5 FATTED DUCKS!

Tis the season to make confit, rillettes, and conserved foie gras. Friday we took possession of 5 VERY large ducks (somewhere in the range of 15 pounds each). Last year we conserved 2 ducks which were relatively small because there had been a terrible tempest in Lalande where the supplier lives which had spooked the ducks. This year with no scary storms to stress them the ducks were huge. We were not prepared for so much bounty.

We took apart each bird setting aside the breasts, necks, and carcasses to freeze. The magrets we will grill. The necks will get cooked at some point, probably for soup. The carcasses we generally use to flavor tomato sauce.

The fat and skin we minced and slowly melted over a low heat. The legs, wings, and gizzards were salted overnight and the next day they were poached for several hours in the rendered fat. When done the confit was drained and cooled and then put into individual containers with some goose fat and banged into the freezer. The rest of the fat was put into jars for future use sauting potatoes. At the bottom of the pot were the rillettes, morsels of meat that were attached to the skin before it was rendered and now with fat clinging ito it. Spread on bread it is very delicious and probably very fattening, but then they are called fatted ducks!

The livers or foie gras (about 2 pounds each) were soaked in cold water overnight and cut up and put into canning jars and processed on Saturday. The foie gras will last several years once conserved in this manner, but we have already eaten one jar. Not wanting to be wasteful, we used very small canning jars for most of the foie. We also put a small piece in the freezer as a test. While opinions varied, several blogs said you could freeze foie successfully for a short time.

The freezer is full, the cupboard is stacked with foie gras, and the kitchen is now clean after the work.