In the chilly gray before another autumn dawn, Gib McIntosh treads quietly among the cattails of a pond. Stopping finally at water`s edge, he stands in the frozen silence, awaiting the sounds that come with breaking daylight–especially the quacking of feathered meals on the ascent.
The ducks take flight en masse. Immediately, McIntosh`s 12-gauge Browning booms. If his aim is true, he will dine that evening on mallard in orange sauce.
”There is nothing that can compare in taste to wild game,” says McIntosh, adding that he would rather dine on fresh mallard ”than settle for the finest steak that can be bought anywhere.”
A hunter`s opinions on edibility should not be ignored, if only because a hunter can stock a dinner table without a cash card while the rest of us must forage with shopping carts.
McIntosh, who may have shot and eaten more ducks in his 31 years of hunting than there are pellets in a shotgun shell, concluded long ago that a culinary pecking order exists for this autumnal pursuit.
To him, a bird with a quack tastes better than a bird with a honk. But either is better than anything served in any American restaurant.
”I`ve eaten `game` in restaurants,” he says. ”Usually, I`ve been sorely disappointed, especially with ducks. They`re all farm-raised, like chickens.
”They taste like chicken, too,” laments the real estate developer, 41, whose LaSalle Street office is near several restaurants that feature domesticated game.
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Restaurant pheasant, on the other hand, is not so bad, he says.
”It can taste like the real thing, or something close to it, anyhow.”
This time of year, the real thing and ”something close” become abruptly popular in the kitchens of thousands of hunters throughout the Midwest. While fine restaurants import venison from New Zealand and ducks from farms, hunters such as McIntosh scour swamps and forests for food on the wing or the hoof.
The hunt for wild game is on from September through early January in Illinois, which is divided legally into three hunting zones with slightly different seasons.
In Northern Illinois, the season began with squirrels and mourning doves in early September; ducks became legal Oct. 16 for a five-week season;
pheasant, quail, rabbit and partridge will begin in early November and can be hunted until early January.
The deer season in Illinois is separated and restricted. Rifles are prohibited. Only shotguns with rifled slugs are permissible in the state`s two three-day firearms seasons, in mid-November and in mid-December. Archers enjoy a three-month season, until Dec. 31.
A hunter is not an easy creature to understand. Given a choice between a cozy meal of ersatz game and wild pheasant (or duck or elk or deer), a hunter will opt unhesitatingly for the woods or swamp. His disdain of ”farm-fed” is that great.
That something extra about the flavor of a meal from the wild needs explaining.
It goes beyond differences in diet of farm-fed ”game” and the real thing. Hunters themselves often are at a loss to explain this intangibility. They know it`s there, though.
McIntosh has hunted for supper every autumn since he was 10. In the three decades since he has revisited the family retreat near the confluence of the Des Plaines and Kankakee Rivers dozens of times.
Each visit unveils scenic beauty and provides an opportunity to feast upon wild game. It also is a time to remember a father who taught self-sufficiency and values beyond hunting. Together, they add wholesomeness to a rural pastime that now probably has as many enemies as friends.
”There`s a wonderful tranquility in a duck swamp,” says McIntosh, who feels a sense of peace even in the churning sounds of barges on the river far away. ”Watching the sun rise, hearing insects and songbirds in the early part of the season . . . . I`m in another world.”
Antioch banker Bill Brook understands. A duck hunter for 62 of his 70 years, Brook enjoys hunting for meals.
”There`s so much more to duck hunting than shooting,” he says, ”like watching the sun come up and the birds fly.
”Shooting becomes incidental. If it ever became illegal to shoot ducks, I`d probably be out there with a camera.”
Meanwhile, hunters can eat what they enjoy. Their recipes, basic and hearty, are known by hunters everywhere and can be used with reasonable success by those who hunt at Jewel, Dominicks or Treasure Island.
Here are a few samples. The orange duck sauce is for ”the way we ate ducks when I was a little boy and Dad used to shoot `em,” says McIntosh,
”but it`s really from a Jackson, Miss., cookbook.”
GIB MCINTOSH`S ORANGE DUCK SAUCE
About 2 cups
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
4 brightly colored oranges, navel or valencia
1 quart water
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 cups strained duck stock
2 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed with 2 tablespoons water
1 cup fresh orange juice
2 heaping tablespoons currant jelly
3 drops hot pepper sauce
Several mandarin orange slices, from can
1. Using vegetable peeler, remove orange rind from 4 oranges. Cut rind into fine strips no more than 1/16 inches wide and 1 1/2 inches long.
2. Simmer strips 15 minutes in water to remove bitterness. Strain, rinse in cold water and dry on paper towels. Set aside.
3. Blend sugar and vinegar in heavy saucepan. Cook and stir until sugar melts completely. Then boil rapidly until mixture is caramel brown. Remove from heat.
4. Beat in 1 cup duck stock. Simmer, stirring to dissolve caramel (sugar and vinegar). Remove from heat.
5. Pour in second cup of stock. Blend in cornstarch mixture. Add orange rind, orange juice, currant jelly and hot pepper sauce.
6. Simmer 3 to 4 minutes; increase heat and cook until sauce thickens and comes to a boil, about 5 minutes.
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7. Serve with roast duck on large serving platter; surround with parsley and mandarin orange sections, if you wish.
OVEN-COOKED DUCK FROM JANET BROOK
Three to four servings
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours
Flour
1 large duck, preferably mallard
1 package ( 3/4 ounce) brown gravy mix
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup hot water
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
1 can (6 ounces) concentrated orange juice
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly flour an oven cooking bag. Add remaining ingredients except duck. Mix well. Add duck; close bag. Put into roasting pan. Cut steam vents in top of bag. Cook until tender, about 2 hours. 2. Serve duck with pan juices as gravy.
Note: Using an oven bag has special merits for cooking wild duck because it`s more prone to drying during cooking than fattier farm-raised duck. ”It comes out magnificently. It`s amazing,” says Mrs. Brook, who was given the recipe from friends.
”I`ve cooked pheasant this way hundreds of times over a 50-year marriage. This is how Ed liked it,” says Mrs. Vos, adding that the keys are dipping the pheasant in flour and making sure water completely covers the bird.
LOUISE VOS` PHEASANT
Three servings
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 1/2 hours
Salt, pepper
1 pheasant, about 2 1/2 pounds, quartered
1/2 cup butter
Flour
1 cup water
1 stalk celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 small onion, chopped
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Salt and pepper pheasant to taste. Cook pheasant in butter in large skillet until brown on all sides. Dredge in flour. Lie flat in baking dish.
2. Stir water into skillet. Heat to boil, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan. Pour over pheasant in baking dish. Add celery, carrot and onion. Bake until tender, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.