BS: New Game in Town???

Subject: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 04:58 AM

I was a bit surprised to see a local butcher selling Pheasant & Partridge but I have never seen anyone selling Mallard before. Joy (farmer's daughter) has eaten it and declared it very gamey.

I supposed it has to be prepared properly - you don't want it Mallardjusted do you?

I'll get my coat....

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 08:52 AM

I have eaten what, have I eaten ?
I have eaten the toe of a mallard,
Toe toey two nippers and all,
And good a meat was the mallard.

People have been eating mallards for 100s of years, it's the commonest wild duck in the world.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Bobert
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 09:19 AM

It's for sale at Martin's Grocery stroe in Harrisonburg, Va....

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 09:41 AM

We used to eat them all the time. My uncle hunted them, sneaking up and bopping them on the head with his mallard mallet. (Well really he used a shotgun.)

Try soaking them for an hour or so in milk to remove any "gameiness".

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 10:22 AM

The mallard is the ancestor of almost all domestic duck breeds except those derived from the Muscovy duck. The Rouen duck has the same plumage as a wild mallard and its meat reportedly has a somewhat stronger flavor than white feathered breeds. Perhaps that's what's being sold as "mallard". It looks just like a mallard and many people call it a "domesticated mallard", but a true mallard is a wild duck. As such, its sale would probably be strictly regulated (or possibly even prohibited) by game laws.

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Mr Red
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 07:59 AM

Apparently, according to Joy who is more knowledgable on wild animals than I, thinks the Mallard is fair game in the UK. Where Pheasant and Partridge are hunted the Mallard is a target on lean days or late in the day.

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 10:39 AM

On describing a strange sound in his latest book, Terry Pratchett used the term 'The kind of sound that duck-hunters make just before other duck-hunters shoot them'.

Made me laugh anyway.

Did you butchers have any Albatross?

:D (eG)

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: gnu
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 01:38 PM

Half-cook beans. Lay two or three well dried pieces of alder with bark still on on top of beans. Lay duck(s) on alders. Cook at 375F for 90 minutes. Throw out ducks and beans and eat alders.

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Gurney
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 08:07 PM

Mallard just beg to be domesticated! We have 12 in our suburban garden most days, 10 ducklings, their mum, and an older sibling from her last brood.
We live close to a stream and a playing field, but suburb nonetheless.

Our garden should be very fertile next year.

I'd suggest that you NEVER feed ducks.

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 08:23 PM

I've been advised that UK restrictions on selling wild game are generally much more lenient than those in the US, and that selling wild mallards is quite legal there. Please ignore my speculation above about mallards actually being their domesticated cousins, Rouen ducks.

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 03:19 AM

Mallard

Quack!
GtD

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Art Thieme
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 09:04 PM

Uncle hunted 'em all the time. When I asked uncle what Mallard tasted like, he said, "Well, the flavor is somewhere between a bald eagle and a trumpeter swan."

We just walked away...

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Gurney
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 10:30 PM

Geoff, I'd think you could 'train' a duck to tell the difference!
Unless it was loco, of course.

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: GUEST,Mr Red
Date: 16 Dec 09 - 11:11 AM

ah! the Streamlined blue Gresley class!

We had an all black one run over our embankment the other day. I heard it but I was halfway between a decent viewshaft and home. No chance to see it. It definitely wasn't the Mallard.

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Dec 09 - 12:45 PM

Oh, lord -- are you folks wearing your anoraks, too?

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 16 Dec 09 - 05:36 PM

Bought a new cookbook today -"Scottish Traditional Recipes", which has a recipe for Mallard Pate.

"Mallard ducks are shot during the game season, which in Scotland is during the winter months".

Subject: RE: BS: New Game in Town???
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 03:53 AM

Not an anorak - don't like the hoods, prefer a decent hat with brim to keep the rain/sunshine out of my eyes.
Quack!
GtD.