What Is Wildfowl stock and How Can I Use It?
Wildfowl stock is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store it, what to substitute, and 1 recipe to get you started.
Key Points
- Wildfowl stock is a dark, gamey poultry stock from wild duck, goose, pheasant, or other game birds.
- Richer and fattier than four-legged game stocks, especially when made from wild duck or goose.
- Use it to braise game birds, make gravy, or build a game-bird soup or risotto.
- Roast the carcasses and skip the liver, which turns a stock bitter; skim and lift the fat cap.
- Closest swaps are chicken, duck, or turkey stock, ideally with a little juniper and mushroom.
What is wildfowl stock?
Wildfowl stock is poultry stock made from wild birds: the carcasses, wings, and necks of duck, goose, pheasant, partridge, or grouse simmered with vegetables and herbs. It tastes like chicken stock that grew up outdoors, darker and gamier, with a richness that comes from birds that actually fly and forage.
Unlike the lean four-legged game stocks, wildfowl can be fatty, especially wild duck and goose. That fat is both the reward and the thing you manage, because too much of it left in turns the stock heavy and dull.
Treat it as the wild cousin of chicken stock: same idea, stronger personality.
How to Use It
Wildfowl stock is built to go back into bird dishes. Use it to braise legs and thighs, to moisten a wild-game stuffing, or as the liquid for a deeply savory game-bird soup or risotto.
It is exactly the base a recipe like Braised Game Birds wants, where the stock and the birds share the same flavor and reinforce each other. It also makes a serious gravy for a roast pheasant or duck, far better than anything from a can.
Cooking & Pairing
Roast the carcasses first for a brown stock with real depth, and toss in the giblets, minus the liver, for extra body. The liver turns a stock bitter, so keep it back for pate instead.
These birds love autumn flavors. Thyme, bay, juniper, a few peppercorns, and a strip of orange or a splash of port suit the gamey-sweet character, and a little apple or mushroom in the pot deepens it further.
The big mistake is leaving the fat in. Wild duck and goose render a lot of it, so simmer gently rather than boiling, and skim while it cooks. Chill the finished stock and lift off the firm fat cap before you use it.
Save that fat. It is gold for roasting potatoes.
Substitutes
Chicken stock is the everyday stand-in, and a duck stock or turkey stock gets you closer to the dark, fatty richness. For more game character, simmer a few mushrooms and a little juniper in chicken stock.
If you want the gamiest result without wild birds, a stock from roasted chicken wings plus a couple of duck legs splits the difference. None of these match true wildfowl stock, but they all beat plain water under a game bird.
Buying & Storage
Wildfowl stock is a hunter's or a serious cook's project; you make it from carcasses you have saved, not something you buy. Freeze the picked-over frames after a roast duck or pheasant dinner until you have enough to fill a pot.
Cooled stock keeps three to four days in the fridge and several months in the freezer. The fat cap that forms on top seals the stock as it chills, so leave it in place for storage and remove it only when you are ready to cook.
Quick facts
- In Chinese
- 野禽股票
- British (UK) term
- Wildfowl stock
- en français
- stocks de sauvagine
- en español
- Stock aves silvestres
Recipes using wildfowl stock
There are 1 recipe that contain this ingredient.
Braised Game Birds
Braised game birds browned in olive oil, then slow-baked with wildfowl stock, honey, rosemary, and yogurt into a rich pan sauce. Served over wild rice.
