Duck

Duck for Dinner tonight. This was one we grew out some time ago. We bought a dozen ducklings, grew them out, kept 3 ducks and a drake and put the rest in the freezer. The live ones don't seem to be doing too much at the moment - by that I mean that I don't think they are thinking about reproduction at all. The lady we got them from told us they were all musgovy ducks, but I'm a bit concerned that they may be musgovy crosses. If this is the case, they may not be fertile. Aparently some people believe that musgovy's aren't ducks, because when they cross with another duck breed they are mules. Meaning that they won't be able to breed. Although our ducks sped a lot of time in with the pigs (they like their wallow), so if they are stupid enough to lay their eggs in there, the pigs will more than likely find them and eat them. I am amazed how much grass the ducks eat. They are loving it at the moment, as the grass is all out in seed and they walk around eating the seed heads. They fly very well for such a big bird, and it is not unusual to see them sitting on the roof of our laundry watching us eat our breakfast!

The duck was a whole one, so we boned it out - my daughter is home again and wanting to experiment! If it was just the two of us, we would have had separate meals, but because there was the three of us, we did two courses. Started off with a duck breast salad and then had a duck casserole with potato mash. It was all very nice - two totally different ways to eat the duck, but both good. I've put the recipes on the Recipe Page. You can buy ducks occasionally - if having trouble, go to an Asian supermarket as they usually have them. Do try to get one that's been pasture raised. They are quite fatty, so if it's pasture raised it will be all good healthy fat!