Finally, I got one of the big ducks roasted. Let me tell you: home raised Pekin duck is well worth the effort. It was melt in your mouth tender and juicy.
I roasted it just plain. A little salt and pepper. We wanted to taste pure duck to see what we've got in the freezer.. I'll do the fancier recipes with the next birds.
I also poured off some of the melted fat and made duck fries. Very good.
There were a few little pin feathers left on the bird that were being difficult, so my son went and got his fishing tackle box and took out the hemostat that he uses to tie fishing line. It works like magic to get hold of those slippery pin feathers. He said it is a cheap one sold for fishing. I'm sure a quality surgical hemostat would cost like pure gold, but they can be had pretty reasonable.
(He soaked that hemostat in bleach water to disinfect)
Repeat: do not give corn to the Pekins. My Swedish were too thin so I added corn to the diet. The Swedish came out perfect. The Pekins gained bit too much fat. But not enough fat to make them greasy. Nothing like store bought duck. The meat was perfect, but there was a good lump of fat stored at the tail. Plenty of fat to make duck fries with a bunch left over that will go into the freezer.
They are good eaters, those Pekins. The three that I kept are always the first to the feeders. There's no worry about putting weight on them.
I roasted it just plain. A little salt and pepper. We wanted to taste pure duck to see what we've got in the freezer.. I'll do the fancier recipes with the next birds.
I also poured off some of the melted fat and made duck fries. Very good.
There were a few little pin feathers left on the bird that were being difficult, so my son went and got his fishing tackle box and took out the hemostat that he uses to tie fishing line. It works like magic to get hold of those slippery pin feathers. He said it is a cheap one sold for fishing. I'm sure a quality surgical hemostat would cost like pure gold, but they can be had pretty reasonable.
(He soaked that hemostat in bleach water to disinfect)
Repeat: do not give corn to the Pekins. My Swedish were too thin so I added corn to the diet. The Swedish came out perfect. The Pekins gained bit too much fat. But not enough fat to make them greasy. Nothing like store bought duck. The meat was perfect, but there was a good lump of fat stored at the tail. Plenty of fat to make duck fries with a bunch left over that will go into the freezer.
They are good eaters, those Pekins. The three that I kept are always the first to the feeders. There's no worry about putting weight on them.
