Ducks Unlimited Podcast

Jerad Henson: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast. We escaped the weather. Barely. Barely. The power's still on. That it is. That it is. So we've had our good friends over from How to Barbecue Right. We got Mr. Malcolm Reed. He's been cooking for us today. We made some fantastic dishes. We're going to jump into those. Malcolm, what was kind of the thoughts for today for you?

Malcolm Reed: Well, you know, um, when, when y'all asked me to come out and we're thinking about 4th of July recipes, I was thinking about what dishes do I like to serve to my friends and my family around 4th of July. And most of the time it's pretty easy stuff. It's not overcomplicated and it always centers around the grill. Right. So I was kind of thinking, man, what if we did, you know, an appetizer and that was kind of the queso, smoked queso. And then, and then the other elements is something that you can walk around and eat and have a good time. You don't sit down and have to have like a fork and knife and a full plate and everything. So wings definitely fit the bill for that. I mean, I'm a hot wing junkie.

Jerad Henson: Oh man. And wings on a smoker or grill, like you get that extra smoky flavor. That just takes them to a different level. That's so good. And we did that on a charcoal grill. If you've got a pellet smoker at home.

Malcolm Reed: Oh yeah.

Jerad Henson: You want to talk about the best thing, in my opinion, you could cook on a pellet smoker? It's probably chicken wings.

Malcolm Reed: Man, I'd like to crank mine up to like 400 and let it rip and get that, the skin renders. And so it gets a crispy side without all that grease of deep frying it.

Jerad Henson: So it's actually a healthier wing for you. It is, it is. Oh, and you can get that good sticky sauce on there as well. And the rub, you know. It just makes it, man. You got that Memphis style, right?

Malcolm Reed: You gotta have a good rub on there. Absolutely. And then the last thing, you know, I was thinking, how can we do bar- I knew we were limited on time. Like, you know, when I cook barbecue for the holidays, it's, it's an overnight deal. You know, it takes multiple hours. And so I was like, we can, I can, uh, kind of get the same flavors with a similar type meat. So I use the little pork tenderloin. And I kind of did a smoked barbecue pork tenderloin on the grill, and it just doesn't take near as long to cook those, because you don't have to run them up to 200 degrees. They're getting done, you know, around 140 is perfect temperature.

Jerad Henson: And they were fantastic. They were cooked perfect. And since we're doing a 4th of July episode, a cooking episode at DU, right, we had to bring some waterfowl into it. Had to bring some duck, so I broke out some duck out of my freezer. It's a good time to get rid of it when you got friends and family. Share that stuff. If you learn how to cook it right, you're going to make a lot of fans. Oh, you absolutely cooked it right today, man. That was some of the finest duck I've tasted. Well, thank you, man. That's one of my favorite recipes. If I'm trying to impress somebody at home, that's actually one of the things I'll do. And we did the popper sauce on there. I love that. You can take that same duck, though, and you can take it a completely different direction if you do fruit reduction. a compote or something or a little goat cheese. Fancy it up. You can make it way fancier. And yeah, you can take it. And then also one of the other things I'll do, and I didn't do it on this one, but if you're wanting to make that presentation even better. before you put those things on the grill, and right after you pluck them, I'll hit them with a propane torch. And it clears all the little pin feathers. Cinges that little feather off? It cleans that rest up for presentation. It makes everything look so much better. And that's something you can do if you're trying to bring people over and you want to impress them. Me, when I'm cooking with my family, I don't even pick all the pin feathers out all that much. My wife cuts the skin and fat off. She didn't want to eat that part, but she wants the skin and fat on while I'm cooking.

Malcolm Reed: Well, see, I thought that was unique about it because a lot of times when I see people clean ducks, they just cut right through that skin. Yep. And they breast it out. Yeah. And you're leaving, you know, you leave the skin, I guess because they don't want to pick the feathers or whatever, but taking that time and cleaning that breast off and leaving that fat attached as you sear that on the grill or whether it's in a hot cast iron skillet or a flat top even. That duck fat, that layer of fat that's in between, you know, the meat and the skin is where all your flavor is in the duck.

Jerad Henson: And it protects it, right, as you're cooking, it keeps it from drying out. And mallards, I love to do. Speckled bellies, love to do the same. You want to talk about something amazing? Go do that with some more green-winged teal, fatty green-winged teal fillets. Oh my goodness, man. They're so good.

Malcolm Reed: Teal is my favorite eating duck. The only problem is they're so small. And so you really do need to breast that out and leave the skin on so you're not wasting any of it. But, you know, it's so hard to beat a teal. And then, you know, what's next for me? Wood duck. I love eating wood duck. And we have a ton of them in Mississippi.

Jerad Henson: Well, and if you're someone who likes to breast them out, right? Wood ducks are a pain to breast out. That skin's stuck on there. So if you just pluck them and then cut them out with the skin and fat on them. And singe them. And singe them like that, you can clean them up. They're actually just as easy just about to do that. And once you get the hang of it. it's pretty easy to just pluck the breast. Yeah. Well, that's how I'm going to be doing it.

Malcolm Reed: From now on, I will definitely be doing that. Because I was from the, let's just, you know, cut them out. No one ever taught me that. But scoring that skin to where the fat escapes as it renders and makes it crispy, it is just a unique bite. And I love the way you slice that breast across the grain.

Jerad Henson: Trying to keep those bites tender.

Malcolm Reed: It leaves that, it's almost like the brisket fat that we leave on a slice of brisket. It's just a thin little layer and it has so much like from the sear from the grill, the crispiness, the rich fattiness cuts, cuts the leanness of the meat and it just melts in your mouth.

Jerad Henson: I do like a good, another favorite recipe of mine, and it's a fun one, you'll probably like this one. I do a brine, again, same thing, but brisket rub it, put it in your smoker, and basically do a reverse sear on it that way. But do it like super low, 200 degrees, maybe even 170, if you can get your smoker down that, let it get some good smoke on it. Almost a cold smoke technique. Almost. And then hot iron skillet, skin side down, sear it, get that skin crispy on the outside. That one's pretty good, too. It makes a good sandwich.

Malcolm Reed: I'm all about that, too.

Jerad Henson: I love to cook duck, so that's kind of my thing, was I wanted to make sure, like, you can make duck fantastic. You can make it approachable, too.

Malcolm Reed: Absolutely. Well, you know what was so the sauce let's talk about that because you had an idea He's like everybody knows duck poppers. Everybody loves them. It's I think that was the first wild game that I ever learned to cook was a popper Yep, you know and so and everybody knows like, you know, so it's usually whatever wild game you have that's the case duck is excellent for poppers and then they usually put a piece of jalapeno or some kind of pepper in it some cream cheese and then wrap the whole thing in bacon and it makes a Popper. Yeah And so the hard part is getting that bacon that you've wrapped around done before you overcook the duck to where it's inedible.

Jerad Henson: And that's always been the challenge for it. That's it. And that's something that everyone's like, oh, duck's gamey. You probably overcooked it. Right. You know. And so if you can keep from overcooking it, but it's hard to do on a popper if you're looking at the bacon. So to try and get around that, that was what I did as I went. And like we were talking about, pulled all those ingredients. I had jalapeno. I had cream cheese. I had bacon. I put it in a Ninja. Zip that thing up, a little bit of Worcestershire sauce, some of that W sauce. I like that flavor it brings. Some of your AP seasoning to make sure I got the salt level right, and a little garlic in there. Let that ride. And then some Mexican crema, because it keeps that creamy. It's thick. Just to make it to where it'll blend and make a good dip.

Malcolm Reed: So it's a popper sauce with all of those elements that you could either dip the duck in or drizzle it with it, however you want to do it. I think that's genius. I think that was like the deconstructed popper sauce. Man, I will be, I'm gonna have to give you credit, but I'm gonna have to share that with everybody that watches my video.

Jerad Henson: Do it, do it. I appreciate that, because that's, like I said, I like to make duck approachable, right? Wild game. I love to cook deer. I love to cook, I mean, we eat everything from dove, squirrel, deer. To fish, to turkey, to everything. Yeah, and so making that wild game approachable, something that's good, right? That's something.

Malcolm Reed: That's what's fun about the cooking part aspect of it. You can make things your own like that. You can have an idea or find somebody's recipes, like some of the ones we shared, and take those and use the ingredients you like, the flavors you like, follow the technique, and it'll be your own unique recipe.

Jerad Henson: Right, and that's something we will say is at the end of the video, we'll probably drop the link to some of these recipes and the video credits and stuff, but you don't have to stick to it. Make it your own, right? If you want a little more heat, bring a little more heat. You want a little more sweet, bring a little more sweet. Make it how you want it.

Malcolm Reed: So we also did the cheese dip, because that was one of the recipes that I brought. I was thinking, what's a great appetizer around the holidays? And I don't know about your family, but every function we have, someone's bringing a big crock pot or something. The cheese dip or the queso is always going to be there. And so what I like doing is taking it to another level instead of doing it in the crock pot. Getting it out on the pit and picking up those essences of the wood, the smoke you're using, that grill flavor, it makes such a difference in making it just to something that's a little bit better than the norm that you're used to, the crockpot version. Well, and smoked cheese is fantastic.

Jerad Henson: Yes, it is. It really is. You take cheese, cheese is fantastic, but you could take it up a complete different notch when you add that smoke element to it. It was fantastic. I love the idea that you brought about throwing in some venison breakfast sausage or some kind of wild game. And I don't know if you've ever tried this. Something else I'll do with that duck and that's with the skin on it. Sometimes I'll grind it. It makes, if you got good fat, it makes a dang good chorizo.

Malcolm Reed: Oh man, duck chorizo would be excellent with queso. Because it handles all those big flavors. Absolutely. What I've typically done, and I have done a chorizo version of that, but I don't like mixing the chorizo in with the cheese, the queso, because it changes the color. Usually chorizo is pretty fatty.

Jerad Henson: It is super greasy.

Malcolm Reed: In the seasonings, it'll stain the whole queso if you don't watch it. But what I do is serve the chorizo, brown it up, serve it on top like you did the pico just like we did the pico yeah that way it's not going to get mixed in and when people drag their chips to it or they serve themselves some they get some of that chorizo with it but the queso didn't you just kind of mix it to your plate and eat it it's much better that way well i love the way you had the pico on top because it brought a little bit of freshness some lightness on top of that really rich

Jerad Henson: Uh-huh. Cheese sauce.

Malcolm Reed: And it's just, it's processed American cheese. But the best quesos are, man. Like, if you think about the ones you go to the Mexican restaurant and get the white cheese dip or the white queso.

Jerad Henson: You're not getting that creamy texture without the good old processed cheese. Yeah, it's processed American.

Malcolm Reed: And that Velveeta works. And I add the cream cheese to give it that extra level of creaminess. Thin it down with a little milk and then add the Rotel and the green chilies. How easy is that? easy stuff you can find. It's not hard to find.

Jerad Henson: You're not having to source crazy ingredients.

Malcolm Reed: If you're just starting out and cooking outside and you want to cook something that people are going to just devour, cook them that cheese dip.

Jerad Henson: That cheese dip, yes. No one's going to complain about that. And then we switched over and you had, we did the wings and those wings, we let those roll a lot longer than probably a lot of people thought.

Malcolm Reed: Yeah. That's, that's the biggest question I get. It's man, you've overcooked those wings so bad because everybody knows like white meat on a chicken is done at 165. That's the recommended USDA where they say minimum to take it to. That's the minimum. And that's just to make sure it's safe to consume. Well, yes, the chicken is done at that point, but for a wing to have all of that connective tissue that it has, the thicker skin, it just isn't broke down enough. We haven't rendered that fat in between the skin and the meat. And so it's going to be chewy. It is. And not just the meat, but the skin and just everything.

Jerad Henson: That's right. It's not a good bite.

Malcolm Reed: And so I like taking them up upwards of 190. I mean, if they get right at 200, they're perfect. But those today, there were some of them that hit like 202. There were some of them that were like 195, but they were all in that range. And what you notice, and I like cooking the whole wing. I just think it stays juicier. It does. It holds all that moisture in.

Jerad Henson: Exactly.

Malcolm Reed: And when you cut it apart, you're going to lose a lot of that. I mean, it goes further, but I love a whole wing.

Jerad Henson: Well, and let them rest, let those juices. That's another part of that too. And that's what I was going to ask is what temp did you end up letting those get to? Because they were awesome. And as far as getting a good bite, like they're easy to eat when they're cooked.

Malcolm Reed: The bones just jump out of them. It's like almost little instant rate thermometers in them. When you pull them apart and that bone comes out clean. And it's another good forgiving dish to cook. It is. It absolutely is. It's hard to screw up a wing. You know, the way I did them, I started them off on the side, indirect heat. So if you're thinking of a smoker, a pellet grill, it's easy. You just set the temperature you want. But like the grill we cooked on today, we had to build our coals on one side, so we had a real hot zone, a direct side, and then we could move our racks around to where we had a cool side. And that's where I started these wings at. It starts rendering, it starts setting that bark on them. They were simply seasoned with just some hot barbecue rub, nothing fancy. I didn't do anything special to them. Put them right on the pit and I'd let them go about 30 minutes and flip them in another 30 minutes. And that's when I slid them over just to get some direct heat to kind of give us a char. I just like that flavor it gives them on the grill. And while they're doing that, I made up my firecracker sauce. There's nothing wrong with just a smoked grilled wing like that. I mean, it's fine on its own just with some seasonings and eat it. But since we were doing 4th of July, I was like, man, my firecracker sauce will go perfect with these wings. And I do it all the time. It's an easy sauce. It's just a bottle of hot sauce, some brown sugar, some red pepper flakes, a little bit of salt, and a splash of cider vinegar. And you just mix it up and set it on the pit and let it warm up.

Jerad Henson: It was so good. And then that your, your hot sauce you used again, brought those awesome garlicky notes in there. It wasn't just a straight hot sauce. Yeah.

Malcolm Reed: And it's not, and this isn't a super, super hot one either.

Jerad Henson: No, but you had enough red pepper flake in there too, to bring that heat and man, it all came together. Fantastic.

Malcolm Reed: And you know, another thing with the sauce, anytime I'm doing a wing sauce, whether it's just a traditional buffalo sauce or this firecracker, whatever it is, I always get my wing fully cooked on the grill or wherever I'm cooking it, bring it to the table and sauce it. That way you're not putting that sauce back on there. You don't have to use near as much sauce. It coats it really well because that chicken's really hot. And then when you toss it in it with a little bowl with the lid, it's so easy. And then you just dump it out and ready to go.

Jerad Henson: And if you put those wings back on, especially if you've got them on that direct heat to try and do that, you've got so much sugar in that sauce. It's easy to burn. You already know. That's exactly what will happen. I've made that mistake a lot. You have to watch it.

Malcolm Reed: And that's why you'll see like when a lot of times when I'm seasoning or stuff, I try to use stuff that doesn't have a high sugar content because of that burning effect. I mean, it's, there's a fine point where the sugar's caramelized and then they go to burn and that's, what's going to give your barbecue an off taste. It's almost a bitter flavor, and you don't want that in it. So keep your sugars, your sauces, your glazes to the very end of the cooking process where they're not over that direct heat too long, and you don't have to worry about that.

Jerad Henson: Right. Well, and that's something else I wanted to ask. Where do you think that grill was floating at on that indirect side?

Malcolm Reed: So on the indirect side, I think it was about 250. I think it was right in that range. There was two dials on it. I don't know how accurate they were, because that was the first time I cooked on that grill, but one of them was running right at 350 on the hot side, and then the center one was running about 250. And it felt like it. I noticed when you cooked the duck, you seared the duck first, and then you moved it back to the back corner. Well, there was a lot of heat rolling in that back side.

Jerad Henson: There was, yep.

Malcolm Reed: And so that duck got done pretty fast, and you caught it, and you was like, well, we need to move it back over here, because it's really hot the way it's flowing back there.

Jerad Henson: Right, yep. Ducks ones, again, like I mentioned, don't overcook it. And so I watch it like a hawk because I don't want to mess it up. I got good company here. I don't want to make something not too good. And then from there, we rolled on to those pork sliders. The pork was like, the way it was, it was cooked perfect. And you cook to 135, 140, right? And old school thought on pork is to overcook it to death.

Malcolm Reed: Oh, most people do. They want to cook it until it's super white, it's tough and tight, and there's no moisture. You can't chew it. You've got to drown it in sauce to get it to choke down. I mean, those little pork tenderloins are meant to be cooked about 140, they'll carry over to 145, and that is perfect.

Jerad Henson: They were. They were absolutely perfect. They were tender, they were juicy.

Malcolm Reed: So what I was thinking with those is I knew I just didn't have time to smoke a pork butt or shoulder or something or cook ribs. So I could do these little pork tenderloins and do the barbecue touch to them. I hit them with like a little mustard binder.

Jerad Henson: It had all the great flavor. It reminded me of one of my favorite barbecue places over in Arkansas. I'm not gonna mention it. Yeah. It's sliced pork shoulder. Yeah. With slaw. That's what they do. You don't see that style a lot. You don't.

Malcolm Reed: The sliced pork, because there's a lot of people, they'll cook butts and they'll undercook them. And when I say undercook them, they're not trying to pull them or chop them. They're taking them to like 175. And then letting it cool down and then running it on a deli slicer. So you get this stacked sandwich of… I love that style. It's unique.

Jerad Henson: It's not…

Malcolm Reed: It's a different kind of barbecue. I mean, Kansas City, they do it a lot, too. There's some places out there that do it. And they'll pile it high on, like, white bread. And it's just pour the sauce on it.

Jerad Henson: Yeah, cheap old white bread or a bun. I think I've been to that place. I think I know what you're talking about. And I've had that in Arkansas. They do have some of the best coleslaw I've ever had. I do have to say that. But that slaw brings that brightness and helps all those kind of mellow out those barbecue flavors. It offsets the sweetness too with it.

Malcolm Reed: Offsets the richness of that pork, you know. And you had the pickles in there too. Yep. That's the way I did the sliders. After we got those tenderloins cooked and I glazed them with the little barbecue sauce to kind of have that look to them. Sliced them up thin and I just took little slider buns that you can buy at the grocery store. Or you could use Hawaiian rolls, whatever you want. And I put a couple of thin slices of dill pickle down, two or three slices of the pork, a little drizzle of the barbecue sauce, and then topped them with that sweet kind of mayo, creamy slaw, and then put the top bun on. And it's a little barbecue sandwich that you can just walk around and eat six of them.

Jerad Henson: And it holds together pretty well, right? Because it's not pulled pork. Like, they don't fall apart like pulled pork.

Malcolm Reed: And it's super tender. You don't need, I mean, you almost don't even need to eat it. It's so soft. I mean, it's really, really good. It was all fantastic.

Jerad Henson: Yeah. We had to smell it all day.

Malcolm Reed: Oh, man. That's the best part, though. But see, I mean, to me, that's Fourth of July. My part was got to eat it, too. Yeah, absolutely. That's the hard part about my job. You know, I do all this cooking and somebody's got to eat it. It's quality control. It's quality control. That's exactly right. But, you know, some of the best memories I've had, my earliest memories of barbecue is 4th of July. My family always had a big barbecue, and that's kind of what got me into it. My dad and uncles all being around the barbecue grills, and I just remember all the meat they would cook and spread out like we did today on a picnic table, and just everybody would get around. It was just always fun.

Jerad Henson: Over, you know, hang out, everybody shoot a few fireworks, right? You know, it's a season to remember, like, our independence. This great country, we have the ability to hunt, we have the ability to to hang out, have this amazing barbecue places and great food traditions. But remembering that is important on this today as well, right? It's a special day. Y'all go out, hang out with your family. Remember the reason why we're out here. And yeah, surround yourself with friends, family, and your favorite places. For me, I'm probably hanging out at the lake. We've got, and I say lake, it ain't a real pretty lake, I'm on a swampy lake, but we hang out, it's friends, family, the smokers fired up, and that's the place to be.

Malcolm Reed: It doesn't get any better than that. I hope everybody has a great summer and great holiday season coming up. Definitely fire those grills up.

Jerad Henson: Yes, yes.

Malcolm Reed: Oh, we forgot to mention the bird dog cocktail you threw together. That was awesome. Yeah, I'm all about some birds. What was the peach bird dog shanty?

Jerad Henson: It was a peach bird dog shanty. Yes. And so we had equal parts, uh, some bush lights. So, so light beer. And then there was a San Pellegrino sparkling lemonade in there as well, uh, with about a shot of. Healthy shot. Peach, yeah. You know, a little bit. Peach bird dog whiskey, and man, it was fantastic. It was refreshing.

Malcolm Reed: That might have been a drink of the summer right there, man.

Jerad Henson: Give it a try. I mean, that was… It was really good. It was really good, so. Well, Malcolm, do you have any other things, closing thoughts on our cook today?

Malcolm Reed: Uh, man, other than I just appreciate the invite. Anytime I get to come hang out with you guys, y'all are always been so nice and hospitable. And it's always fun for me to get to share some of the barbecue stuff that I do. And so I appreciate it. And, uh, and I just hope everybody enjoys it and I hope everybody, you know, y'all try these recipes because anybody can do it. This stuff, it's not, this stuff isn't overly complicated, man. If I can do it, I promise you, you can. And we, and you can definitely impress your friends and share some of this love with them.

Jerad Henson: fine eating food. And Malcolm, we're so thankful that you came over. The way you cook, the way you tell people how to cook, the way you teach makes all this so much more approachable. It makes really, really good food super approachable. That's why we're so happy to have you jump on because everything you touch and the way you show that stuff makes it so easy is something that we love. Thank you for coming out. I want to take a minute. I want to thank our awesome podcast crew, Chris and Rachel, for pulling all this together. Landon over there, he's off on the side. He was running around like a chicken with his head cut off with a a camera through all this, trying to get it racing the weather and the storm. And we had a fun little pause every once in a while with some storms coming through. It got exciting there for a minute. It did. You could probably hear some thunder in the background. For sure. If not, then Chris did an amazing job. And so with that, I really want to thank y'all for tuning in on this awesome episode, this 4th of July episode. Happy 4th, and thank y'all for tuning in.