Recipe: Spicy Peanut Duck Noodle

Camera — The ingredients that will soon blend to create the ultimate waterfowl dish.

PREP TIME: 15 MIN. | COOK TIME: 15 MIN. | SERVINGS: 2

INGREDIENTS

3/4-1 lb. of sliced skinless duck breast
Three to four bundles of rice noodles
Four green onions, chopped, tops separated from white bulbs
2 tbsp. peanut butter
2 tbsp. salted and roasted peanuts (chopped fine)
1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. to 1 tbsp. chili flakes, chili oil, sambal, or chili crunch (adjust for desired heat level)
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 cup water
Fresh basil or cilantro
Lime to squeeze

OPTIONAL

1 tbsp. fish sauce
Mushrooms (preferably shiitake)

BACKGROUND

This spicy peanut noodle dish is a fantastic way to use a bigger, older duck. When you’re duck hunting, it’s not like you get to age a duck when you’re preparing to pluck it out of the sky. The bigger, older ducks have epic numbers of pin feathers that make plucking a nightmare. If you’ve ever breasted out an older duck or goose and tried traditional French cooking methods, you know how tough they can be. This recipe will give you the ability to use them up in a dish that’s not sausage.

Growing up, my Uncle Ron was a definite food influence. He grew up in the Bay Area learning his mom’s recipes. He would visit us in Iowa with my aunt, normally cooking a huge pile of egg rolls and other Chinese treats that I later learned were classic Dim Sum food. The simple dishes and techniques are, in my mind, what define a sense of place.

Normally, these are shared traditions between humans regardless of social standing. Everyone loves a taco, egg roll, or a BBQ platter. This dish comes out of my need for a quick and simple food I can make in 10 minutes. It also allows for lots of improvisation to match the ingredients at hand. Plus, it’s healthier than fried noodles in prepackaged ramen.

One of my biggest a-ha moments was going to an Indonesian restaurant. I went with 12 friends so we could order as much as possible from their large menu. Indonesia is made up of over 17,000 islands, and all the inhabited ones each have something special. Indonesian food has deeply influenced Thai cuisine because of how close they are geographically.

Interestingly, sambal is a chili paste that has tons of garlic, ginger, shallots, and some sort of fish sauce or shrimp paste. Other things like fresh turmeric or regional ingredients also make their way into it. If you’re familiar with Spanish or Mexican food, it’s like the idea of sofrito. Basically, you cook a bunch of flavorful things together with oil that creates the base of your food. So, sambal is an instant trip to flavor town. Still, if you don’t have any, chili flakes, hot sauce, chili crunch, or any other complex chili sauce will do.

INSTRUCTIONS

You don’t need to boil the rice noodles. Just soak them in warm-hot water. Start the dish by heating water in a kettle. Toss a few bundles of rice noodles into a metal bowl. Pour the hot water over them to sit for 10 minutes. Then, move on to prepping ingredients.

Slice the duck and other vegetable ingredients 1/16- to 1/8-inch thick. A nice way to get thin-sliced duck is to slice it partially frozen. You can almost get paper-thin bits with a sharp knife. Cold Steel has an affordable line of knives for processing and cooking wild game. Look at your duck breast—is there a connective tissue strip in the middle? If so, trim it out.

Once everything is chopped and measured, move on to cooking. While waiting, add a dash of soy sauce and fish sauce to the meat (if you have them). If adding onions, mushrooms, or other vegetables to the dish, cook these first. Slice these up and sauté in oil or butter with a dash of salt, soy sauce, or fish sauce. Taste these. Do they need saltier flavor? If so, add it now and pull out of the pan. Toss in the sambal with peanut butter, rice wine vinegar, and water. Mix thoroughly. Then, continue cooking the sauce on a low heat for a few minutes (taste it and adjust if needed).

Once the sauce is cohesive, add in the duck and heat it for a minute so it’s just barely cooked. Drain noodles and add them to the pan. Swirl noodles around in the sauce and put it all into two large bowls or plates. Put the duck and vegetables on top, garnish with the chopped peanuts, fresh herbs, green onion tops, and more chili oil (if you need more heat).

The duck should be on the rare side of medium. The goal here is to just have it hot and it should be really tender, despite being from a larger breast with no crispy skin. For me, it’s become a recipe that I apply to all sorts of wild game. So, once mastered, feel free to sub in some venison tenderloin, goose breast, sandhill crane breast, or really any other cut that benefits from just being waved at a flame and is low in fat or connective tissue.