Muscovy duck, when slow cooked, comes out just like roast beef. Photo by J&J
When I tell people we raise and eat duck I sometimes get an odd look. A few have tried duck from restaurants and stores, others from their own hunts. Most seem to have a dislike for duck, others are scared to try it.
I explain to them that Muscovy duck is different from the Pekin duck that is served to them in restaurants or sold in stores. That the meat is red and when cooked properly can taste just like roast beef.
Today I want to settle the matter.
Preparing Muscovy Duck
…If you don’t like semi-gore, skip this section…
Since Muscovy is likely not for sale at your local grocer, it bares mentioning how we butcher the duck. We have tried plucking it, but all we end up with is hours of time lost, frustration, and a spoiled duck.
Instead, we skin and quarter the ducks. For our method, that means 2 halves of the breast and 2 thighs.
The animal is killed, bled and skinned. I then carve out each half of the breast and cut off each thigh. Then, 1 of each is vacuumed sealed and frozen, ready for a meal on any given day.
Alternate Preparation Methods
While we freeze the duck, we have been told that it can be salt packed as well. Apparently this curing method produces a ham-like flavor. We have not tried this yet, but from my experience with the meat, I can see how it would be true.
Cooking Muscovy Duck
We choose to slow cook the duck all day long. We do it for at least 6 hours on the “low” setting on our slow cooker.
Since the meat itself is very low in fat, I would presume it would do well if cooked in a dish, such as a stew, if still given enough time to become tender.
When we slow cook we place the meat in the cooker and add enough water to barely cover the meat. If you cooker is small and the meat goes up the side a little, that is okay. The meat does not need to be covered, but be sure to have about 2 inches of water in the cooker.
If spices are desired, like when we cook Shredded Duck Tacos, they are added now.
Place the cooker on LOW and let it simmer away for 6 hours.
Once fully cooked the meat will shred with the slightest touch and be very, very tender and moist. This can then be added to any dish you would normally use beef in. The flavor, texture and scent are all very similar and indistinguishable to most.
So, now that you are salivating and smelling Duck Tacos, here is the spice mix we use for that recipe:
Duck Taco Spices:
- 1 TB Chili Powder
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1/2 tsp Paprika
- 1/4 tsp Oregano
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
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To see our video on How to Cook Muscovy Duck, click the link or watch below:
Hi Jared, we regularly do chickens, and butchered our first mucscovy duck this morning./
We did pretty much as we do with the chickens, and right now its marinating in a brine solution with some herbs.
I thought I would search the net for how to dress and prepare a duck, and came up with your excellent youtube video, which led me to your website.
Thank you for placing that excellent video and short explanation on the web.
I am wondering if I could ask whether there is any more to your method, than quartering, freezing straight up, then cooking. We have always marinated our birds in brine for at least a couple of days and sometimes more before cooking (we usually don’t freeze them). The only reason we marinate them is because the person that helped us get started does it that way. However we are interested that according to your method, you don’t.
Can it be as simple as butcher, skin, quarter, freeze, and cook?
Thanks again,
Anne.
Hi Anne! Great to hear from you.
I will step out on a limb and presume you have heard of the Whizbang plucker? If we had one of those we would pluck the ducks and rotisserie most of them.
Since out attempts to pluck the duck have ending in frustration (we have tried plain ‘ol pluckin’ as well as wax) we choose to just get it over with and get the meat. In this respect, it is more simple to butcher, skin, quarter and freeze.
As for marinating, no, we do not. The only other stuff I do in the background is place the meat in an ice chest full of water to keep it fresh while I butcher, skin and quarter the rest of the ducks. I then bring the ice chest in doors, wash the meat off to get off any stray pin feathers or such that found its way to the meat. I then place 1 breast and 1 thigh in a vacuum seal bag and 1 paper towel folded in thirds to catch the moisture so that I can seal up the bag. I then vacuum seal the bag and place it in the freezer.
When it is time to cook I will place the frozen duck in the refrigerator the night before. Then place it in the slow cooker on low with about 1 cup of water for about 4-6 hours. Sometimes we season it, sometimes not. Just depends on the application.
For example, if we want shredded duck tacos, we put in the spice now. However, if we are just adding the meat to a rice dish, we will leave it plain.
I hope that helps!
-Jared
Jared,
I wandered upon this post while looking up info on Muscovy ducks. I’ll thank you for posting the video because it’s exactly what I was looking for. We’re thinking about getting ducks maybe next year and I really like what I’ve about these guys. I gotta say that the meat looked really good and I’m thinking that these ducks would be a good fit for our place. Again, thanks and I enjoyed your website.
Chad
I am very glad that the post and video were helpful to you Chad. I do not doubt that you would enjoy Muscovy, both as an animal on your property in general and as a source of meat.
I’ve read where a couple of people have said Muscovys will eat fire ants. Ever seen this happen?
No. Never. Even kicked a hill to and sprinkled corn on it. They weren’t interested. I have ducks free ranging all over… and plenty of ants as well.
Well, that’s not what I wanted to hear, but thanks for the reply. We’re in Louisiana, close to Mississippi, and there’s no shortage of ants here either. A guy could probably make a fortune if he developed some kind of magic/mutant duck that devoured fire ants.
Well, there’s always guineas… but those are awfully loud.
We’ve had Guinea Fowl – they die easily as well…
Oh my goodness.. we butchered our first duck and tried the duck taco recipe, cooked and seasoned just like you said to do it and it was amazing! Thank you so much for showing me a fantastic way to cook the duck! So helpful.
I’m glad it was so good Julie 🙂 Thank you for stopping by to let us know!
Ever try smoking a Muscovy? We did. It was wonderful. Rubbed it with a dry spice beef rub, put bacon strips on top to keep it moist & set in in a double layer foil bowl about 2/3 up the sides/top. Smoke for 2-3 hours low heat until it pulls off bone. Tent 15 min & eat. Save carcass and make broth with it. It’s great also.
We haven’t, but that sounds absolutely delicious – thank you for sharing!