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Old Jan-10-2006, 02:51 PM   #1 (permalink)
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How to wax ducks

I know some of you pluck your ducks and some of you breast them but here is a method that was used at my friends club that I have started using at home that works awesome. It takes half the time and it gets all the feathers.

Here is what you will need:

A cheap big pot.
Camp stove or you can do it on the barbeque.
parafin wax (I bought mine on e-bay but you can use canning wax or buy it at Michaels)
5 gallon bucket filled with cold water and a little ice.

First set up the camp stove and put the pot on it. Fill the pot about 2/3 full of water then add some chunks of wax until it is about 3/4 full. You do not need a lot of wax in the water, when melted there should be 1/2-1 inch of wax floating on the water. Turn it on high and let the wax melt and bring it just to a boil. I do not suggest doing this on the home stove as you may spill wax while you are transferring birds and the wife will not be happy if you get wax all over her nice stove.



While the water is coming to a boil here is how I prepare the birds. I cut the legs off at the knees, pull out the tertiary feathers by the armpits and then cut the wings off at the shoulder joints. You then need to do a little bit of plucking on the breast and the back. Do not go crazy and pluck a lot. You only want to pull out some of the feathers to help the wax penetrate to the breast. I didn't take any pictures of this but I will update the post after cleaning birds this weekend.



Once you have the water and wax boiling turn it off you are now ready to wax the birds. Hold them by the head and dip them so they get coated in the wax up to the neck. You do not want to swish them around or dunk them more than once or you will get way too much wax on the bird. a quick dip is all you need. As you are pulling them out use a stick or in my case a chopstick to "squeege" off as much wax as possible. Transfer from here to the bucket of cold water.









Repeat until you are done with the ducks. You may need more than one bucket if you have all big ducks or are doing more than one limit. Let them cool until they are hard, I like to leave them for 10-15 minutes. More than enough time for a beer or two or a quick bj from the wife.........

Once they have cooled take them out. You are now ready to pluck them. Place them on a hard surface and push down on them and kind of roll them as you push down. This will crack the wax and make it so you can pull the wax and feathers off. Find a small section that has cracked and pull it off, I'm usually careful with the first piece to keep the skin from tearing. Once you get that first piece off its like peeling an orange. A good trick is to seperate the skin from the wax by working your fingers in between the wax and skin as you peel back the wax. Think of peeling the skin away from the wax and not peeling the wax away from the bird and you will have less issues. Keep doing this until you have all the wax off the ducks. Be careful around where you cut the wings off as the skin is apt to tear here because of cutting of the wings. If the skin should start to tear while you are removing the wax, try working on a different area and getting to the part that is tearing from the other direction. Sometimes there is nothing you can do to keep the skin from tearing whether it would be a really thin skinned duck or you blasted the crap out of it and it looks like a pin cushion.





Once done you will have lots of pieces of wax that look like this:





But the nice thing is you will have birds that look like this:





If you have any questions feel free to ask. This method takes from start to finish (including getting the wax boiling) about 45 minutes but it is faster than plucking ducks, you get a cleaner product and you aren't wasting any of the duck meat like breasting them does. Once you get the wax going you can knock out a ton of ducks in a really short time. This way is also much less labor intensive than plucking.

Once the wax has hardened in the pot, poke some holes in it and drain the water out. All you need to do for the next time is add water and a little more wax.

Some people also melt the wax with the feathers in and strain the feathers out but personally I find that to be too much work.

I haven't been able to find the wax cheap down here yet but if you are anywhere out in the central valley or in most somewhat rural towns you can buy the wax (canning wax) in 10lb blocks for about $10. this amount should last you about a half a season depending on how many ducks you shoot.

Marcus
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Last edited by chuam; Jan-26-2006 at 08:36 PM.
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Old Jan-10-2006, 04:44 PM   #2 (permalink)
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Re: How to wax ducks

i love this step by step process you did here this is awesome.....now all i need is your recipe and good to go!!!...sheriff
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Old Jan-10-2006, 10:07 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Nice step by step

Good explanation. I tried your receipe for bar-b-qing them with the skin on the other day. I had a nice bull sprig. It was actually edible and gave me hope that with a little practice and some experimenting, I might be able to make the fuckers taste good I love all kinds of wild game, but there is just something about ducks. The best way I have found to eat them is wrapped in bacon and grilled. Your way was good too. They do make excellent jerky which is what I do with most of mine.

Thanks for the pointers on the wax job.
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Old Jan-11-2006, 07:53 AM   #4 (permalink)
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Re: How to wax ducks

Bitchen post!!
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Old Jan-11-2006, 02:23 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Re: How to wax ducks

That's pretty cool. I might try it after Barret next week. It would have been good to know last year when I had a Ross.

Scott
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Old Jan-11-2006, 03:33 PM   #6 (permalink)
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Re: Nice step by step

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fresh One
Good explanation. I tried your receipe for bar-b-qing them with the skin on the other day. I had a nice bull sprig. It was actually edible and gave me hope that with a little practice and some experimenting, I might be able to make the fuckers taste good I love all kinds of wild game, but there is just something about ducks. The best way I have found to eat them is wrapped in bacon and grilled. Your way was good too. They do make excellent jerky which is what I do with most of mine.

Thanks for the pointers on the wax job.
A trick for getting ducks to taste better is to brine them for a day or two before cooking. I usually soak my ducks in water and add about 1-2 tablespoons of kosher salt. I soak them from 1-3 days depending on the species and size, changing the water each day. This helps leach most of the blood out of the ducks and improves their taste.
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Old Jan-11-2006, 04:01 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Cool Re: How to wax ducks

Nice write up Marcus!
I shoot a shitload of ducks per season so breasting is the way I go.
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Old Jan-11-2006, 04:07 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Re: How to wax ducks

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sluester
Nice write up Marcus!
I shoot a shitload of ducks per season so breasting is the way I go.
When I lived in Norcal I was hunting every weekend and at least 2 wednesdays a month for the entire season. My buddy and I would clean all our ducks on Sunday before leaving and with the waxer at his club we could knock out 28 ducks between us in about 45 minutes to an hour. I just love cooking them with the skin on as you get all that lovely fat under the skin to cook into the meat. Give it a try sometime, I may get you to switch......
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Old Jan-12-2006, 04:45 AM   #9 (permalink)
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Re: How to wax ducks

Nice and in such detail. I have never cooked with the skin on, however i have completely de skinned a mallard, marinated it in chicken broth......came out great.
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Old Jan-12-2006, 08:03 PM   #10 (permalink)
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Re: How to wax ducks

Great write up Marcus.
I too much prefer 'qued duck med rare cooked with skin on.

I cut the backs out after plucking so the cavity can be scrubbed thouroughly prior to rinsing (in place of brining). Then I split into halves and remove most of the breast bone, score the skin and salt WELL and cook on a very hot grill.

Try simmering a can of whole berry cranberry sauce with a 1/2 cup of decent cab or merlot until it re-reduces. Strain if you want elegance, slice the breast meat and WOW!

I have cooked duck for many a person who says they don't like duck and they love it this way.

Last edited by BluefinCurly; Jan-12-2006 at 08:04 PM.
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Old Jan-12-2006, 08:21 PM   #11 (permalink)
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Re: How to wax ducks

Great idea on the merlot/cranberry reduction. I posted a recipe a while back but can't find where I put it so here it is again.

This should be done with whole birds with skin on.

Cut out the back bone and break the wishbones in the bird so it lays flat.

In a bowl of soy sauce "wash" the duck so it gets coated, take out and place breast side down. Liberally, and I mean coat, the inside of the bird in beaumonde (or celery salt), onion salt, garlic salt and regular salt (I like to use kosher salt). It should be absolutely coated in the salts, you can't put too much on it. Flip it over and repeat on the breast side. You want a really hot grill for this with a section to move the birds to so they can have indirect heat. Place the birds breast side down on the hottest part of the grill. You want to cook it until the skin looks charred. Be careful as the fat from the ducks will start a grease fire. If this is happening put the lid on to knock the fires down. Once the breast side looks burnt, flip it to the cavity side and cook until it looks the same. I then move them to the outside of the grill so they get indirect heat. breast side down first and then flip. Cooking times depends on the size of the ducks and how hot the fire is. When they are done, take a beer (I prefer to use a good cheap coors light or budweiser) shake it up and spray the birds down so you wash some of the salt off of them. Be careful as you can get steam burns doing this. Flip them and cover for a few minutes. Repeat with the other side. Once you pull them out let them rest for about 5 minutes to soak the juices back up before cutting them open.

This is called mexican style duck and is awesome........
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Old Jan-26-2006, 08:36 PM   #12 (permalink)
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Re: How to wax ducks

Finally added the extra pictures.......
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Old Jan-26-2006, 10:06 PM   #13 (permalink)
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Re: How to wax ducks

I think you gotta have skin on just about all upland birds and waterfowl. Thats just my preference the fat really helps the flavor. I'm going to have to try the mexican ducks I've never heard that one before. The cranberry wine reductions flavor is a great compliment to the duck the strong flavor really holds up well to the duck.

Thanks for the post.
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Old Oct-08-2006, 06:40 AM   #14 (permalink)
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Re: How to wax ducks

Now that the season is back I figured it's time for this post to come back.

Cleaned and waxed 7 teal in 25 minutes yesterday. Waiting for the wax to warm up took the longest.
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Old Oct-11-2006, 08:57 AM   #15 (permalink)
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Re: How to wax ducks

Hey Marcus give me a call if you're looking for a partner. I've got the itch, and I don't think upland birds are going to get it done this year.

Mike
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