Baked Duck with Apple Dressing

Baked Duck with Apple Dressing

2 Wild ducks skinned and split in half
1 cup Water
1/4 cup Margarine
2 cup Apple cider or apple juice
1/2 tsp Onion powder
1/8 tsp Garlic powder
1/2 tsp Celery salt
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Freshly-ground black pepper

APPLE DRESSING

1 pkg Jiffy cornbread mix
2 cup Peeled and chopped apples
1/2 cup Chopped onion
1/2 cup Chopped celery with leaves
1/2 tsp Poultry seasoning
1/8 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
2 tbl Sugar
1/8 tsp Freshly-ground black pepper
1/4 cup Margarine
1 can Cream of chicken soup
1 cup Milk
1 Egg

Place duck halves in large frying pan, add 1 cup water and 1/4 cup margarine. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove lid and continue cooking until water evaporates. Add apple cider and remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Remove ducks and set aside while preparing dressing. Save remaining liquid for sauce to serve over dressing.

Apple Dressing:
Bake cornbread as directed on the package. Set aside. In saucepan, add apples, onions, celery, and add small amount of water to cover. Cook until apples are tender. Add water if you need to. Drain off water and add all remaining ingredients. Mix with cornbread.

Grease a baking pan, place half of dressing in pan. Place cooked duck halves on dressing; add remaining dressing over duck. Cover and bake at 375* degrees for 45 minutes. Remove cover and bake 10 to 15 minutes to brown.

Sauce:
Now use remaining liquid you saved from cooking ducks. Take 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, add 2 tablespoons of water. Stir into apple cider over low heat until thickened. Serve over ducks and cornbread.

Comments:
After a successful day in the marsh where the ducks and geese responded to your calls and decoy spreads, you and your hunting partners had a great shoot, filling your bag limits. Now comes the fun part, picking and cleaning the waterfowl for the table.

Picking waterfowl can take some time, unless you have one of those fine automatic feather pluckers that is on the market. If so, you can pick a duck or goose real quick, then dip bird in some hot wax, dip in cold water and peel it like an orange to remove the pin feathers and down.

You can put a roast goose on the dinner table that any chef would be proud of. But if you don't have one of those fancy pickers and you don't really have the time to pick the waterfowl, the following method works for me

I skin 90 percent of the waterfowl that I harvest. First take a sharp knife or small axe and remove wings at first joint. Then remove feet and pluck a few feathers off the breast, cut skin and place your fingers under the skin and pull the skin from the carcass. Draw waterfowl and wash out. Split the waterfowl in half and remove back bone. Check for steel shot and wash. Now you are ready to freeze or cook.