Duck for Dinner

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi Everybody! My first post here, I'm usually over at BYC.

Mmmm, duck! I butchered 4 older drakes yesterday (3 Pekins and a Swedish cross) and from the breasts and thighs got 4 lbs of meat (I was expecting more).
I bought a meat grinder a couple weeks ago JUST so I could try making duck sausage from these boys.
Ground the duck meat, added lots of sage, red & black pepper, garlic, seasoned salt and some celery seeds I ran through the spice mill. Then ground a half lb of bacon and a large onion and mixed it all together and ground it again.

We ate a lb of it last night --- duck sausage patties, biscuits, eggs, and grits! It was so GOOD!
Any suggestions on other spice/seasoning for duck sausage? That was my first go at making sausage, but I'm already looking forward to making more.

I have 5 young Pekin drakes that we will smoke for Christmas. Plucking ducks is not a chore I enjoy, but they are so tasty smoked.

I'm looking forward to trying Moscovy. I bought 11 day-olds last summer to get a start on a meat flock. I've read so many good things about the flavor/texture of Muscovy.

Thanks!

Lisa

 

[TanksHill]

Welcome Dipsy!!!!

 

[Denim Deb]

Never done ducks, but

 

[savingdogs]

We added ducks this year and are very happy with the addition. We bought cayuga and muscovy. The cayuga were troublesome however and disrupted the flock, so we sold them and kept just the muscovy. We did buy a straight run group so we processed all the drakes except one. They were very good! We loved the breast and would like to find more ways to enjoy the legs. Processing them was a lot of work but we enjoy having them so it has been a fun project overall.
This year I will have four hens hopefully producing fertilized eggs so I'm hoping to eat a lot of young drakes and sell a lot of young duck hens next summer. I was hoping to have some ducklings to sell at Easter time as well, and tell people I will buy them back for the same price I sold them for if they don't want them later in the year, that way they will be all fattened up for me for free. We will see how that works!

 

[lwheelr]

We have Muscovies, and it has been a great thing. They eat so many bugs that they cleared the back yard of a grasshopper plague in three days (seriously, they fountained up when you walked back there).

The meat is really good - better than any other duck I've had. The breast meat tastes like marinated steak. The legs and wings are a bit gamey tasting to me if I roast them, but they are really good in soup - taste like beef in the soup. They have good liver too, not as strong as chicken liver.

The best thing for me has been that Muscovy is more easily digestible than beef or chicken, and even more so than deer or moose. So if I eat 3 oz of Muscovy, I get more out of it than eating way more beef or chicken. I have protein malabsorption, so they were a lifesaver for me this fall.

Muscovies are also bigger than most ducks, so you get about twice the meat off them if they are young ones, up to four times the meat if they are more mature. So far, age has not seemed to affect the quality of the meat either, no tough old birds (some of ours were 18 months old when butchered).

We are looking forward to having ours multiply this summer.

 

[BarredBuff]

We have Muscovies, and it has been a great thing. They eat so many bugs that they cleared the back yard of a grasshopper plague in three days (seriously, they fountained up when you walked back there).

The meat is really good - better than any other duck I've had. The breast meat tastes like marinated steak. The legs and wings are a bit gamey tasting to me if I roast them, but they are really good in soup - taste like beef in the soup. They have good liver too, not as strong as chicken liver.

The best thing for me has been that Muscovy is more easily digestible than beef or chicken, and even more so than deer or moose. So if I eat 3 oz of Muscovy, I get more out of it than eating way more beef or chicken. I have protein malabsorption, so they were a lifesaver for me this fall.

Muscovies are also bigger than most ducks, so you get about twice the meat off them if they are young ones, up to four times the meat if they are more mature. So far, age has not seemed to affect the quality of the meat either, no tough old birds (some of ours were 18 months old when butchered).

We are looking forward to having ours multiply this summer.

Come on Scovies! Reproduce for me!

 

[Bethanial]

Okay, where do I get these Muscovy ducks? I remember reading some sorta something awhile back that they're to be considered invasive or something, so it's illegal to have them (unless you live in like a 3-county area in TX)....

 

[BarredBuff]

Okay, where do I get these Muscovy ducks? I remember reading some sorta something awhile back that they're to be considered invasive or something, so it's illegal to have them (unless you live in like a 3-county area in TX)....

You can keep them for meat purposes I think. But I got mine at a flea market.

 

[savingdogs]

We ordered ours from the menonites, JM Hatchery, they were awesome. Our muscovy are especially large. Very nice, placid ducks and plenty of meat.
I have to try putting the legs in soup!

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! Thanks for the welcome. I *read* here all the time, but never got around to registering and posting.
Bethanial, I grew up in GA and most of my family is still down in Tattnall and Evans Co.'s. I live just across the line in Aiken, SC now and should have plenty of Muscovy ducklings (the girls aren't laying yet but the boys are mating) or eggs if you'd like to hatch your own. I have a chocolate pair, a blue / black pair, and a trio of blue fawn. I'll be setting their eggs as soon as they start laying well.
I was hoping to have extra Muscovy drakes (to butcher) from the 11 summer ducklings, but I sent 2 pair to my pal Deb, so she could get her own meat flock going.

Lisa