bacon wrapped duck or woodcock

[Ray Lyon]

Ok, here's another favorite.

You'll need some bacon strips, thin sliced is better for this, pepper(I love fresh ground), garlic powder, toothpicks and a hot grill.

lay out your bacon on a cutting board or covered surface. Season with a liberal amount of pepper and garlic.  

take a boned out/skinless duck breast(there's two per duck) and wrap it with one piece of bacon, slightly stretching it as you wrap with just a little overlap. Pin each end of the bacon with a toothpick. I try to only use 2, so that my guests know to look for two toothpicks in each piece.

 Place each wrapped breast on a hot grill. As the bacon starts to cook, the drippings will cause some large flareup, so you'll have to move the pieces around the grill(so make sure you have an open spot to rotate to    ). Total cook time is about 10-15 minutes and we want the bacon to be a golden brown. You may have to flip back and forth a couple of times to achieve this. We want the breast to come out about medium in doneness (hot red/pink).

 This goes well with 100% wild rice, squash and a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot (no Ron, these are not sweet wines!    )  :D  

 If you're a good wingshot and have access to woodcock, this recipe works well with them. I'll leave the breastbone attached and cook in one piece rather than trying to breast out the little buggers.

 Enjoy.    :D    :D    :D

[OH at work]

Ray, bet this would taste good on pheasant also!!

Joe

[wingnut]

Sounds like ya know your way around a kitchen.  Also a merlot/ cabernet blend would go good.  I'm going to try this one with goose breast this week I'll let you know how it goes.

Love em dark birds.

Mike

[Ray Lyon]

Mike,

 This will work with goose breat too. Be careful that you're not picking out an old bird though, as that may be a little chewy. There's quite a difference between a yearling mallard or woodduck and a 5 year old goose!!    

 Those dark meat birds do have a lot of personality and for those who like red wines, they are a perfect compliment to each other.  

[Kevin Lawler]

Works great with dove too. I like to filet the breasts and marinade them on the grill with some type of Polynesean/Hawaiian sauce. Substitute chicken livers if you don't have dove.

[Ray Lyon]

Sure Kevin, rub it in since here in MI we don't have a dove season (despite the fact it's the number one game bird in the country and we're one of the biggest hunting states in terms of hunter #'s).   :(  

Maybe someday we'll get to try it with doves, but the bill got shot down (pun intended) in the state legislature last year, so it may be a while yet.  

[Ray Lyon]

It's close to a 10 year anniversary for these, so I thought I'd resurect them.

I think a big bodied cabernet is still the way to go, but a Malbec wouldn't be bad either.