This hunting lodge recipe for Teal Stuffed with Mustard Greens and Sweet Potatoes combines everything I love about the glorious Cajun foodways I write about. This dish takes flight in a tough wild duck stuffed with aromatics, greens, and the sweet kiss of Louisiana yams. It’s slow-simmered in a spicy stock just long enough for the meat to yield its tenderness into a cauldron of rich, savory gravy. Now, we’re cooking Cajun.

Wild ducks bathed in an aromatic gravy are tender and tasty in this one-pot braise and a classic Teal Stuffed with Mustard Greens and Sweet Potatoes recipe using wild game. (All photos credit: George Graham)

Cajun men love to cook. I’ve often written about how the food culture of South Louisiana includes methods, techniques, and Cajun recipes that come directly from the hunting lodges, fishing camps, and oil industry outings that are mostly male-only kitchens. In these parts, men take great pride in their Cajun cooking and are eager to share their knowledge.

Now, I’m not talking about your standard kitchen fare, but when it comes to wild game, heavy beef, whole hog, seafood of any kind, or most anything cooked over fire, propane or smoking embers, Cajun men are as fluent in cooking terminology, and culinary methodology as anybody.

My friend Ted Beaullieu is one of those men. I am privileged to be a part of a group of men that get together periodically and take turns cooking up a manly spread. At one of these gatherings, Ted cooked up a wild duck dinner that was the inspiration for my Teal Stuffed with Mustard Greens and Sweet Potatoes recipe today.

Cleaned and dressed, these teal are ready for the pot.

Green-winged teal is a breed of duck that show up first in the sights of seasoned duck hunters of South Louisiana. It’s a small, fast-flying, warm-weather bird that migrates early in the coastal marshes and rice-field flyways of Acadiana.  The 16-day, September teal season ensures that Louisiana duck camps have a steady stockpile of duck meat in their freezers.  Although with a limited amount of all-dark meat, the feeding habits (aquatic grasses and agricultural crops) of these birds make for good eating. And Ted’s Teal Stuffed with Mustard Greens and Sweet Potatoes makes it easy to bring out that flavor.  It is a unique technique, as it uses a boiling method to render the birds tender. As with most long braises, my inclination (and training) is to brown the meat in fat before adding stock, but with Ted’s method, this is not only unnecessary but gets in the way of the ultimate goal—the gravy. You see, these birds are covered in liquid, and it is the long, slow boil that reduces the stock into a thick gravy.

In my Teal Stuffed with Mustard Greens and Sweet Potatoes recipe version, I’m adding sweet potatoes in two stages. First, I like how the sweet potatoes reduce along with the birds that add a sweet, thickening to the gravy, and the final addition of diced potatoes at the end provides color and contrast to the final dish.  Additionally, I add a couple of pieces of smoked meat to my braise for the flavor it gives the gravy.  Oh yeah, this is duck camp cooking at its best, and an easy technique to add to your home kitchen repertoire.

In this Teal Stuffed with Mustard Greens and Sweet Potatoes recipe, a long, gentle boil tenderizes the duck and reduces to a thick, flavor-filled gravy.

Teal Stuffed with Mustard Greens and Sweet Potatoes: Rich and hearty, this is comfort food at its best.

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