Americans don't eat duck...

[=Mark]

Inspiration from the "Americans don't eat lamb" thread coupled with this morning's "Good Eats" episode on cooking duck lead to this post. According to AB the American per capita consumption of duck is 5 oz. I know I contribute about ten times this in my favorite Thai restaurant alone. Still, most folks are reluctant to cook duck at home. Why?

[Gifted Gourmet]

Inspiration from the "Americans don't eat lamb" thread coupled with this morning's "Good Eats" episode on cooking duck lead to this post.  According to AB the American per capita consumption of duck is 5 oz.  I know I contribute about ten times this in my favorite Thai restaurant alone.  Still, most folks are reluctant to cook duck at home.  Why?

From my own perspective, the price is usually high and much of the duck winds up being poured off as fat ... which is fine, if one can use it later in other ways ... but, since I don't do that, the price seems a bit out of line, among the other poultry choices .... that, coupled with a desire for white meat chicken, turkey, that we Americans revel in may contribute to the lack of ducks being prepared at home. Perhaps caloric concerns?

and when I eat in Asian restaurants, I invariably gravitate to the duck dishes!

Mahogany duck on Wardour Street in London? Simply to die for!

[helenas]

Because,

1. at least in my area, only Wegmans supermarket carries duck breast and legs individually packaged, as well as magrets and ducks from d'Artagnan.

2. there were no that many good recipes, untill now: Jaymes Peterson's Duck Cookbook just got published

[bloviatrix]

Some years ago in Amanda Hesser wrote a long article about duck in the NY Times. Her theory was that most home cooks found duck to be a pain in the ass to make. Futhermore, duck at home is often comes out tough because cooks treat it like chicken. That, coupled with the price turns people off.

I can relate to her theory a bit, because the first time I ever attempted duck it was an absolute disaster - although the port and prune reduction was tasty. My husband could believe that I spent thirty some-odd dollars on something that turned out so lousy. But, over time I prevailed, and have since figured out a way to play up the duck's strength.

In my love for duck, it is the item I'm most apt to order off a menu, and I find that many restaurants don't know how to prepare it well either. All to frequently I've had duck that's been over-cooked so that the meat is dry and flavorless. But when a dish is well made ---- ahhhhhhh. Perfection.

[marie-louise]

I don't like how greasy it tastes, even in the best of restaurants. I never order it, let alone buy it.

[=Mark]

I myself prefer dark meat poultry to the dry as dust, tasteless white meat that I liken more to pasta than meat; it basically tastes like whatever you cook it with. To me, a moist piece of duck cooked until the skin is crisp comes close to bacon on the culinary perfection scale. I will admit I've not had much success cooking duck in my kitchen, so I might have to try Alton Browns method for Mighty Duck.

[Mayhaw Man]

This American eats plenty of ducks, just not farm raised. The difference between wild ducks and farm raised can basically be summed up in one statement...Farm raised ducks are little dabs of meat surrounded by big blobs of fat and wild ducks are lean and delicious (in fact, they are so lean that if you don't watch what you are doing you can end up with something akin to duck jerky).

While I certainly have enjoyed much duck on restaurant menus, it is usually the way it is sauced more than the meat itself. Most of these dishes would have been good, because of the sauce, regardless of the fowl it was based around.

Ducks in Green Olive Gravy

Chafing Dish Duck

Duck au vin

Duck en brochette (grilled over charcoal)

Duck and Andouille Burrittos (trust me on this one...mmmm)

Cold smoked duck breast of duck on butter lettuce with tarragon vinigarette

As a matter of fact, teal season started down here yesterday and it ooks to be a good year for both teal and ducks.

[Suzanne F]

We love duck as much as we love lamb. I just posted on the dinner thread about having duck last night for dinner . . .

It takes a lot of work to make a good roast duck from a supermarket duck. Usually, roast duck IS still greasy -- and dry at the same time. But that's not the only way to cook it, and the way I do it is easy, delicious, and adaptable to many sauces and other additions: pan-fry it. I use a basic recipe that was in the NY Times about 10 years ago; Mark Bittman also had a version 5 years ago that he had adapted from Paula Peck's 1961 Art of Good Cooking, but I prefer the 1993 recipe. I will warn you that this makes a well-done duck, but it is still tender, very moist, and flavorful.

I get the butcher to cut the bird into quarters, which make sufficient portions for 4 (it's hard to get more than two servings out of a roast duck). It's also very easy to remove the extra fat then, too. Heat a covered skillet, add the duck skin down, season the flesh side, and cook uncovered over high heat for 5 minutes. Loosen the pieces of duck, put them back skin down, lower the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook another 15 minutes. Turn the pieces over, turn the heat to low, cover, and cook for about 25 minutes. Uncover, turn the duck skin down again, turn the heat back up to medium, and cook enough to re-crisp the skin. That's it, except for pouring off the fat, and deglazing the pan to make a sauce.

The first step makes a mess on the top of the stove, but it's better than having fat burning onto the oven walls. And I can alter the spicing by marinating or rubbing the duck pieces first, and by adding herbs or aromatics while it's cooking. Once the duck is cooked -- the fat really does all render out, and the meat steams so it's very tender -- I pour off the fat to save, and make a pan sauce with or without vegetables, condiments, etc. Last night I tossed in a couple of rosemary branches when I turned the pieces over, and deglazed the pan with a roast garlic "stock" (I had boiled the detritus from roast garlic). Almost NO fat left to scrape off the meat. And lots to use for cooking potatoes, vegetables, other stuff.

I would not do this with a lean wild duck, or a muscovy -- those I braise, when I am lucky enough to get one. But I am willing to bet that this could even convert marie-louise.

Edited September 14, 2003 by Suzanne F (log)

[Bux]

As much as American taste in food has improved over the years and as much as American chefs and restaurants have improved over the years, this thread may explain as much as anything else why I'd rather be in France, Italy or Spain when it's time for dinner. Many of you understand that duck is just delicious and that dark meat has more taste than white meat poultry. That doesn't mean white meat can't be delicate and delicious--the French prize a good supreme of prime white breast as much as anything else--but we still have such a narrow zest for good food here.

In terms of saturated fat, duck and goose fat is much closer to olive oil than it is to lard, bacon, butter, etc. I like most of the fat removed or melted off my duck, but I can enjoy a nice layer of it on a Chinese roast duck from time to time. It tastes good.

[marie-louise]

.. But I am willing to bet that this could even convert marie-louise. 

I will try it-promise. My husband loves duck. He orders it every time it is on the menu (probably because we never eat it at home) and is always trying to get me to take a bite. I'm quite certain they sell it at my local butcher.

PS I do prefer chicken thighs-with the skin, of course- to chicken breasts. That is the right amount of grease for me.

[Human Bean]

The main way I've had duck (and the only way I've ever cooked it) is as Chinese barbecued duck, which I love, but generally only make when the ducks go on sale (farmed, frozen, generally around Christmas. They come with a packet of orange-flavored goop that I've never used).

I'm also of the opinion that duck seems to be expensive.

But then, I also regularly pay $10 per pound for large scallops and shrimp. I suppose that once you subtract the weight of duck bones and fat, the price per pound of useable duck meat is comparable to the seafood.

I guess I have to adjust my priorities.

And cook something other than barbequed duck, so I can save the fat.

[Pan]

What about goose? I think I must have mentioned this before, but when the Canadian geese land on the Queensborough Community College campus, I can't help thinking "dinner"! I had a wonderful Austrian-style roast goose leg with sauerkraut and such-like in Budapest which was one of the truly great meals of my life. But where to find goose in New York?

[Gifted Gourmet]

hmmmm ... simply ruminating on succulent, unctuously decadent duck confit ...

the duck flesh slowly tenderized in a warm bath of silky fat .... then, the fat becomes infused with the rich, gamy flavor of the dark meat .... yum!

Heavens! how could I have forgotten the sublime joys of duck confit?

or is that way too European for our Americanized palate?

or too rich for our cardiologists' EKGs??

[Ruth]

I never cook a whole duck these days but a duck breast once a week or so is de rigeur in my kitchen I brine the breast for 24 hours and then let it dry in the refrigerator so that the skin will be really crisp when it is sautéed. I score the skin and then sauté very slowly skin side down, removing the fat as it melts, until most of the fat is gone and the skin is brown and crisp. I then flip it over just to sear the flesh, never cooking it beyond medium rare. I slice it on the bias and serve with a demiglace wine reduction with cherries or currants. I like to do this with Moulard or Muscovy ducks as the breasts of the Pekin variety are thinner. All duck legs are wonderful braised slowly or made into confit.

I just don't get it. Duck has so much flavor. Again the problem might be overcooking, as with lamb. A whole duck cooked Chinese style can be wonderful but roasted in the old European style the breast becomes dry and tasteless. Many people have never tried it when properly cooked.

[Gifted Gourmet]

But where to find goose in New York?

my quick response would be something to the effect that getting a goose in NY should not be very difficult ... reading the double entendre is not an error here, however, if one is actually trying to locate this type of poultry, I would say the odds are better there than anywhere .... or, then there is the Net ...

going to Budapest in early November and looking forward to a wide array of game and ducks, etc ...

[bloviatrix]

What about goose? I think I must have mentioned this before, but when the Canadian geese land on the Queensborough Community College campus, I can't help thinking "dinner"! I had a wonderful Austrian-style roast goose leg with sauerkraut and such-like in Budapest which was one of the truly great meals of my life. But where to find goose in New York?

I feel that way about ducks. Whenever I'm at the 79th Street Boat Basin and I see the ducks I always say "Look, dinner." Inevitably I get some nasty looks from the people around me. I view it as their loss. They don't know what they're missing.

We're going out for dinner tonight. I'm thinking about ordering the duck as the restaurant we're headed to does it very well.

[tanabutler]

I eat duck in restaurants, but don't want to learn to cook another new food that will expand my ass any more.

I can get duck (Liberty Farms duck, at that) at about a half dozen restaurants within a short drive from my house, and don't feel the need to buy and prepare it.

But eat it? I adore it, and can't believe I was 35 before I ever tasted it.

Last weekend, Marc Rasic of La Table (SF) prepared "duck rillette," which was served on croutons, and which my husband called "duck butter." God, you could have poured it down my throat like a foie gras-bound goose. Yum yum yum.

[Jensen]

I like duck but haven't had any success in cooking it. Chinese barbecued duck is a must for Christmas Eve dinner at my sister's house. The Guy and the Spawn won't touch it though; they claim it's too greasy.

As for goose, it's our traditional Christmas dinner here. Give me goose over turkey any day! I've never had a problem with it.

[Ruth]

What about goose? I think I must have mentioned this before, but when the Canadian geese land on the Queensborough Community College campus, I can't help thinking "dinner"! I had a wonderful Austrian-style roast goose leg with sauerkraut and such-like in Budapest which was one of the truly great meals of my life. But where to find goose in New York?

Goose is easy to find in New York in December. A few sources would be Ottomanelli in Bleeker Street and Citarella. Even Fairway would probably order one for you. To be honest

I think duck has much more flavor.

[elyse]

I've never had goose.

[foodie52]

When I was growing up, roast goose was mandatory on Christmas Day. My grandmother served it with red cabbage and boiled potatoes. The best part of it, though, was the goose fat! She saved the fat and the cracklins and put it all in a crock. We got to eat it for supper, on black bread with a sprinking of salt, until it was all gone ( usually only a matter of days).

I don't think there is anything better than that....

[fifi]

OK... Christmas Goose Disaster to follow.

I got a recipe for goose and/or duck from a Cajun friend. It called for potatoes, onions, and bacon. You season the goose with a typical Cajun seasoning mix. You stuff the cavity with some potato and onion chunks. In the bottom of the roasting pan, layer thickly sliced potato. The goose is wrapped in bacon strips. I did the bacon wrapping in an artful manner. The end product was lovely to look at, but... Good Lord... I have never seen so much fat. I am definitely not adverse to good animal fat, but this was ridiculous. It then occurred to me that my friend was probably referring to wild geese or ducks that would not have as much fat, therefore the bacon.

(Actually, those potatoes on the bottom of the roasting pan were wonderful, in a guilty way.)

edit to add: We decided that this recipe was fine as long as you discard the goose and just eat the potatoes.

Edited September 15, 2003 by fifi (log)

[elyse]

What's the disaster part?

[fifi]

What's the disaster part?

There were certain family members that are fat adverse. Some of us enjoyed the whole thing... including the dribbles down our shiny chins.

[elyse]

Oh to have been at that Christmas dinner....