Duck is a hearty winter dish, with a rich flavor and chewy texture that nourishes and nurtures in a unique and deeply satisfying way.
But for most Americans, eating duck is a rare treat, reserved for a trip to a white-tablecloth restaurant or a Sunday jaunt to an Asian restaurant in San Francisco.
First off, duck can be hard to source. And when you do find it, it's often frozen. Plus, it must be cooked properly to bring out the best texture. While the duck breast needs to be seared, to render the fat, the tough legs need to be braised, to tenderize them.
"I think people are intimidated by cooking duck at home," said Michel Augsberger, co-owner of Bistro Des Copains in Occidental. "There are lots of things that make it difficult to gain popularity."
Augsberger has kept a duck dish on the bistro's menu since he opened his restaurant in 2006. His father was born in Switzerland and lived in southern France, where duck is eaten as commonly as lamb.
"We go into the grocery store in France, near our house there, and you find as much duck as you do chicken," Augsberger said. "It's something that tastes absolutely fabulous, and once you render it out, the breast is a very healthy meat."
In Sonoma County, where the coastal hills offer the perfect climate for raising poultry, there are two high-quality sources of local duck for those fond of the fowl, which pairs well with winter roots like parsnips and spring fruits like cherries.
For the past few years, Lesley and John Brabyn of Salmon Creek Ranch, between Bodega and Bodega Bay, have raised Muscovy ducks on pasture at their 400-acre ranch. After harvesting the ducks at 11 weeks, they sell them to high-end restaurants like the Applewood Inn in Guerneville and the Timber Cove Inn in Jenner as well as at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market.
Since 1992, fourth-generation duck farmer Jim Reichart has raised Liberty Ducks in the hills west of Petaluma. Liberty Ducks are a strain of Pekin ducks developed in Denmark that grow slower, so they go to market at nine weeks versus the usual six weeks.
At Bistro des Copains, Augsberger is currently showcasing Liberty Ducks in a classic dish, Magret de Canard a L'Orange, a duck breast with orange sauce, baby turnips, carrots and Camargue rice.
The dish not only pairs well with the pinot noirs of the Russian River Valley, but also with the nutty, red rice grown in the marshy Camargue region of southern France.
"I've long had a belief that what grows together, goes together," Augsberger said. "Being a wetland region, the Camargue has lots of fowl there, and the two go together."
This is the first time the bistro has offered Duck a l'Orange, a classic match-up that cuts the fatty duck meat with an acidic citrus sauce.
At home, Augsberger enjoys making duck for himself using seasonal fruits, such as blueberries. He also enjoys the duck with fruit sauce that Bistro Ralph in Healdsburg serves over creamy polenta.
One of the most famous bistro dishes of Paris, he said, is the Roast Duck with Olives served at Chez Allard, a landmark Left Bank bistro.
The roast duck recipe - a whole duck roasted and served with a reduction sauce made of herbs, wine, stock, tomatoes and green olives - can be found in Patricia Wells' 2006 cookbook, "Bistro Cooking."
Bruno Tison, executive chef of the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, said he sources Muscovy duck from Salmon Creek Ranch whenever it's available.
"It's a totally natural, organic product. ... The meat is firm and has a fabulous flavor," he said. "It reminds me of when I was growing up in France."
In France, the old, traditional way of cooking a duck is to throw it in the oven for two or three hours.
"That is the forgotten way; the fat melts nicely, and you have crispy skin," Tison said. "We eat a lot of duck in France because it is delicious, and whatever is delicious we like."
The Muscovy duck, a native of Brazil, is the only domestic duck not derived from mallard stock. It had been domesticated by Native Americans by the time Columbus arrived in the New World.
"They have a lot less fat - 30 percent less fat - and 50 percent more breast meat," Lesley Brabyn said. "They are a gourmet duck, and they're more expensive because they do take longer to grow."
The ducks at Salmon Creek Ranch are left out to pasture 24 hours a day, which requires that they live with a guard dog to keep flying predators away.
"The Great Horned Owls were taking a 5-pound duck every night," Brabyn said. "We started using an Anatolian Shepherd. ... If he senses something coming by, he will bark at it."
Unlike the Pekin ducks, the Muscovy ducks are pretty laid-back, which makes them a good fit with the guard dogs
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