This is a story of an obsessive journey that starts a long time ago in France where both Christina and I were introduced to the delights and wonderful nutrition to be had from eating duck meat.

Not the gamey and usually tough wild duck or the bony and upright Pekin duck but the plump succulent Moulard and Muscovy ducks that form a staple of French cuisine.

The southwest of France is the regional center for duck production and duck producers there take immense pride in the quality of the ducks they raise as do the chefs with their recipes for all things duck.

We love duck.  My particular favorites are seared duck breast and duck confit. The rich dark meat closer in texture and appearance to venison or bison than it is to either turkey or chicken is packed with omega 3’s and very low in cholesterol (the southwest region of France has the lowest incidence of heart disease and stroke than anywhere else in Europe and they eat more duck there than hamburger meat!)

When we opened Farmers Gastropub in October 2009, it goes without saying duck featured in our menu planning.  That is where we hit our first speed bump.

Our whole philosophy is to serve local fresh food and support our local community and no one in our area was raising the kind of ducks we wanted.  We found an excellent producer in New York State called D’Artagnan Gourmet Meats and yes we did buy duck from them but every time we ordered I was painfully aware of the fact that this was the only meat that we didn’t buy from local producers.  It wasn’t even from anywhere in the whole state of Missouri!

So we started our quest – first find the eggs, then a hatchery, then someone to raise them and finally a USDA or Missouri State inspected processor who would process them.

Hours on the internet and phones followed with lots of disappointment. Kip & Jackie Glass of Autumn Olive Farm (Raised Right Meats) were, for a long time, our only ray of hope when they offered to raise them for us but cautioned that the processing would be our biggest problem.

Undaunted, we continued our quest to find a hatchery and in summer last year we found a supplier in Oklahoma who would supply us Muscovy ducklings so we ordered 25 as an initial experiment and Kip picked them up for us. We had fun watching them grow and forage in the long grass in Kip’s pastures but we noted that they weren’t getting as big as we hoped and there was a vast difference in size between the biggest and smallest.

Then a big shock, in fact it was sticker shock! We found a processor willing to process our ducks but the price was $15 per bird versus the $2 per bird that they charge for chickens! We were committed now and really had no choice but to agree.

I took our ducks myself to be processed and watched the whole procedure and it is true they were much harder to pluck than a chicken but the problem was compounded by the size – some of our ducks only weighed 4 pounds, about the size of a chicken and just not big enough to make the duck confit that I love so much.  When I totaled up the price of the ducklings, paying Kip & Jackie to feed and raise them plus the processing, the price we had paid per pound made them the most expensive meat we have ever bought.  True, they tasted great but were like a miniature version of what we had been and had to continue buying from D’Artagnan Gourmet Meats and had cost almost twice the price!

It was time to re-think based on what we had learned:

1. The ducks grow just fine here in SW Missouri
2. Our ducks weren’t big enough and they weren’t very consistent in size
3. There must be an easier and quicker way to pluck them
4. We still wanted to serve locally produced duck dishes in our restaurant
5. We didn’t know where we had gone wrong

We decided that we had better find out and the best place to start was where our love affair with duck had all begun, SW France, so we planned a trip and went last October.

Christina contacted her colleagues from Independent Stave Company in their Bordeaux office and I called my friend and chef mentor Jean Jacques Sanodoz who had, as luck would have it, retired back to his birthplace in a region called “le Périgord” just 2 hours from Bordeaux.

They both found us producers to visit but when Jean Jacques said “I get my ducks from the finest producer in the region and my aunt works there”, it was a done deal.  I have written in more detail about this trip in a previous blog so for now let’s just look at what we learned:

1. The French raise only Moulard or jumbo Muscovy ducks, they call the later Barbary ducks
2. Moulard ducks are a cross- breed between Muscovy and Pekin ducks
3. They raise only male ducks for meat as they grow twice as big as the females
4. They do have quicker and easier ways of plucking them but the cheapest of their equipment costs 4000 Euros about $5000 US new

We returned home and continued our quest to find our next ducklings. It seems that Moulard ducklings or eggs are just not  available here in the US. I spoke with a French farmer in Minneapolis who imports eggs from France and only supplies to restaurants within 60 miles of his location, but we did find a breeder in Pennsylvania (an Amish farmer) who has jumbo Muscovies.

After checking with Kip & Jackie to make sure they were up for raising them for us again we took a big deep breath and ordered 100 day old ducklings that were sexed at birth and would be guaranteed 95% male.

The ducklings arrived three and a half months ago and started shooting up from the day they arrived. We were all impressed by their growth rate and healthiness despite the difficult weather conditions this year.  Happily they were also all about the same size. About six weeks ago we also learned that a farmer’s life is not always a happy one when we lost 22 of our ducks to an attack by wild dogs despite the electric fencing surrounding their part of the pasture and their moveable shelter.

Apart from that terrible event our ducks had spent a happy three and a half months reaching full maturity.  They had been well cared for and well-fed on non GMO grains and natural forage, then last Friday they went to be processed.

Yes it was the same processor we used the first time and yes it still cost $15 per duck but the beautiful 7-8 pound ducks are just what we have been craving. We cooked one in the Pub on Tuesday and the smiles on all of the chefs’ faces, together with those of our servers who were there at the time as we tasted the fruits of our labors said it all, “THEY ARE DELICIOUS! “  I even brought one home and roasted it like a turkey served with roasted plum and brandy sauce, local new potatoes and green beans. It was amazing, a true gourmet delight! We opened a very nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon that we have been saving for a very special occasion because this was very definitely it!

So there you have it, we finally have completed the circle.  All of our meats, even the ducks are now sourced locally and we are really proud of that.

A big thanks to Kip & Jackie from Raised Right Meats for the wonderful job they did raising our ducks as they do with all their animals.

Now if we could just get a piece of ocean to Missouri we could have locally caught seafood as well!! 

For now we will just have to be satisfied with making sure all of our fresh ocean fish and seafood is sustainably caught.  We also have a great source of local fresh trout from Mountain Springs Trout Farm just south of Nixa.

Let the Duck Fest begin!  Come in on a Friday or Saturday and partake of this wonderful, delicate, delicious and yes even sensual food we call duck.

Final note; Christina has already set my personal limit to only one duck meal per week because when we lived in France I was up to eating duck four or five times a week and she wants me to save some for our customers at Farmers Gastropub. Oh Well!

Eat well, live long and prosper

Bill

“Is it real or is it fake” is one of my favorite games to play with my grandchildren. Here I am using it to pose a question about the food that you /we eat.

I had an out-of-town customer from California return to Springfield this week for the first time in 6 months. When he came into the Pub I was standing by a table talking with some regulars. His first words were, “Hi there, you’ve lost a lot of weight.” One of my regulars sitting at the table joined in, “Yes, Bill. You look great and so healthy as well.”

This got me to thinking, and I went back and checked out some old photographs and diary entries. The photographs I am keeping to myself!

The day we opened Farmers Gastropub (October 19 2009), I weighed 253 pounds. This morning on the same bathroom scales I weighed 185 pounds, a difference of 68 pounds.

Which diet plan have I been using? None at all!

In fact my other chefs think it hilarious that my favorite snack is a chip (French fry) sandwich, and they call one of my regular meals of sausage, eggs and chips eaten with bread and butter “Bill’s heart stopper!”

And, I get to sample everything we have on our menu by tasting every day.

My doctor would have to disagree about the “heart stopper” though; he has seen my blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels tumble along with my weight.

So how can this be? Without the latest diet craze, magic supplement, diet pill or diet shake, how have I lost all this weight and 10 inches off my waist?

The answer is twofold. First, I have a more active lifestyle than with my previous job. I am on my feet more and walk more, but the real kicker is that I only eat real food!

To quote Michael Pollan in his book Food Rules, “Eat real food not food-like substances.” http://michaelpollan.com/books/food-rules/

I eat in the Pub 80% of the time, and when we cook at home the ingredients come from the same farmers that supply the food to the Pub. Christina and I are regulars at the farmers market and Mama Jeans. I do drink lots of our house-filtered water along with the odd pint or glass of wine or two. We do have the occasional meal elsewhere, but I always feel yucky the day after, even when the food looks and tastes great. My body just rejects foods contaminated with hormones, steroids, MSG and other chemicals, and I feel lethargic and just plain yucky for about 24 hours.

The bottom line is that I am a dyed-in-the-wool foodie; I am passionate about food quality, not just in how it is served but also what is in it—that means knowing where it comes from. I pride myself on being able to tell all our customers where everything on their plate comes from.

When I watch the TV (not very often), I am shocked by all the ads for diet pills and prescription drugs. I am offended by the programs promoting health and beauty that promise a quick surgical or chemical fix, and I am appalled by the news reports on obesity or other illnesses with no reporting or challenging why the pandemic is occurring.

Yes, the information is out there but it isn’t being reported. You have to go looking for it.

When I talk to our local farmers they are worried about existing and coming legislation that favors industrial monoculture farming over their localized small scale and diverse cultivation model. They are worried about seeds that are GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms), and if they have been fully tested to be sure there is no risk of devastating failure in our future. The meat producers are hampered by FDA rules that are different for the small producer and processor than they are for Cargill or Tyson.

I was born in England, have lived and worked in France, and traveled in Europe and beyond for both work and vacations, all the time pursuing my passion for food. I have eaten all kinds of food, but never without first finding out what it was that I was eating.

Being informed or educated about the food we eat isn’t elitist or snobbish. It is just plain good sense.

It isn’t hard to do; just ask questions—at the farmers market, in the grocery store, in the restaurant, especially in Farmers Gastropub, we will be happy to tell you what is in your food.

I, for one, will keep learning as much as I can about the food that I eat. Below is an excerpt from a European government regulation on GMO foods that I read this morning. You can read the whole thing at: http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/animalnutrition/labelling/Reg_1829_2003_en.pdf

It took me only 3 clicks on Google to find it and the first line struck me as very enlightening (“Acts whose publication is obligatory”). I have yet to find an equivalent publication for here in the US where deregulation seems to me to be more the way things are going.

Eat well, live long and prosper.

Bill

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

REGULATION (EC) No 1829/2003 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 22 September 2003

on genetically modified food and feed

(Text with EEA relevance)

The new authorisation procedures for genetically modified

food and feed should include the new principles

introduced in Directive 2001/18/EC. They should also

make use of the new framework for risk assessment in

matters of food safety set up by Regulation (EC) No

178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general

principles and requirements of food law, establishing the

European Food Safety Authority, and laying down procedures

in matters of food safety (1). Thus, genetically

modified food and feed should only be authorised for

placing on the Community market after a scientific

evaluation of the highest possible standard, to be undertaken

under the responsibility of the European Food

Safety Authority (Authority), of any risks which they

present for human and animal health and, as the case

may be, for the environment. This scientific evaluation

should be followed by a risk management decision by

the Community, under a regulatory procedure ensuring

close cooperation between the Commission and the

Member States.

Tomorrow is the big day, we will be recording the live coverage in the wee hours so  that we can start playing it  at 11 AM when we open. Coverage will last all day

It is traditional at British weddings for ladies to wear posh hats so any ladies keeping with this tradition at Farmers will receive a complimentary glass of mimosa to toast the royal couple

Children are welcome so we hope that we have enough of Will’s & Kate’s wedding cake to go round?

See you at the wedding

OK, so it is true, Christina and I didn’t get our invitation to the wedding! But we did get something special, using my contacts I did get the recipe for Prince William’s favorite wedding cake. There are going to be 2 wedding cakes, the traditional fruit cake and at William’s request, his favorite chocolate biscuit (cookie) cake.

So we are going to be serving the royal wedding cake at Farmers Gastropub on the day of the wedding!

Come and share in the celebration at the pub, with High Deffinition TV coverage and your very own slice of Royal Wedding cake.

We will of course be using Askinisie chocolate to make ours so it will taste even better that the one that the wedding guests will be tasting