As yet unpublished work in progress. Please leave me a comment if you like it or have any suggestions or publication possiblities. Mostly I look at them swimming by on the lake but sometimes I like to eat some. I’ve never hunted ducks so until now I’ve relied on the supermarket for my supply. Last Saturday on my ritual stroll through the supermarket for the weekly groceries I happened to spy a tasty looking piece of the said bird - “Maple Leaf Farms – Half Roasted Duck”. In its beautifully enticing red and cream package with seasoned duck showing through the cellophane window, the directions said “fully cooked” - just pop it in the oven for 25 minutes at 375 degrees and dinner is ready. “That would be great for Monday night when I’d be dining alone”, I thought.
On my way home from the supermarket I stopped by our local CSA Farm. “CSA” is intellegencia speak for “Community Supported Agriculture”. Our farm known as Farm Girl Farm sells shares each year for around 400 bucks which entitles the shareholder to pick up a “share” of produce once a week. This week with the tomatoes long gone and not much else left in the field as I drove in, I did not expect a whole lot, but I was wrong. Bunches of baby beets along with lots of greens and winter squash were amongst the pickings laid out on the farm table. Happy with my harvest my mind turned to Monday’s dinner. Duck with steamed beets and braised bok choy seemed like the right combination along with a bottle of Aussie Rutherglen Shiraz that I knew I had stashed away.
I don’t mind eating alone but I’m not the “hunt in the fridge for some crappy left over and hope for the best” kind of guy. For me eating alone means “dining alone” and the selection and preparation of the repast is a big part of the fun.
So the duck went in the oven as prescribed, the beets were trimmed and set to steam and the bok-choy was in the pan to braise with a little garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice. The wine was open , the table set, the candles lit, and I was ready to dine.
“Excellent choice of wine”, I remarked to myself as I took the first sip. The beets attracted the first bite and that too prompted the remark to self “Tasty beets!” The duck looked great and so a little portion of the leg was forked and brought to mouth. “MMmmm….. so, so.” Another bite not much better. It looked good but had no real flavor. The meat was also stringy even though seemingly moist. It wasn’t dry and the preparation directions were probably right on. But something was missing here. Try the greens. “Ah, yes! I love them!” Another sip of wine. “Goes well with the meal except for that damned duck!”, came the inner voice.
For a while I went back and forth trying each until deciding to forget the duck and just focus on the beets and greens and enjoy the wine. Always adept at making good from a bad situation, I took my time to relish those parts of the meal that grabbed my palate and forego the rest. But my thoughts went elsewhere.
“Our food supply is really fucked for those of us who can taste the difference” came one voice.
“Don’t be friggin’ snob!” came another.
“But I’m not! I just want to eat things I enjoy and that duck really sucked! It was not worth the six bucks I paid for it and I feel I was cheated.”
“You were!” said a third voice. “How do you think a company can make money today with the high cost of product not to mention the huge cost of distribution now that gas is more than three bucks a gallon. Something has to get compromised in all that if you want the convenience of buying duck in your supermarket. They probably try to do it well but with mass produced product to begin with and freezing it for a long shelf life, don’t you think you’d be sacrificing something in the way real taste? Like what the fuck were you expecting?”
“Ahh.. how about something like the taste of the bok choy or the beets?”
“Dreaming! Unless you want to grow your own ducks you idiot. Haha!”
I poured another glass of wine. Damn, the decision was made. Next year was going duck hunting for the very first time.
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They were right. We paddled to the middle of the pond and let the canoe drift down towards the end while we fished. In Maine a pond is usually big enough to be called a lake in most other parts of the world, and this pond is like that. It took us about an hour to drift from one end to the other and in that time we had nine fish. Several small ones were released as it was clear from the outset that this was going to be a good day and fish of 10 to 12 inches (large for native brook trout in this area), were in abundance and easy to catch. We paddled back a little to get one more fish and have our bag limit of 5 fish each.
We returned the canoe, hiked out to our truck, and got back to camp (aka "house on the lake") just after lunch. This gave us the afternoon to relax, clean our catch, and prepare for our traditional evening feast of pan fried whole brook trout, fiddleheads, and potatoes accompanied by a bottle of Oyster Bay (NZ) Sauvignon Blanc. Once more we had achieved what we had come for and toasted our success - fishing, friendship, and feasting on one of the most edible species of fish I've ever tasted. Priceless!
