Ducks, such as Mallard, Canvasback and Redhead, should be baked. If you
once learn how to bake in a Dutch Oven you have found the secret of
successful camp cookery.
Take a Mallard, for instance. Rub it with salt and pepper (I might add
here: pick ’em dry and keep ’em dry—no water near a duck!), then put an
onion well up in the body cavity. Fill the remaining space with celery,
wild or domestic.
Get your oven, or Dutch oven, very hot before the duck goes in. Use no
grease and no water—just your dry pan or oven. A big Mallard will cook
perfectly in twenty minutes. Do not open oven or take lid from Dutch
oven after starting to cook. Serve with currant jelly.