PDC ducks

[alexthecook]

PDC has custom-fattened 60 ducks with maple syrup.

They're on sale this Friday to take home with you. Whole bird with the foie gras is around 110$. You can also wait until the 27th - for 140$, you get the whole bird with foie gras, but all the elements are prepared by PDC (legs are confit, foie gras is en terrine, etc.). I think you can also get just the foie gras for about 70$.

Reserve 'em while you can (I know I already did!)

edited for typo

Edited December 20, 2007 by alexthecook (log)

[fedelst]

Now this is what this forum is all about

Thanks for the heads up.

PDC has custom-fattened 60 ducks with maple syrup.

They're on sale this Friday to take home with you. Whole bird with the foie gras is around 110$. You can also wait until the 27th - for 140$, you get the whole bird with foie gras, but all the elements are prepared by PDC (legs are confit, foie gras is en terrine, etc.). I think you can also get just the foie gras for about 70$.

Reserve 'em while you can (I know I already did!)

edited for typo

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[Margo]

Please give a full report, you guys! I wonder how detectable (delectable?) the maple will be?

[Simon Patrice]

Please give a full report, you guys! I wonder how detectable (delectable?) the maple will be?

←

I just reserved mine today. I can't wait to go pick it up. They told me it includes 2 magret, 2 legs confit, ± 400 gr. foie gras en terrine, demi-glace and a maple sauce. I'll try to give feedback once I've tasted all of this.

[fedelst]

So, you are wondering if the PDC Maple Syrup duck is worth the $$??

Here is where I am at so far. I bought the raw duck with the Foie Gras. The Foie gras is cryovac'd and weighed 1.56 lbs. The duck, although being a canard de barberie, has a lot of fat. I pulled the 2 Magret and have the salted legs sitting waiting to become confit. The layer of fat on the breasts is insane. The fat rendered from the carcass and collected from the cooking the magrets is just over 1.5 litres. More than enough for my confit.

So far, we had only eaten the magret. The texture was dense and richer than most magret I usually buy. No, it does not have a Maple flavor, nor did I suspect it would. The quality and flavor of the meat is excellent. Normally I would prepare a pear, or reduced port sauce, but decided to go with the maple theme, and made a sauce with some slightly reduced super rich Grade 'C' Dark maple syrup, a couple ounces of Glenfiddich, a bit of salt, and 1/3 cup of butter whisked in as small chunks. The smokeyness of the scotch worked well with the sweetness of the syrup, and the whole thing worked perfectly with the duck.

All in all, the magret was clearly a better quality product than what we usually see. A bit pricey, but, easily justified in the name of research.

I will report back after we work on the foie gras, and once the confit is ready.

Pass the Zocor...

PDC has custom-fattened 60 ducks with maple syrup.

They're on sale this Friday to take home with you. Whole bird with the foie gras is around 110$. You can also wait until the 27th - for 140$, you get the whole bird with foie gras, but all the elements are prepared by PDC (legs are confit, foie gras is en terrine, etc.). I think you can also get just the foie gras for about 70$.

Reserve 'em while you can (I know I already did!)

edited for typo

←

Edited December 31, 2007 by fedelst (log)

[Margo]

I don't doubt they're worth every loonie!

Thanks for the report--your sauce sounds perfect. I look forward to reading about the rest of the fruits of your research.

[Simon Patrice]

Today is a sad day... No more duck in the fridge. I had bought the "transformed" duck and didn't regret it one bit. The confit was incredibly tender, perfect with a slice of foie gras and some maple sauce on top. The foie was dense and suave, what a great way to start the day! As stated by Fedelst, the amount of fat on the magrets was almost indecent. The meat was especially tasty. Even my two year old son like it a lot. The magrets were served with caramelized vidalia onions, cranberries and maple sauce. I think the sauce is the same base if not the same sauce as the one they use for the Plogue à Champlain.

I'm thinking of making this a yearly tradition now!

[fedelst]

Seared the Foie gras for new years dinner. It was definitely something special. Very velvety and smooth, and a very mild flavor, more so than most other foie gras. Actually, pairing this with any sauce or accompaniment with a strong flavor would obfuscate the taste. Simple toasted brioche worked perfectly. (Although I had originally intended to serve it with lightly toasted ginger bread, I had made that aft, once I tried the Foie Gras, it was apparent that his would be a huge mistake).

Salted the legs after I broke down the duck, and set the confit to cook yesterday. It is now aging for a bit before I indulge. The fat rendered was just enough to cover the legs and more than sufficient to fill the jar.

More after I crack the jar and dig out the confit.

[alexthecook]

For my part, here is what I served for New Year's:

- Toasted brioche with apples caramelized in Vendanges Tardives wine, melted aged cheddar, thick slab of foie gras terrine and balsamic reduction. This was pretty good but my foie gras portions were way too big. The fact that, as reported upthread, the flavour is milder was a drawback in this dish as the cheddar overpowered the foie, despite the quantity. We ate leftovers of the foie gras the next day on toasted baguette rounds with onion jam and it was superlatively delicious, the foie was dreamily onctuous... mmm..

-I seared the magret and served it simply with the sauce that the PdC had given me, along with cauliflower puree and orange glazed carrots. The magret was delicious with a nice almost velvety texture, but I did not like the sauce at all. It was like thick caramel, waaay too sweet for such delicate flavours.

And the confit is still in the fridge, will report later....

Margo: No I did not detect maple syrup. It seems to me that its main effect is on texture.

[fedelst]

Final Chapter....The confit was eaten.....And it was the best darn confit I have ever made. Using the same process as I always use, with little more than a bay leaf and a few pepper corns in the fat, I could swear that the duck had a slight sweetness to it. Although I am highly skeptical that this is directly related to the maple in the ducks diet, I will have to run this test once again using both maple fed and non-maple fed ducks to verify whether this is a candidate for the journal of irreproducible results.

It would be interesting to verify whether maple fed ducks actually do not digest all the sugars, and if any of these excess sugars are in fact present in their muscle or fat. Unfortunately, I am less then well equipped to measure such subtle levels of sugar, as I only have a simple bulb saccharometer for brewing. So... I guess I will have to make multiple batches of Confit and rely on my palate. oh darn...

This calls for an NRC grant application to be submitted.

Edited February 3, 2008 by fedelst (log)