Fw: Aylesbury Duck For Sale!

[Guest guest]

- Heritage Foods USA

Celia Browne

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 9:33 AM

Aylesbury Duck For Sale!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Heritage Foods USA Supporter,

Buy your Heritage Duck fresh this week only!

Fresh ducks will arrive to you on Halloween (next Wednesday, October 31st). Frozen ducks can arrive any Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday for the rest of the year. All orders for Heritage Duck must be placed by this Friday, October 26th.

Some interesting facts on why our Aylesbury Duck is so good:

 

The Aylesbury is the premier meat duck in Britain.

A male duck is called a drake. The Aylesbury gained admittance into the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection in 1874. Even though it won this great honor, the Aylesbury never took off as a breed because it performed badly when raised indoors in a commercial situation.

The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy lists fewer than 500 Aylesbury breeding birds in the United States, with five or fewer primary breeding flocks (50 birds or more).

Our birds are raised on Good Shepherd Ranch by Frank Reese, the premiere poultry expert in the world. Frank and his ducks live next to each other, Frank in his house and the ducks in a pond on the farm. The Ranch is certified by the Animal Welfare Institute.

Our Aylesbury Ducks are 5-6 months old. Their meat is succulent and delicious. Its beyond juicy. This might be the best duck in the world. Remember, don’t overcook your duck – the duck is done the second you cut into the meat and the juice runs clear! See our website, starting Thursday, for 4 great recipies including the three below. Following the recipes is a great article on our company in this month’s issue of Fast Company!

Birds weigh no less than 5lbs - One pound feeds 1 personFor one duck: $89 including shipping ($17.8/lb)For two ducks: $148 including shipping ($14.8/lb)For four ducks: $235 including shipping ($11.75/lb)

Fresh Thanksgiving Heritage Turkey 8-10 lbs - $119 including delivery Fresh Thanksgiving Heritage Turkey 10.1-12 lbs - $129 including deliveryFresh Thanksgiving Heritage Turkey 12.1-14 lbs - $139 including deliveryFresh Thanksgiving Heritage Turkey 14.1-16 lbs - $159 including deliveryFresh Thanksgiving Heritage Turkey 16.1-18 lbs - $169 including deliveryFresh Thanksgiving Heritage Turkey 18.1-20 lbs - $179 including deliveryFresh Thanksgiving Heritage Turkey 20.1-22 lbs - $189 including deliveryFresh Thanksgiving Heritage Turkey 22.1-24 lbs - $199 including deliveryFresh Thanksgiving Heritage Turkey 24.1-26 lbs - $204 including deliveryFresh Thanksgiving Heritage Turkey 26plus lbs - $209 including delivery

Thanks for supporting the revolution,

 

 

Recipe is from Chef Maggie Long, proprietor of a few of the best restaurants in Michigan including: Vinology (www.VinoWineBars.com), Bastone (www.Bastone.net), Grizzly Peak (www.GrizzyPeak.net), Bower’s Harbor Inn (www.BowersHarborInn.net) and, most recently Café Habana.The Aylesbury duck is Maggie’s absolute favorite variety but this recipe can work with any kind of duck. She recommends that you keep it simple, so as not to mask the flavor of the great Aylesbury but to enhance it! AYLESBURY DUCK WITH CHANTERELLE MUSHROOMS AND BLACK MISSION FIGS- serves 6for the sauce:30 dried black mission figs2 cups dry red wine2 1/2 cups rich chicken stock2 cinnamon sticksfor the mushrooms and duck:5 tablespoons butter1/2 cup shallots- fine diced1 1/2 lbs. chanterelle mushrooms- halved or quartered (depending on size)1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger- peeled and finely chopped3 tablespoon fresh chive- chopped1/4 cup honey2 6-8 lb. Aylesbury ducks- breasts (skin on) removed- leg and thigh reserved for another use1 tablespoon olive oil For the sauce:cut 14 figs in half length-wise. combine the cut figs with the wine, 2 cups chicken stock and cinnamon sticks in a medium sized sauce pan. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat, stirring occasionally- continue simmering until liquid has reduced and thickened to a sauce consistency. Strain through a fine mesh strainer - pressing on the solids to release their juices. Discard the solidsFor the Mushrooms and Duck:preheat oven to 450. melt 4 tablespoons butter in a heavy large skillet over medium high heat. add the shallots and saute until translucent, about 4 minutes. add the mushrooms and ginger and saute until mushrooms are tender. add remaining chicken stock and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated. stir in the chives and keep warm.place the remaining figs in a glass baking dish. drizzle honey over the figs. bake until tender and honey is slightly caramelized. about 10 minutesmeanwhile, sprinkle the duck breast with salt and pepper. melt remaining butter with the olive oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. add the duck breasts skin side down and cook 5 minutes. turn the duck over and continue cooking to desired doneness, about 3 minutes for medium rare- remove from pan to rest 5 minutes.spoon the mushrooms into the center of warm plate, dividing equally. slice the duck breasts and arrange atop the mushrooms. rewarm the sauce and spoon over the duck. place caramelized figs on each plate- garnish with additional chives if desired

 

Five and Ten, one of our favorite spots in one of our favorite cities - Athens, GA - offers one recipe to make the duck confit and another to make the duck choucroute garni which calls for the confit. Duck Confit - serves six 1 cup kosher salt1 T brown sugar2 T chopped fresh thyme½ t mustard seed½ t cracked black peppercorn½ t fennel seedcombine all in a bowl 6 duck legs, trimmed of excess fat 1 quart rendered duck fat 1. Sprinkle duck legs with salt cure mix and place flat on a cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and set in fridge for 24 hours.2. Remove from fridge once 24 has elapsed and rinse off cure. Pat dry. 3. In a medium sized pot melt duck fat. Add duck legs, making sure that the fat covers them. If you’re shy on duck fat add olive oil. 4. Slowly cook on low heat, never boiling the fat. They are done when the meat begins to pull back from the drumstick (about two hours).5. With tongs, pull out legs and put into a clean container. Cool fat to room temp and then pour fat back over the legs and cover with tight cover. Duck Choucroute Garnie4 duck legs confit braised cabbage1 pound sauerkraut2 T unsalted butter1 cup thinly sliced yellow onion1/4 cup vermouth, dry1/4 cup white wine1 cup chicken stock½ t caraway6 juniper berries½ teaspoon chopped fresh thyme2 bay leaves Soak the sauerkraut in cold water to rinse it. In a small sauce pot melt butter over medium heat. Sweat onions down in the butter until translucent and tender. Add vermouth and white wine. Cook down for fifteen minutes on medium heat. Add sauerkraut to saucepot. Add chicken stock, caraway, thyme and bay. Lower heat, cover and braise for 45 minutes over low heat. Braised bacon 1 T olive oil4 pieces slab bacon, cut 1 ½ inch by 1 ½ inch, leathery side trimmed down.1/4 cup chicken stock½ cup water¼ cup beef stocka couple of branches of fresh thyme In a small pot, warm olive oil slightly. Add the bacon pieces and gently cook for ten minutes over low heat. Add all liquids and thyme. Cover and cook over low heat for 45 minutes. Save cooking liquid and bacon separately. To ServeIn a small pot warm 1 cup of braised cabbage with one piece of bacon and ¼ cup chicken stock. Add 2 slices cooked potato, blanched fennel, two baby carrots, two 5 inch blanched scallions, and 1 T pulled drumstick meat from confit. When warm, finish with 1 T of the braised bacon jus to enrich, plate and then top with 4 oz sliced roasted duck breast and a crisp confit thigh.

 

Fast Company – November 2007 issue.

The typical supermarket turkey is the Barbie doll of birds: Bred for lots of breast meat, it's so top-heavy that it can't mate naturally or walk easily. The Broad-Breasted White, as the hybrid is known, is also an unwitting conqueror. Over the last 50 years, it has dominated the turkey market, nearly eliminating the breeds served for Thanksgiving in our great-grandparents' day.

In 2001, Patrick Martins, then head of Slow Food USA, set out to save the old birds. Slow Food, a movement begun to counter the McDonald's way of eating, uses education to promote rare and traditional foods. He thought he could do more for the turkeys by marketing them. "These amazing, rare birds have all this great history," he says. "No one took the added step of trying to actually sell them."

So Martins started Heritage Foods USA with fellow Slow Foodie Todd Wickstrom. In 2002, it sold just 800 heritage turkeys--breeds like American Bronze, Bourbon Red, and Narragansett. This Thanksgiving, tens of thousands of Americans will eat Heritage Foods turkeys. The company's revenue is growing more than 40% a year--signs of consumers' growing appetite for food that isn't industrially produced.

A 1997 census by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) found just 1,335 breeding heritage turkeys in the United States. Few farmers raised them because few people bought them. Heritage turkeys typically cost at least $4 per pound--at 26 pounds, Heritage Foods' biggest bird sells for $209, shipping included; grocers can sell a factory-farm Butterball at a quarter of that price. So Martins and Wickstrom decided to target foodies. With Big Turkey selling 46 million birds at Thanksgiving, even a sliver of the market would be great business, especially for small turkey farms, which, Martins says, "have had a hard time finding support."

While Wickstrom kept the books, Martins, who has a master's degree in performance studies, became the heritage turkey's chief publicist. He sent turkeys to the press for taste tests. (Reviewers typically say they're richer, juicier, and have more dark meat than industrial birds.) He helped Frank Reese, one of his suppliers, install a Webcam on his Kansas farm so customers could see their birds pre-slaughter. He worked his Slow Food connections to get influential chefs such as Mario Batali and Alice Waters on his client list.

Martins' push coincided with the rising culinary cachet of the word "heritage." Today there are heritage meats, heritage cereals, heritage veggies, even heritage cherry pies. "We don't have very much culinary heritage in America," says Waters, chef-owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, and a Heritage Foods board member. "We're drawn to the idea that there was a time when we could eat really well."

Unfortunately, buying heritage doesn't guarantee good eating--nobody regulates how the word can be used. The ALBC stipulates that to be called heritage, turkeys must mate naturally, live outdoors, and grow for 28 weeks, 10 more than industrial birds. But it doesn't certify them, and no guidelines exist for other heritage products, such as pork and beef, which Heritage Foods also sells. Sarah Obraitis, the firm's head of business development, fears "the meaning of 'heritage' will be diluted."

Rules and definitions matter less to Martins than numbers. "Whether a farmers' market, a store, or a group is helping can be measured in economic terms," he says. In 2003, 17 farmers bred heritage birds. Now there are 81. Heritage Foods will ship 15,000 turkeys this month, giving thanks for every one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Order now at www.heritagefoodsusa.com

Heritage Foods USAThe Source for Authentic American Heritage FoodsHeritage Foods USA has been featured as a Company of the Year in Bon Appetit, House & Garden, Newsweek, Saveur Magazine and The New York Times Magazine.

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