Duck rissoles take out top prize

The  tastiest home recipe for wild foods in the country comes courtesy of Waiohiki woman Jacquie Hills.

The self-confessed foodie's duck rissoles have taken the overall award in Monteith's Wild Recipe competition.

Her recipe that teamed minced duck meat with chorizo sausages, potatoes, herbs and spices, was lauded by head judge Kerry Tyack for its simple, yet innovative flavour combination that proved an "inspired" match with Monteith's Celtic beer.

"Jacquie's recipe is very simple and uses ingredients that are comparatively easy to find," Mr Tyack said. "The method of preparation is also very easy, and that makes it something many home cooks would consider attempting."

Ms Hills had never entered the competition before, but the bookcase full of recipe books gave away her passion for cooking. She loved to entertain friends and family and had never cooked the same meal twice for guests.

She was motivated to enter the nationwide competition by her teenage son Todd who, as an avid hunter, kept the family's freezer full of duck.

"The rule is if you shoot it you must eat it. Unfortunately for him he is not a great fan of duck," Ms Hills said.

"[The competition] was a good incentive to see what I could do ... When I opened the fridge a few months ago and realised I still had four ducks and a couple of chorizo sausages, I wondered what would happen if I threw them into the mincer."

She experimented and knew she had perfected the recipe when Todd and his friend went back to the pan for seconds.

Still overstocked with frozen duck meat, Ms Hills entered another original duck recipe called "smokey breasts", in addition to a tongue-in-cheek entry that involved splashing raw oysters with lemon juice.

As well as taste-testers, the family were roped in to help match each dish with a Monteith's beer for the competition.

Ms Hills was stunned her rissoles took out the top prize. "They just phoned me at work and I thought oh yeah, they'll just be saying thanks for entering ... I couldn't believe it, really."

For the main prize, Ms Hills and husband Stephen flew to Auckland as special guests for the live "cook off" final in the competition's professional chef division.

The pair were sworn to secrecy as to which of the seven finalists took out the Monteith's Beer & Wild Food Challenge, but enjoyed an up close view of the action and tasting each dish.