Crispy duck

 

The daughter enjoying crispy duck, Nov 2021

 

The time finally came and two of our three drakes became dinner.  The flock of six had been free ranging for a few weeks beforehand;  we wanted to make sure their last days were calm and happy and I think we succeeded, judging by flavor.

The son helped me catch both drakes and hold them steady on the chopping block, but I completed the kill and processing alone.  I bought a 500 g bag of paraffin wax to dip them in to complete the plucking (after watching duck hunter videos on youtube);  this got them almost completely clean of down though I still had to pluck the outer feathers first before dunking in the hot water/melted wax.  

After plucking and cleaning, both carcasses went into the fridge to rest for four days;  then the younger drake became the tastiest crispy roast duck we have ever eaten.  I butterflied the whole carcass, salted the skin, and roasted it slowly in the oven for about two hours.  It was a one-meal bird for our family, but so amazingly good.

This roast gave us about half a cup of duck fat which was saved to make confit with the older drake (using several cups of beef fat also, which we got from the butcher and rendered ourselves);  I cut the carcass into quarters, salted it well, and let it cure for another two days before cooking it in the slow cooker.  The confit is still in the fridge but will be eaten imminently.  Bones of both are to be saved separately from our usual stock-making ingredients to make a special duck-only stock for our Thanksgiving and Christmas gravies. 

To raise our own meat is a long term goal of mine.  The son told me he didn't want to know his meat--though he agreed our crispy duck was delicious--but I'm the opposite:  I want to know our meat.  I want to know that throughout its life it was able to express its natural behavior and eat a natural diet and see sunshine! which almost all farmed poultry in this country don't get.  I know my ducks had very good lives and good deaths too--over before they knew it.

Will I try to raise more meat ducks in the future?  Yes!  We still have our dominant drake and three females, and if our reliable mother hen Cookie goes broody again in the spring I would willingly give her duck eggs once more.