Duck Sauce

Ducks are so nice.        I love ducks.

 
   They 
    are 
delicious.  

Southern France how I love your love of duck.  Foie gras (inhumane I know, a discussion for another time), cuisse de canard confit, magret du canard, oscillicoccimum, parmentier au canard...etc etc.  The south west especially is known for their love of chicken's more classy and dignified (noisy) water cousin the duck or canard {kaa-nar} in French.  Try duck and you will taste the difference.  Duck has much more dark meat and a richer flavor and a much thicker layer of fat under their skin.  It also has to be cooked well in order to be nummy (or nummy nummy nummy), if it's overlooked it will be tough and chewy.


In the southwest however they take duck to a whole 'nother level.  They feel that duck fat is healthy for you.  In fact they swear by it.  Say what?!  The people in this area have much better cholesterol than even the average French person and as a result less heart problems, and that's not saying they eat like rabbits.  Yes at the store in the fridge you will find duck fat in a jar.

-The French Paradox
Long a mystery to the United States, the French paradox is the term given to the puzzling fact that the French are thinner, with a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease than Americans, even though they enjoy a diet full of animal fats and butter. Some theories explain that the reasons for this might include the French tendency to serve smaller portions and to drink lots of antioxidant-rich red wine. But in recent years, the researchers have looked more closely at the consumption of duck fat. Especially in the Southwest region of France, where duck is the de rigueur fat, and the incidence of cardiovascular disease is about half that of the rest of France, already less than half that of the United States. So the French that eat the most duck fat (and foie gras) have the least trouble with their tickers.-
Again we can talk about wine another time, tannat and cabernat franc anyone?  But isn't it interesting that duck fat could actually help your heart?

  What can you do with that duck fat? Just about everything.  The local McDonald's even fry their French fries in it!  Ahhh I think I love these people.  I also mentioned oscillococcinum which is a very popular homeopathic drug that fights the flu and cold and boosts the immune system, it's made from duck heart and liver.  There's something to this little tail wagging quacking creature...

Why is duck good for you?  First it's all dark meat making it it full of good stuff protein and vitamins/minerals like zinc, selenium, and b-vitamins, it is very high in iron (4x as much as beef) but also duck fat is different from other types of animal fat.  When compared with butter or olive oil, duck fat is actually in between the two of them.  Its mainly mono-unsaturated fat like olive oil with just a wee bit of poly and saturated fat like butter making it all in all a good fat.  The mono-unsaturated fat actually 
lowers bad cholesterol.  
Poly-unsaturated is where you get omega 3 and 6

Remove the skin and chow down in order to have a delicious nutritious meal.  Try: 

Orange duck
Duck parmentier 
Cuisse de canard confit
Duck pâté or foie gras 
Duck breast (magret de canard)  





Just your local grocery store duck fat run.

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