roux does not burn. Once the roux has reached its correct shade add the onions, celery and bell peppers (trinity) to the roux, add the garlic and set heat to low. Allow the mixture to simmer for about 10 minutes.
• GUMBO: Add the wine, strained duck stock, duck meat and sausage to the pot with the roux/trinity and set heat to medium. Add all seasonings and remaining ingredients to the pot and stir gently until the roux and stock blend together. When the pot begins to boil reduce heat to low and cook over low heat for 2 hours. The gumbo may look thin when all the ingredients are first added to the pot but it will cook down into a very nice consistency over the next two hours.
• During the cooking process some oil from the roux and fat from the sausage will float to the top. You can use a big gravy spoon or something similar to skim it off the top. It makes for a better finished product.
• Any gumbo is best served over white rice with a big piece of French bread and your favorite beer or wine.
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine cayenne, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon paprika and salt, and sprinkle liberally over duck. Arrange dice of onion, carrot and 1 stalk celery in a roasting pan. Place duck on a rack in pan. Roast 1 1/2 hours.
• Whisk flour and oil together in a heavy- bottomed pot, and simmer over low to moderate heat, whisking constantly, until mixture turns chocolate brown, about 45 minutes. Set aside.
• Remove duck meat from bones, and reserve. Place carcass and bones in a 6-quart stockpot. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat from roasting pan. Add broth and 1 quart water to pot, and simmer 1 hour.
• Heat 1 tablespoon duck fat in a large skillet over medium heat. Add peppers, remaining celery, garlic, carrot, scallions, parsley, lemon juice, remaining paprika, allspice, remaining pepper, oregano, thyme and bay leaves. Saute until soft, about 8 minutes. Stir in tomato paste.
• Strain stock into a large pot, and add water to make 12 cups liquid. Bring to a boil, and vigorously whisk in roux a spoonful at a time until liquid thickens. Add vegetable mixture. Simmer 30 minutes.
• Wipe the large skillet, and heat remaining duck fat over low heat. Fry okra gently for 15 to 20 minutes, turning often to avoid scorching. Add to pot with duck meat, and simmer 20 minutes. Serve over rice.

Steps:

• Heat heavy large pot over medium-high heat until hot, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle duck with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add to pot, skin side down, and sear until golden brown, about 8 minutes per side. Using tongs, transfer duck to plate.
• Add vegetable oil, then flour to drippings in pot; stir with wooden spoon to blend well. Reduce heat to medium and stir constantly until roux is chocolate-brown color, about 25 minutes. (If roux is still light brown after 20 minutes, increase heat to medium-high for final 5 minutes.) Add mushrooms, onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic to roux and cook until mushrooms and vegetables are soft, stirring frequently, about 4 minutes. Add stout; stir to blend. Add chicken broth, Emeril's Original Essence, bay leaves, thyme, cayenne, and remaining 2 teaspoons salt; stir to blend well. Return duck pieces to pot. Increase heat and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer uncovered until duck is tender, skimming foam from surface and stirring occasionally, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Using tongs, transfer duck to plate; cool until easy to handle, about 20 minutes. Remove meat from bones; discard bones and skin. Cut meat into 1-inch pieces. Spoon fat off top of gumbo. Return meat to gumbo; season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly. Refrigerate uncovered until cold. Cover and keep refrigerated. Bring to simmer before continuing.)
• Divide cooked white rice among 10 bowls. Ladle gumbo over. Sprinkle with green onions and parsley and serve.
• *A dried herb and spice blend available at some specialty foods stores and in the spice section of some supermarkets. A combination of 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon paprika, and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne can be substituted

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the duck in a roasting pan and season with salt and pepper. Roast the legs for about 1 hour (the whole duck for about 2 hours), until tender. If desired, save the rendered fat to make the roux. Let the duck cool and pick the meat off the bones.
• Heat the 1/2 cup oil (or duck fat) in a large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or cast-iron pot over medium-high heat until almost smoking. Add the flour and whisk constantly until the roux turns a deep brown resembling the color of peanut butter (or even a little darker, for a richer flavor), 10-12 minutes. Add the onions, peppers, and celery, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Stir in the sausage and cook 3 more minutes. Then add the garlic and whisk in the stock, 1 cup at a time. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, sear the okra and add to the pot, along with 1/2 cup scallions. Add the thyme, optional filé powder, Worcestershire sauce, Bouquet Garni, hot sauce to taste, the reserved duck meat, and a little salt. Simmer over low heat, stirring from time to time, for at least 1 hour. Skim off any fat from the top. Season with salt, pepper, and hot sauce and serve hot, with or without rice. Garnish with the reserved scallions.

Steps:

• Cut up the duck or goose and season with salt and pepper.
• Pour cooking oil into large black iron pot or any other heavy cooking pot. Heat oil and add cut up duck or goose.
• Brown all sides of meat, gradually adding small amounts of water to keep it from burning. Keep browning it until you get a good dark crust on the bottom and sides of the pot.
• When it's browned enough, remove the meat and pour off any excess oil left in pot. Return meat to pot and add enough water to cover the meat.
• Cut up the sausage into thick slices and add it to the pot.
• Add all of the chopped vegetables and additional salt and pepper. You can also use optional seasonings, like 'Tony Chachere's' or 'Slap Ya Mama' if you can get your hands on it.
• Simmer until the meat is tender - this is the key. Ducks will tenderize alot quicker than geese will. I have simmered geese as long as 3 or 4 hours - to the point where the vegetables had all cooked to nothing. I happen to like alot of 'floaties' in my gumbo, so, if that happens, I add more and cook until they're also tender. Keep adding water as it cooks down to keep the level up.
• Turn gumbo off for a while so that any excess grease or oil from the sausage will rise to the top, then skim it off.
• Ladle this into a bowl of steamed long grain rice and serve with a side of potato salad. Good on cold, wet winter days. Well worth the effort.