The Magic Duck

I know I'm back home again...my appetite is coming back to life and the regular clockwork of the day is marked by meal time...

Yesterday, we were at the local Intermarche in Hautefort where the annual Foire au Gras is being celebrated! That's right folks! Now is the time to stock up on all of your favorite waterfowl products! This is the time of Fois Gras production, when the fat ducks and geese are at their plumpest!

The Dordogne is one of the worlds biggest producers of Fois Gras. There are duck and geese being raised everywhere. Much of the fois gras and pates are produced artisanally on the farms. There are many products and by products that are specialities here and are rarely if ever seen in the USA.

One benefit is that the ducks are for sale in the market and are a real bargain now. The ducks are sold with their livers removed and they are the big Barbarry Ducks, the size of geese. I am not and will not discuss the "morality" of ducks and geese as live stock and farm animals for food. This is a way of life, part of the cultural soul of this area and the conditions that most farmers raise the animals in are much better and cannot be compared to the conditions under which chicken in America are raised. The best animals are totally free range until the feeding for the fois gras begins.

So, taking advantage of this bounty, we bought a big duck and I cut it up yesterday afternoon. I got 2 big magret de canard from the breast which we froze and nice tender aiguilettes from the sides. If you aren't familiar with Magret, the duck breast, it is tender red meat with a layer of fat, perfect for grilling or cooking in a pan at a high temperature quickly. To my taste, I would rather have magret than steak.

I then cut the legs and thighs off and the wings, which we used to make confits de canard.

Confit refers to the process of preservation that the people here used before refrigeration.

The duck yields an huge amount of duck fat, which I trim off. The fat is rendered in a pot and the pieces to be made into confits are cooked slowly in the fat. I season the pieces with salt, pepper and thyme overnight before cooking.

The cooking takes about an hour and the pieces are golden. If you are going to keep the confits, coat them with the fat. The fat is pure white and seals the meat in an airtight cover. Traditionally, the pieces were layered in an earthen ware pot in the fat. They kept in a cool place for months this way. Today, commercially prepared confit is canned with the fat. Artisanally prepared is put in glass containers with the fat.

To prepare the pieces, remove them from the fat...I usually put them in a oven dish and let them crisp up...meanwhile, use some of the duck fat they are conserved in to saute potatoes, the perfect accompaniment.

I have stated the difference between the fat of water fowl and chicken over and over again. Here in the Dordogne, recipes that usually call for browning in oil or butter almost always start with a good spoon of duck fat. Traditionally, duck and goose fat takes the place of butter or other fats. Paradoxically, this region has the lowest occurence of heart disease in Europe. The waterfowl fat is a trans fat! It is actually a good fat and doublely good because it imparts a delicious flavor to potatoes!

Finish the potatoes with a crushed fresh garlic clove and parsely...do not cook the garlic!

This magic duck is not finished yet...when you make confit, you end up with bits and pieces in the fat that are the French equivalent of pork rinds, Grattons...which I guess are duck rinds...little crunchy bits of flavor which are exquisite in a garlicky green salad.

Then there is the carcass, when you've carved off the meat...Anyone for Duck Soup?