Here ducky-ducky!!!!

[Mare749]

I absolutely can't believe how hard it is to find duck breast in this city! Giant Eagle has whole frozen ducks, but can't get in just duck breast. I have my whole family looking everywhere for me, this is just crazy. Tomorrow, I'm going to go to the West Side Market downtown and hope that I can buy them there. I wonder why it's so scarce?

Maryann

[lxxf]

Heinen's in Rocky River has them, so I imagine other Heinen's has them also. I know you can get whole ducks at the west side market. I love that place. Drive safely, tomorrow's supposed to be a mess.

[farnfam]

No possible way to get duck breast here period. So I bought the whole frozen duck and James is going to cut it up. Anybody care to offer instructions?
Cis

[Roxanne 21]

There is NO possible chance to get the duck breast here either. I thought I would just cook the whole thing with my usual recipe and then do the changes for the recipe.

There are times that we can find those prepared vacuum packs already in marinade but they are NOT good at all.

Cis--all your hubby has to do is cut up the duck as he would a chicken--that will work.

[Mare749]

Thanks lxxf, my dad checked Heinens in Middleburg for me yesterday and they had whole frozen ducks, but no breasts. A store employee told him to call the meat mgr. today and ask him to order it in. He said it was a seasonal item.

It's snowing like crazy this morning, so I'm passing on the market for today.

[cjs]

Cis, while we were at Tracie's we couldn't find duck breasts either - well, we only tried two stores, but did pick up a whole duck for her. The breast pieces are even easier to remove (boneless) than on a chicken.

She sent the rest of the duck home with me - - and I cooked it up last nite, will play with it tonite.

Just wanted to remind all, that just cutting off the excess fat from the part I brot home, I got more than a cup of rendered fat and it is now in my freezer. It's liquid gold.

If you haven't done this before, just put small chunks of the fat in a heavy saucepan, have the heat about med. to med. low and let it render, turning the pieces every so often. When the pieces are quite colored, pour off the fat and keep on cooking the 'cracklings' till they are nice and dark brown. Pour off the little more accumulated fat, let the cracklins cool a little and eat!! YUM!

[Mare749]

Jean, what will you use it for? Doesn't it freeze hard just like butter? Can you take out just a spoonful at a time?

[DFen911]

The only way I can get duck out here is to special order it. But it's cheaper to buy a whole duck than just the breast. Same for chicken.

Jean what else do you use the duck fat for? I love pork 'cracklins' and eat them like candy.

[Lorraine]

I'm not Jean, but....I use it fry almost anything. Potatoes, eggs, chicken, pork chops. This fall, I had some leftover duck meat, so fried up some onion, carrot etc in the duck fat and made potstickers. They were really good.

When I used to buy it, I would frreze it, and as I ended one tub, would put another in the fridge. Now I keep it in a jar in the fridge. I can buy frozen ducks year round, but the breasts are hit and miss. Now when I see them, I buy a few and freeze them. Yum!!

[Mare749]

Thanks Lorraine, I've never used duck fat before, but I sure will try it now.
Maryann