How to make Gound Duck

This is a primer on how to make ground duck. I'm not an expert in this field, but I couldn't find any butcher shop that would do it for me so I wanted to provide some guidance for people who want to try my Turducken Burger recipe (link). Suffice it to say that if you undertake this procedure it is at your own risk, and that I bear no legal or moral responsibility if things go horribly wrong. Always be careful with food sanitation, especially when dealing with poultry.

Before you start, you can't grind duck without some sort of machine. There are three kinds, manual, stand-alone units, and meat grinding attachments for mixers. If you don't own a grinder, you will have to buy or borrow one before you start. I read on the web that a hand mixer is best for grinding poultry, but I used a KitchenAid stand mixer with a grinding attachment.

First things first; here is a video on how to get the most meat from your duck:

Note that this video doesn't mention the gizzards (that come inside a packaged duck) or the wings -- but we won't be using those for the ground duck.

Once I deboned my duck, I removed all the fat and skin and the bones from the legs. It might sound complicated, but if I can do it so can you. Take your time and remember, you only need 7 oz. of ground duck for the recipe, so even if you don't get every last morsel you should have plenty.

Once I had all the duck meat I was going to get, I cut it into small pieces, about 1" square. I placed those on a flexible plastic cutting board, spaced out so they weren't touching.

Then I chilled the duck meat in the freezer for 15 minutes, took it out and flipped the pieces over, and put it back in the freezer for another 10 minutes. This didn't actually freeze the duck, but it chilled it enough to make the grinding a lot easier.

I set up my grinding machine and once I took out the cold duck, I used the medium to medium-high speed to grind it quickly.

That is about it... good luck with whatever you are using the ground duck for.

- Scott