Name: Wild Ducks
Ingredients: wild ducks; 1 small peeled carrot (or 1 onion, if preferred); 3-4 uncooked cranberries (optional)

Wild Ducks

Ingredients

wild ducks
1 small peeled carrot (or 1 onion, if preferred)
3-4 uncooked cranberries (optional)

Directions

Prepare

If using a carrot, place it inside each duck.
Boil the ducks in water for 10 minutes to reduce fishy flavor.
If not parboiling, rub the ducks with a halved onion.
Place cranberries inside.

Roast

Roast the ducks as desired.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Wild ducks: Rich, fatty meat that the cooking method must render and keep tender.
Carrot: Adds mild sweetness and aroma to the meat.
Onion: Adds aroma and savory flavor to the meat.
Cranberries: Adds tartness that balances the rich, gamey meat.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.