Duck Gumbo Recipes

CHEF JOHN'S DUCK, SAUSAGE, AND SHRIMP GUMBO

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.

WILD DUCK GUMBO

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.

DUCK AND ANDOUILLE SAUSAGE GUMBO

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.

UPPERLINE'S DUCK AND ANDOUILLE GUMBO

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.

DUCK, OYSTER, AND ANDOUILLE GUMBO

Steps:

• In a 2-gallon stockpot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, add flour and, using a wire whisk, stir constantly until roux is golden brown, being careful not to scorch. Should black specks appear, discard and begin again.
• Add onions, celery, bell pepper, and garlic, and saute for 3 to 5 minutes, or until vegetables are wilted. Add duck and andouille sausage, blending into vegetable mixture. Add oyster liquid and chicken stock, 1 ladle at a time. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce to simmer and cook approximately 2 hours. When duck is tender, add oysters, and cook an additional 10 minutes. Add green onions and parsley. Season with salt, pepper, and pepper sauce. Serve over steamed white rice.

DUCK GUMBO

Steps:

• Broth:
• To a large stockpot, add the ducks, onions, bell peppers, garlic, bouillon, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and enough water to cover the ducks. Bring to a boil and cook the ducks for about 1 hour, until tender. Remove ducks and pull the breast meat from the bones and chop them into small pieces - use only the breast meat and discard the rest of the bird or save for another use. Strain the broth and save. Set aside the chopped duck breast and broth to use later.
• Roux:
• In a large, deep, black skillet or kettle, fry the bacon. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, leaving the grease in the pan. To the hot bacon grease, slowly add the flour, if the mixture is of a paste consistency, add more bacon grease or oil until it's loose and easy to stir. Stirring constantly, flour-grease mixture should cook on medium heat until a dark caramel color is obtained. Add the salt and pepper and stir. As soon as the salt and pepper are stirred into the roux, add the remaining ingredients to make the gumbo.
• To the hot roux, add broth, then the onions, peppers and tomatoes. Add the seasonings. Then add sausage, duck, bacon pieces and okra. Next add the shrimp, cook until shrimp is pink. Finally, add the gumbo file and stir. Let gumbo simmer for about 1 hour. The longer it simmers, the better it gets.
• Serve over white rice with hot French bread

COMMANDER'S PALACE DUCK, WILD MUSHROOM AND ANDOUILLE FILé GUMBO

Steps:

• Combine 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper and 1/4 cup flour. Heat oil in a large, dry Dutch oven over high heat until smoking, about 5 minutes. Dust duck with flour mixture, shake off excess and sear in the oil 5 minutes until brown on all sides. Remove from pan.
• In the same pan over medium heat, slowly add the 1 cup of sifted flour. Stir constantly, to prevent burning, until mixture is a light-brown color, about 6 to 7 minutes. (If the roux has black flecks in it, it is burned and must be remade.)
• Remove from heat, add the onions and stir well. Lower heat to medium, return the pot to heat and add the celery, stirring for 30 seconds, then the bell peppers, and stir, scraping the sides and bottom of the pot. Add garlic, then all remaining seasoning except file powder. Slowly add the veal stock, continuing to stir.
• Add the duck, sausage and mushrooms. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and simmer 2 1/2 hours. Skim off excess fat. Remove duck pieces from the pot and when cool, remove and discard bones and return duck meat to the pot. Return gumbo to boil and vigorously stir in the file powder until dissolved. Add Louisiana-style hot sauce to taste and serve over white rice.

DUCK GUMBO

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.