I know there’s a Thanksgiving thread going, but my query is specific and really not necessarily tied to the upcoming holiday, when I mean to do something with duck.
Around here in northern Indiana, there are widely available Maple Farms ducks in supermarkets. We have a Whole Foods, which probably has some further variety. Also, I’ve ordered items over the years online from D’Artagnan. Any thoughts from those who tried various sources for duck? Does flavor differ much across sources, and, if so, how? Thanks!
Wegmans uses Maple Leaf Farms, and I like them (never get the whole duck; always the duck breast). I remember buying a duck breast from Whole Foods, and I didn’t think it had any flavor - was very disappointed in it. Their website doesn’t give any indication of the brand, but I’d recommend not using theirs.
D’Artagnan are supposed to be the king of the crop, and I’ve had their Moulard Magret Duck Breast, and really enjoyed it.
I used to cook Peking duck and Cantonese Roast Duck using my turbo broiler ( also used that to cook lichen pork belly). However, those were the days when husband ( rip) needs special gluten free diet and not trusting the Chinese , ( they do not use gluten free soy sauce nor hoisin sauce), I prepared my own. My last Turbo broiler ( had 4 of them thru tthe years) broke 3 years ago, so have not replaced it and have not attempted to cook them since. Maple Duck Farm has the whole duck that you can order, just be sure that it is dried well 9 I used to have a fun to dry them and hung them in my fridge as well as use a tube to blow air under the skin to make the duck really really crispy!)
I buy Maple Duck’s half duck from Costco, ( cheaper than buying from maple farm ). Roast them in my convection oven till very crisp ,( do not like the orange sauce although not bad with addition of cointreau. preferring my own soy sauce, garlic, cider vinegar and hot pepper dip instead
I use a lot of D’artagnan’s duck breast, duck confit ( for their cassoulet recipe ) as they carry it at my Giant Grocery store. However, have not cooked that for a year as I cannot use ventreche and cannot locate garlic sausage here. During some holidays, D’Artagnan sometimes have special sale on their Cassoulet complete with everything which is a steal. They include the coco tarbais beans which are very expensive but you can find it reasonable from rancho gordo. Son is away but he says his friends wants to visit me after thanksgiving. One of them loves Dick Confit Cassoulet so, I might cook that as I still have some coco tarballs beans from rancho gordo although I would not use 3 lbs . That is too much starch and heavy.
If y our store carries D’artagnan’s duck saucisson, it is excellent! Son took 3 of mine to Europe to share with friends. I was able to convince my local grocery to stock them.
Now that I have alpha gal syndrome, ( allergic to red meat from tick bite), I order Maple Duck from their internet store. Usually, I buy their sausage ( no casing to use for soffrito in paella and cataplana dish), their ground duck meat to substitute ground pork for dishes like shrimp and lobster sauce, and they have their cooked duck legs which I use for tortilla wrap with vegetables or with cheese but I usually spike them up a bit , cooking on top of my plancha, adding Evoo, garlic and hot sauce to it. They do not carry Maple Duck in my grocery store They did tell me that if I am a Costco customer, the excellent half duck comes out cheaper from Costco.
Thanks for the duck tips. You have a lot of duck action going on! I love it, but it is a rarity preparation for me, for some reason. I’ll check out Costco, too. I’m not planning to do a Peking-style duck with soy, air drying, etc. But I’ll keep prowling recipes.
I did once order the D’Artagnan Cassoulet package, and it was delicious. Although I followed directions pretty exactly (not my norm), I did find it to be a bit too dry and heavy, but doing it a second time, I’d know to toss in some extra broth. Those tarbais beans are very special. You can try cannellini, but the tarbais beans are perfect for this dish.
I was using cannelinin beans until I found the tarbails beans were reasonable from rancho gordo. However, 3 lbs of tarballs beans is too much for the recipe so, I think I would prefer 1.5 lb to 2 lbs instead. Yes, I have to cook it for a long time until I have a crust on top of my cassoulet dish.
Try the roast. half duck by Maple Duck at Costco. I am never without a package in my refrigerator. I do not follow instruction as I like mine very crispy, so I roast it longer on a rack. I place them on a rack and roast them and I often add some partially cooked gold potatoes at the bottom of the rack to absorb the duck fat as an added bonus. As I mentioned, the orange sauce with added cointreau is nice but we prefer our soy sauce, garlic, cider vinegar and pepper dip. My baby Pomeranians love duck and when I say I am having duck for dinner, they get very excited!
ah ha! I was told by the Pomeranian society that the average poms know 42 words. My poms knows a lot. I brush their teeth twice a day and when I say , brush your teeth, they run and hide. They know go to bed, ( they sleep with me) you want a treat? dance,( Wolfie will do the cha cha cha ) lets us go out, wanna pee ? wanna poo poo? let us go out in the car, they run and do their business before getting into the car and it goes on. So, perhaps your dog knows ore than ice cream.
Since I may travel to Va to be with my sister, I suggest I go to Mark’s duck house in falls church to buy dim sum as well as Peking duck . Eating there would be crazy as it is a very busy day and the line may be very long. Also my poms may not be welcomed that day bec it is too crowder. I can go order it and bring it to her home . See serious eats on Mark’s duck house if you are in this part of the world.
Alternatively, I am thinking if I can get to TJ for their turkey en croute.
. I will make cook abalone with mushroom and bok choy the day before thanksgiving, a very special Chinese NY 's day dish. Have ordered the abalone from Ca and it is on its way arriving Wednesday, weather permitting.
Living here on Long Island, I have to say Crescent Duck in Aquebogue is the ultimate. That is probably what D’Artagnon upstate is selling although I can’t say for sure. All our other duck farms are gone now, sadly.
I do get the duck at Aldi lately, it’s from Minnesota or similar and not top of the line but hey…it’s only $2.49 a lb and not all that bad if you rotisserie it. I also have a fantastic Vietnamese soup you can make with the leftover bones, if anyone is interested.
You can get ground duck meat from D’artagnan ? I tried to find any shop with ground duck meat and haven’t found any and can’t find it their online store - do you have a link ?
I buy my ground duck meat on line from maple leaf farms duck.com http://www.mapleleaffarms.com/prod-ground-duck
The catch is one can only order 6 lbs max per order.
It cost $8.99/pound.
I order the max per order, plus other stuff.
if you order more than what is allowed, the bill will show $999.00 or a crazy number,
There is often promotion as well as 10% off thru facebook
They are not shipping next week until Dec , so if you sign up for newsletter, you will be offered promotion too.
The ground duck is pretty lean. I also order their duck sausage as it has no using unlike some other chicken sausage that has pork casing.
The ducks are white pekin duct raised without hormones and antibiotics , on corn, soy wheat by amish farmers.
Thanks - that’s very helpful. I looked over the webpage briefly but I couldn’t find anything about their shipping rates and how to they cool their perishable stuff when shipping ?
shipping rate depends on your zone
you can find that on line
I live in md 20639 and if I order under $100 , I pay around $ 25 for shipping and the food are still frozen bec of dry ice
here is the page on shipping rates based on your zone
please click on map to get. your zone http://www.mapleleaffarms.com/shipping-policies#max
I usually order in November and Feb March when whether is still cold
I got my shipment 2 weeks ago
I order ground shipping and the food was still frozen packed with dry ice .
As I said, you can only order I think 6 lb of ground duck
I ordered duck sausage, cooked duck leg meat which I used for fajita
I had ordered duck bacon but prefer turkey bacon from Costco
Also had ordered duck tenders, but I get D’artagnan/s duck breast and duck leg confit from my local giant as well D’artagnan’s duck saucisson from Giant.
I get Maple Duck half duck from Costco ( cheaper ) and it comes out very very crispy.
I then order others to make it to just under !00 to get my shipping rate at around 20 plus minus
Based on one weekend lunch visit to Mark’s on the way to flight at Dulles, we agree it’s a duck stop worth making (as did the driver who “exchanged” ride to airport for lunch (and tons of leftovers to go).
I am glad you like it.
Peking Gourmet is closed for thanksgiving
However, Mark’s will not accept order by phone and pick up
It is too crowded for me and my 2 poms to wait on line as they told me there wil be a long line and the babies will get too cold . So, I may have to drive there, order and bring it to my sister’s house.
She prefers turkey but I am. not a fan. The year before last, we went to a fusion house, they did not have any thing other than turkey and trimmings .
I just bought whole frozen ducks at Restaurant depot for $1.99/lb - they are Keystone Katie brand. Fingers crossed they are decent - I will report back!
Totally relate. We didn’t think our dog learned the meaning of many words, until we noticed she comes running to these magic words: ice cream.