Maple Leaf Farms Duck GIVEAWAY...Featuring Super Bowl Ready Duck Sliders with Aged Gouda and Spicy Bacon-Shallot Jam #giveaway #mapleleaffarms #duck #superbowlfood #slider #baconjam

The Super Bowl is this Sunday, so I'm sharing a fantastic slider recipe for game day food spread...but not your AVERAGE sliders! I'm sharing sliders made with flavorful ground duck, aged Gouda cheese, and crazy good bacon-shallot jam. Yes...you're reading that right: DUCK sliders! One of my 2021 kitchen resolutions is to use ingredients I'm not familiar with in fun, accessible ways. First up is duck -- which I've never cooked and only eaten once or twice in my life. I'm partnering with my new friends at Indiana-based Maple Leaf Farms to feature their ground duck. The first question I was asked as I told people I was working on a duck slider recipe was, "What does duck taste like? I've heard it's heavy and gamey!"

Maple Leaf Farm features White Pekin duck, which has a delicious flavor that's more similar to red meat than chicken or other poultry...but it substitutes equally well for both. I was very excited to also learn that duck can be surprisingly healthy and lean. Their All Natural Ground Duck that I'm featuring today is actually 87% lean, with just 180 calories per 4-ounce serving! Duck meat truly is the best of both worlds for burgers -- it combines the red meat texture of beef, combined with the lean nutritional benefits of chicken. That means Maple Leaf Farms hormone- and antibiotic-free ground duck is the perfect product to create a juicy burger with amazing flavor and a healthier profile. 

Duck Sliders with Aged Gouda and Spicy Bacon-Shallot Jam

Spicy Bacon-Shallot Jam adapted from Southern Living

Ingredients (makes 6 sliders):

For the duck patties:

• 1 lb. package Maple Leaf Farms All Natural Ground Duck
• 1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. sea salt

For the spicy bacon-shallot jam:

• Five slices maple-flavor bacon
• 3 shallots, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 small yellow onion, chopped
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1-2 tsp. sriracha
• 1/2 cup water
• 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme

For assembling the sliders:

• 6 slider buns
• Three slices Gouda cheese, cut into quarters
• 1/3 cup Dijon mustard combined with 1/3 cup mayonnaise

Directions:

Step 1: Make the spicy bacon-shallot jam [NOTE: This step can be completed up to 2 days ahead to save time.] Cook the bacon in a large saucepan over medium heat until crisp; drain on paper towels and set aside. Add the garlic, shallots, and onion to the bacon grease in the pan. Cook for 1o minutes, until the onions are translucent. Reduce heat to med-low, then add the reserved bacon, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, sriracha, water, and thyme. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer. Simmer the mixture for about 30 minutes -- until reduced to a jam-like consistency. Spoon into a bowl to allow the jam to cool and thicken.

Step 2: Add the ground duck to a mixing bowl. Add the Dijon mustard, thyme leaves, garlic, and salt & pepper. Gently mix just until the ingredients are combined. Form the ground duck mixture into six uniform patties. Cook the patties in a nonstick pan over med-high heat for 3-4 minutes per side. 

Just before assembling the sliders, combine the Dijon mustard and mayonnaise to make a quick homemade creamy dijonnaise sauce. 

Step 3: Assemble the sliders. First, place six slider bottom buns on a serving platter. Spread both halves of the buns with a bit of the dijonnaise. Place a cooked duck patty on each bun bottom. Top each duck patty with two small squares of Gouda and 1-2 tsp. of the spicy bacon-shallot jam. Add the bun tops to each slider and secure with an extra long toothpick. 

These duck sliders are insanely delicious! The texture and flavor of the cooked ground duck is similar to ground beef, but it was more tender than ground beef to me. I purposely used simple seasonings for the duck patties so their flavor and texture would really shine. The ingredients I did add to the duck meat echoed flavors used in the other slider components. These sliders' biggest pop of flavor comes from the spicy bacon-shallot jam. It's spicy, smoky, sweet, and tangy...and just plain awesome! The Dijon mustard in the dijonnaise was a really nice background flavor, making these sliders a huge hit! 

Photo of skinless duck breasts
provided by Maple Leaf Farms

So...who wants to try Maple Leaf Farms' delicious duck products in their kitchen? You're in luck! They're going to provide one giveaway winner a 1-pound package of the All Natural Ground Duck I'm featuring today...along with a package of four (4) 7-ounce Boneless Skinless Duck Breasts! To enter, follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter below. Entries will be accepted until 11:59 CST on Tuesday, February 9th; the winner must be a U.S. resident. The giveaway winner will be notified via e-mail by February 10th and will have 48 hours to respond with their shipping address. If the winner doesn't respond within this timeframe, a new winner will be selected. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: Maple Leaf Farms provided me sample packages of their ground duck and boneless skinless duck breast to facilitate recipe development. All opinions expressed are solely my own.