Showing posts with label mallard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mallard. Show all posts

Canard Sauvage – Wild duck. Wild Duck in French Cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

  
 
Mallard Ducks
The male has a green collar and head.
www.flickr.com/photos/backwords/5677301579/

When wild duck is on the menu in France go for it; it is entirely different to farm-raised duck. The much darker meat offers a contrast in tastes and textures that outclasses farm-raised duck; a wholly pleasurable experience and as organic and free range as you can get.  Wild duck will be on French menus between the end of September and the beginning of February.  Each French department sets its own dates for hunting wild game, and so the dates when wild duck is on the menu will vary as you travel around France,
   
A mallard coming into land.

The wild duck on your menu will be the wild mallard.
   
Many different wild ducks may be hunted in season, but the duck on your menu will be the mallard duck, the canard colvert in French.  Colvert means green collar the identifying sign of the male mallard.  The wild mallard is the most common wild duck in France, and probably the world, and it is also raised in captivity and may be on the menu of the restaurant down the street.  Nevertheless, neither of those seemingly disparaging statements alters the superb and different taste of the wild mallard.

The wild mallard is mainly vegetarian, and so it will not have the odd flavors of many other wild ducks that spend their time dipping below water into the mud to feed on shrimp and what have you. Ducks are what they eat.
   

Smoked duck breast salad.
www.flickr.com/photos/ottawaws/2331118020/

Wild duck on French menus:

Canard Sauvage Rôti en Feuilles de Vignes, Navets Nouveaux, et Figues Séchées  - Wild duck roasted with vine leaves and served with young turnips and dried figs.
     

Duck confit with roasted peaches and cherries.
www.flickr.com/photos/sanfranannie/3863540423/
    
Filet de Canard Sauvage aux Airelles, Mousseline de Céleri  -   Slices of wild duck prepared with European cranberries and accompanied by a celery puree.
 
Magret de Canard Sauvage, Jus a la Myrtille, Cèpes et Salsifis Caramélisés  -  Breast of wild duck prepared with a bilberry sauce and served with wild French porcini mushrooms and carmelized roots of salsify (also called the oyster plant).

Terrine de Canard Sauvage et sa Confiture d'Oignons au Vin de Cheverny – A pate of wild duck served with a sweet onion jam flavored with a Cheverny AOP wine. France has a number of tasty sweet onions with the most famous being the Oignon Doux des Cévennes AOP - The Sweet  Cévennes Onion.
   
and mashed (Parmentier) potatoes
flavored with France’s most flavorsome herb group, Les Fine Herbes.
www.flickr.com/photos/sushi_kato/4531739518/

Tourte de Canard Sauvage et Palombe au Foie Gras de Canard Sauce Grand Veneur – Wild duck and wood pigeon pie accompanied by foie gras (fattened duck liver) and served with a Grand Veneur Sauce.  Grand Veneur means a great hunter and the sauce is a traditional one made with red wine vinegar, butter, fresh berries, and crème fraiche.  Palombe or Pigeon Ramier, wood pigeon, is another tasty game bird. You will not find wood pigeon on many menus at home so chose it when you can.  Farmed pigeon is also a good choice throughout the year. (BTW the painter Picasso called his daughter Palombe). 
  

Duck in caramelized apple sauce.
www.flickr.com/photos/ruthanddave/102281659/

Menus that offer duck, in France as elsewhere, do not distinguish between a male duck, a canard, and a female, a cane, and when a duckling is on the menu, it will be listed as a caneton, a male duckling.

 The Dombs and wild duck.
 
I received my introduction to the wild mallard duck in the small but fast-growing town of Villars-les-Dombes situated in the farming wetlands of the Dombs. The town is just 40 km (25 miles) from the temples of the finest French cuisine in the city of Lyon but set in the heart of the Dombs.  Here there are hundreds of ponds and mini-lakes that are freshwater fish farms interspersed with agricultural land. The Rivers Ain, Saône, and the Rhône set the Dombs' borders and from time to time the ponds are drained and worked as naturally rich agricultural land; then, the land that was farmed is rested and becomes ponds and an obvious home for local and migrating birds. Here, at Villars-les-Dombes, in the hunting season, you do not have to travel far to find wild duck.  Apart from the local restaurants, there is plenty of wild duck for cooking at home and this is where a French colleague along with his wife invited me to enjoy my first French wild duck, it was prepared  with juniper berries,

Female mallard with twelve ducklings.
www.flickr.com/photos/93882360@N07/13763133924/
 
Menus may indicate a wild duck’s provenance as wild duck aficionados grade the source. Ducks are hunted along France’s Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts as well along inland wetlands. Examples on the Atlantic coast are the Bay of Somme in Picardy also well known for its Pré- Salé lamb and la Brière north of the Loire estuary just 60 km (37 miles) from the city of Nantes. On the Mediterranean coast, the center is the Camargue, the farmland, marshes, rice paddies, wetlands of the Rhone delta are famous for its organic rice and AOP beef the Taureau de Camargue.  So whether the duck on your menu listing is the Canard Sauvage de la Dombes or Canard Sauvage de Camargue, it will be the same wild mallard as elsewhere with duck’s local dining choices affecting its taste.
 
The mallard duck in the languages of France’s neighbors.

(Catalan - ànec collverd, ànec de bos), (Dutch -  wilde eend),(German – stockente). (Italian - germano reale),  (Spanish - añade real), (Latin -anas platyrhynchos).


The Mandarin Duck
 The aix galericulata a long way from home.
Photographed at the Parc Phoenix, Nice, France.
www.flickr.com/photos/berniedup/6950451856/
  
 A few of the other wild ducks in France
  
France has many other wild ducks including the Canard Chipeau - The gadwall or sand-wigeon;  Canard Pilet – the northern pintail; Canard Siffleur – the Eurasian wigeon; Canard Souchet – the shoveler or northern shoveler duck; Sarcelle d'Hiver - Eurasian teal or winter teal; and the Sarcelle d'Été – the garganey.  Licensed hunters may be permitted limited hunting of the ducks above, but their daily bags will not appear on restaurant menus.

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Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
French menus?

Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" and search with Google. Behind the French Menu’s links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 450 articles that include over 4,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.
   

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Copyright 2010, 2019.

Magret de Canard or Lou Magret. - Duck Breast in French Cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Magret de Canard Rôti  - Roast duck breast.

Magret de Canard or Lou Magret - Duck breast. Duck breast is extremely popular in France and will usually be served roasted or fried. Duck is served rosé, slightly pink inside, so if you want your duck breast cooked in a manner other than rosé, you should inform the server when ordering. In France, it is unlikely that you will be asked how you would like your duck cooked.
  
The duck breast on your menu mostly comes from the breasts of ducks raised for fattened duck liver, fois gras. The breasts of these ducks are much thicker and tastier than most other duck breasts, and they come with a thick covering of fat. Some of the fat may remain when the duck is served; however, it is easily removed as a touch of your knife, and the fat separates.
                        
Duck breast on your menu in France:

Lou Magret Grillé aux Sarments de Vigne – Duck breast grilled over vine prunings. The pruning’s from vineyards are much in demand, and as you may expect, they add unique flavors to dishes that are grilled or barbecued over them. 
   
Vine Prunings.
www.flickr.com/photos/cavestmathieu/7210028264/
   
When the term Lou Magret is on the menu, then the chances are that you in an area that was part of the pre-revolutionary French Province of Gascon. Gascon, Gascony. Gascony is now included in the region of Nouvelle Aquitaine with some parts in Occitanie. Here some locals still speak the Gascon dialect of Occitan alongside their perfect modern French. Lou Magret is Occitan for the French magret de canard, duck breast. Offering duck breast as a separate dish, rather than serving a whole duck, began in Nouvelle Aquitaine, and now Magret de Canard is on menus all over France.

Many of France’s regions had their names and borders changed .on 1-1-2016. Then, France reduced the number of regions from 22 to 13.  For the visitor nothing has changed other than some confusion when using old guide books.
   
Apart from popularizing duck breast the old province of Gascon in Nouvelle Aquitaine, is famous for its AOP grape brandy Armagnac; the apéritif Floc de Gascogne; ducks; geese;  truffles; foie gras; Monbazillac wine; D’Artagnan, the fourth musketeer; Cyrano de Bergerac; Cuisine Périgourdine and much more.
        
Carpaccio d’Magret d'Oie – Goose breast Carpaccio. Goose breast.  Magret d’Oie, is also popular in France and will be prepared like duck breast. A goose breast is much larger than a duck’s breast and you will receive a half or less of a whole goose breast.
   
Carpaccio de Canard - Duck breast Carpaccio.
 
Magret de Canard au Miel - Duck breast in a honey sauce.

Magret de Canard au Poivre Vert – Duck breast in a green pepper sauce. For chefs, green pepper is the pepper of choice in almost all dishes with Au Poivre in their name. Green pepper corns allow the chef to offer the diner a controlled pepper experience.
  
Duck breast with green pepper sauce.
www.flickr.com/photos/vialbost/4429028606/
   
Magret de Canard Fumé - Smoked breast of duck. Smoked breast of duck has a flavor slightly similar to cured ham and is extremely popular. Smoked duck breast may also be part of a salad and served warm or cold or it may be very thinly sliced and served cold with fresh melon instead of recipe where cured ham is called for. Smoked duck, like smoked turkey and smoked goose, are all very popular in France.

Smoked duck breast.
Grilled leeks, mashed potatoe, braised kale and braised red cabbage
With a creamy black currant sauce
www.flickr.com/photos/edsel_/3642318387/

Magret de Canard Sauvage aux Figues Fraîches – Breast of wild duck prepared with fresh figs. Canard sauvage, wild duck, in season will be on quite a number of menus. When wild duck is on the menu go for it; it is entirely different to farm-raised duck. The much darker meat offers a contrast in tastes and textures that outclasses farm-raised duck; a wholly pleasurable experience and as organic and free range as you can get.  Wild duck will be on French menus between the end of September and the beginning of February.  Each French department sets its own dates for hunting wild game, and so the dates when wild duck is on the menu will vary as you travel around France.
  
Wild mallard duck
The male has the white collar.
www.flickr.com/photos/backwords/5677301579/
      
When a menu does not identify the wild duck being served then it is almost always the canard colvert sauvage, the wild mallard duck. . The mallard duck is the most common wild duck in France and is probably the most common wild duck in the rest of the world, as well. In French, the duck’s name colvert refers to its green collar, the identifying mark of the male duck; the green collared duck. The mallard duck is also domesticated and farm-raised. If you are visiting France and wish to taste wild duck note that the duck hunting season, in most French departments, is from mid-September through the end of January.

Rémoulade au Magret de Canard Fumé et Cerneaux de Noix - Smoked duck breast served with a rémoulade sauce and walnuts. Sauce rémoulade is mayonnaise and mustard-based sauce made with cooked egg yolks, oil, and mustard; it is usually, but not always, prepared with added parsley and cornichons. 

The duck breasts on French menus come from the mulard, the moullard duck, which is not to be confused with the mallard duck. The moullard is a cross between the canard de Pékin, the Pekin duck, and the Canard de Barbarie,  the Muscovy duck.  The Pekin duck, in the USA, is commonly called the Long Island duck.

For a few of the other duck dishes on French menus click here:

The Mallard duck in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(Catalan - ànec collverd ), (Dutch - wilde eend), (German – stockente). (Italian - germano reale), (Spanish - añade real , azulón), (Latin - anas platyrhynchos ).
  
--------------------------------

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2013, 2015, 2019
 
--------------------------------

Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
French menus?
 
Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" (best when including the inverted commas), and search with Google, Bing, or another browser.  Behind the French Menu’s links, include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 450 articles that include over 4,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.

Connected Posts:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 

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