On a happier (and tastier!) note, last night we fried up some of the Muscovy duck we butchered recently and I was reminded, yet again, of why we raise them.

For one, Muscovies are very, very quiet. With all the other noise coming from our little homestead here it’s nice to not have a loud quack fest going on out there along with Fred crowing and the pups howling!

They aren’t hard to keep, either. Unless you consider that all ducks are a bit messy and need a larger area with access to water. And they are prolific layers who do a good job of hatching out their eggs with little to no help on our part. The only real intervention we’ve had to do is move the ducklings to safety with a couple of the mothers who were new to breeding and were stepping on them.

And once in awhile they escape and have to be put back into their pens….

They start off cute but aren’t the prettiest ducks with all that red stuff on their faces as they get older, but did I mention how delicious they are? Muscovy, also known as Barbary duck, is served in some of the highest end restaurants in the world.

And in my very own kitchen…

They have a slightly gamey flavor and taste quite like London broil (which is why they also have the nickname ‘beef duck’).

After butchering we remove the breasts and give the rest to the dogs since we like to share the bounty. Some people roast the duck whole, but we usually just pan fry the breasts after letting them marinate.

A lot of recipes for duck call for orange or pomegranate glazing. We like to use McCormick steak marinade since it’s safe for me with all my weird food allergies. For some reason, most McCormick spices are okay for me to use or I just use my freshly grown or organic, store bought herbs and spices, too.

Oh, and I did find this awesome website that lets you weed out all the unwanted ingredients and tailor the recipes to your special needs which I might try one of these days. In the meantime, I use what I know works just to be safe.

After seasoning, we put the freshly butchered meat in a vacuum sealed bag in the fridge for two or three days before eating them.

Then, when they are ready to cook, I use a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to sear them on medium high heat, lower the temperature a bit and turn them a few times until they are cooked to our liking and finally top them off with some sauteed onions from the garden…

Yummm.

They really are good and taste much less like duck and more like beef and the meat is much healthier for you (supposedly) due to the low fat content.

After last night’s dinner we decided we’re definitely going to get another flock this spring and raise up as many as we can to put in the freezer.

If they make it that far… 😄