Duck Fat

If you recall I recently started a thread on Schmaltz and got some good input. Now, I am starting a thread on duck fat. I recently found and purchased a 3.5 lb tub of duck fat priced at $23. That sounded like a more than fair price to me. I am aware of things like frying or roasted fingerling using duck or chicken fat as the oil, so what other uses do you have for duck fat, and is the price I paid a fair price. Thanks in advance.

confit of duck is often mentioned on a UK wine forum.

If you recall I recently started a thread on Schmaltz and got some good input. Now, I am starting a thread on suck fat. I recently found and purchased a 3.5 lb tub of duck fat priced at $23. That sounded like a more than fair price to me. I am aware of things like frying or roasted fingerling using duck or chicken fat as the oil, so what other uses do you have for duck fat, and is the price I paid a fair price. Thanks in advance.

I like to give my baking potatoes a rub with duck fat, then roll them in sea salt prior to baking. The skin gets nice and crip but not tooth shattering . Very yummy. I sauteed some rainbow Swiss chard and smashed garlic cloves in duck fat last week. Then added a little chicken stock at the finish, to soften it further.

Potatoes roasted or baked in duck fat, with some fresh thyme or rosemary and sea salt... occasionally cook cauliflower in it as well.

Duck confit can be quite excellent (I had some last night at a restaurant here in Sacto that was just incredible in its melting tenderness). As good as confit is, though, I have to say that its role in making perfect roasted potatoes is duck fat's highest calling.

At the Roadkill Restaurant in Greenville, ME the do their fries in it. Yum, yum.

At the Roadkill Restaurant in Greenville, ME the do their fries in it. Yum, yum.

Carl,

I bet fries in it is yum yum, but a little expensive. Y thought that 3.5 pounds for $23 was a good price, I do my fries in peanut oil and that is about $ 15 a gallon. I really like peanut oil due to it's high smoke point. I do fries etc in my deep fat fryer at 375 degrees F and the potatoes don't soak up lot of oil at that temp. Don't know the smoke point of duck fat.

I happened to catch a few minutes of a recent tv show (I don't watch it anymore so can't recall the exact name... cooks illustrated or something like that... the guy wears a bow tie...Cris something) where they cooked french fries starting in cold oil. They stated that the fries soaked up less oil with that method. I did give it a quick try a few days later but did not arrive at any conclusion.

Tim

Bob,
Another classic use for duck fat is in making cassoulet. I withhold some duck fat every time just for that application.

Mark Lipton

[Robin Garr]

At the Roadkill Restaurant in Greenville, ME the do their fries in it. Yum, yum.

Eiderdown restaurant in Louisville's recently hip Germantown neighborhood does popcorn in it.

I have been playing with the following recipe which I think comes from chef Tetsuya Wakuda in Sydney.
The results have been pretty good, worth a try as has lots of flavour and you don't use too much of your precious fat.

Confit Potatoes

4 waxy potatoes, peeled
1 tablespoon goose or duck fat
1 pinch sea salt,
1 pinch pepper, ground
1 pinch superfine sugar

1. Pare the potatoes into barrel shapes.
2. Place the potatoes in a freezer bag or heat proof bag with the fat, salt, pepper, and sugar. Expel all excess air and tie the top tightly. I use my foodsaver and vacuum seal them.

3. Place the bag in a pot of boiling water and cook for 30 minutes.
NB Time is variable depending on size, shape, type, the weather!! Check them early as they need to remain firm for best result IMHO

For flavor variations, you can also add a pinch of herbs of your choice and/or onions and/or garlic.

Why pay money for duck fat? I buy ducks, remove all the fat and then render it and you have all the duck fat you will ever need for confit.

What am I missing here? Why would you buy it?

Occasionally, places in Boston that sell duck are practically giving it away but you have to show up at the right time.

Why pay money for duck fat? I buy ducks, remove all the fat and then render it and you have all the duck fat you will ever need for confit.

What am I missing here? Why would you buy it?

Occasionally, places in Boston that sell duck are practically giving it away but you have to show up at the right time.

Tom,

I am making a guess in my attempt to answer your "what am I missing" question. 1st Boston is a city of a half million population, with many of them of European extraction (and here is the guess) whom I think are more used to doing culinary things in accordance with how their parents and grandparents did them. So, I would expect that the sale of ducks in Boston to be (perhaps) a thousand to one in Lexington. An example is that salt cod is simply not available in Lexington but is probably very available in Boston. 2nd, Boston being an east coast city of a half million in city and 3 million area wide people would naturally have food (and other) items more readily available than cities the size of Lexington out here in flyover land. Louisville is quite a lot larger than Lexington at about 1.3 million, and their ethnic diversity is apparent in their markets and restaurants. it is likely that fresh market ready ducks are more readily available in Louisville than Lexington too. Like I said, just a guess.

I think your analysis is correct but I still don't understand the need to buy duck fat (separately). Just buy a few ducks.

I don't want to buy a few ducks and have to deal with all that mess. So I buy duck fat. Simple!

Got it. I think it may be a cultural thing. It just seems bizarre to me - like buying bacon fat would be bizarre.

I don't eat duck that often (just confit from time to time, and it's easier to buy it from D'Artagnan rather than make it from scratch) - so I just buy it in order to cook (mainly potatoes) in it.

Got it. I think it may be a cultural thing. It just seems bizarre to me - like buying bacon fat would be bizarre.

I don't think it is a cultural thing at all. I just don't want to deal with it. I do buy bacon and save the rendered fat. I like cooking my pancakes on a grill plate that I coat with bacon grease.

Karen,

I'm not being clear. Sorry! Its a cultural thing FOR ME. If I need duck fat, bacon fat, banana skins or orange rind. I buy ducks, bacon, bananas and/or oranges. I would never purchase duck fat, bacon fat, banana skins or orange rind.

Karen,

I'm not being clear. Sorry! Its a cultural thing FOR ME. If I need duck fat, bacon fat, banana skins or orange rind. I buy ducks, bacon, bananas and/or oranges. I would never purchase duck fat, bacon fat, banana skins or orange rind.

Tom, this is my first time buying duck fat, but I have rendered some chicken fat and used it for frying in the past.l I find that to be superior to vegetable oil, or even lard for that purpose. My sister and B-I-L came up yesterday from Nashville Tn, on a day tip and I made sure to feed them before they had to leave for the return trip. I roasted game hens on my grill, and grilled about `1.5 pounds of asparagus on the grill as well. So, I needed another dish that would be safe as to peoples preferences, and decided that I would skillet fry some Yukon golds and used the duck fat for the frying oil. the Duck fat might be just a step behind chicken fat (to my taste) but it made such a difference that I will keep it on hand for occasional hand. If I followed your method, I might never use either duck or chicken fat as my frying oil since while I frequently order duck when dining out, the wife never does, and a whole duck would be wasted in out case. I've never seen bacon fat in the butchers case else I might keep some of that on hand for special uses too. I do though appreciate your view on the subject.

We come by a bowl of goose fat every Christmas, and we usually ditch it. How does it compare with duck fat for cooking?

We come by a bowl of goose fat every Christmas, and we usually ditch it. How does it compare with duck fat for cooking?

More commonly quoted as THE fat to use for great roast spuds (and indeed they taste great). It keeps for ages, so can see you from one christmas to the next. A friend recently did a 50:50 mix with goose fat and (I think) Vegetable fat in his deep fat fryer for chips and reckoned they were very fine indeed.

We come by a bowl of goose fat every Christmas, and we usually ditch it. How does it compare with duck fat for cooking?

Carl, I've never had goose fat, but I see no reason it wouldn't be fine. As I said to Tom, I think I like chicken fat a tad better than duck fat, but the spuds I cooked in it yesterday was mighty fine. Heck, I think I would at least give the goose fat a try next time.

More flavour to duck fat than chicken fat.

Even eggs fried with a bit of DF are delightful!