A Nice Evening And Morning In Our Swamp
Be assured I am not complaining. There were ducks this morning, mainly greenwing teal with a few pintail, widgeon and spoonies included for good measure. With just two of us hunting today we had to do a little walking around the forty acres of ponds to keep the birds moving.
My partner wound up with two pintail, a pair of green wing teal, a widgeon and a shoveler. I finished with a pintail and three greenwing teal. The latter went to an old friend who along with his wife relishes the ducks I provide them. He will carefully and painstakingly pluck and clean the birds before roasting them in a hot oven until a little past rare, the traditional recipe for Hunter’s Duck.
I filleted the pinitails breast, producing two palm sized steaks that I ate this evening with some French cut green beans, Casesar salad and two glasses of Apothic Red. After soaking the fillets in salt water for a few hours, I patted them dry, dusted them in Dixie Fry, dipped them in egg wash and then Italian bread crumbs before dropping them into a pan with hot olive oil.
Once they were well browned on both sides and had plumped up, I poured off the oil and replaced with a pat of butter and some Soyaki to create a nice finishing sauce. Served medium rare and sliced on the bias into thin strips…. they were delicious.
The evening before the hunt, a coyote howled nearby, the gas lanterns hissed in the cabin, the stars twinkled brightly in the desert sky and the “stiffo” nightcap (heavy on the Black Velvet/light on the 7-Up) was as good as ever.