The skinny on duck fat

Potatoes, roasted or fried in duck fat, are the latest food craze in the food capitals of the world. One of the most elegant, flavorful, and gourmet fats for cooking, a staple in a chef’s kitchen, duck fat adds incredible richness to roasted potatoes. It is also used by chefs to cook anything from simple to fancy dishes.

Pure fat from duck is healthier than you think. It is a good source of unsaturated fatty acids, contains more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat than butter, and could help support healthy cholesterol levels.

Its rich and silky subtle taste improves dishes. Perfect for making duck confit, tender juicy rillettes, or thrown into gourmet sautés of vegetables to add rich taste, duck fat gives seared meats a flavor boost. Lastly, it adds fragrance to rice, veggies, and meat dishes.

Use duck fat instead of cooking oil, butter, or olive oil. Rub it on poultry meat for roasting. Wonderful for searing any meat, fish, or even shrimp, it is perfect with sautéed vegetables, specifically potatoes, garlic, and caramelized onions.

One big problem, though, is its rarity. In the US, duck fat is sold by gourmet suppliers for as much as $12 (₱607) for a seven-ounce jar (198.5 grams). In the Philippines, duck fat from France is offered online for P695 per 320-gram bottle.

Unknown to many, duck fat is considered an ordinary ingredient among housewives in Victoria, a bucolic town along the verdant shores of Laguna de Bay. Victoria is dotted with rice fields, fish pens, and farms, which raise duck for eggs that are processed for balut and itlog na pula (salted eggs). During the day, thousands of duck move in almost military formation from their wooden huts in the villages to the bay for their daily swim. Before dusk, they waddle back home for their meal of corn and chopped greens, with snails and shellfish gathered from the lake.

This diet ensures that the duck lay eggs with bright orange yolks and strong shells. The organic regimen also produces duck that are healthy and fat.

For efficiency and profitability, each farm’s herd is culled every few months. The layers are sold to entrepreneurs who process the birds into the local delicacy—fried itik. Before they can be cooked, the birds have to be butchered and dressed. This is where the exciting gourmet treasure hunt begins.

After the feathers are plucked, the stomach cavity is sliced open and all the stomach contents are scooped out. Immediately evident is the large amount of fat, which is carefully separated and chilled to prevent crosscontamination from the innards.

Next to be isolated and surgically sliced off the bile sac is the large liver, which is very lightly colored indicating its high-fat content. Almost like foie gras, some cooks might say.

Breast or confit

Though not fit to roast like Peking Duck, culled layers have tender breast meat that could be used for any boneless duck breast recipe. The whole bird, on the other hand, is perfect for the classic French Duck Confit. Feeling nationalistic? Cook duck adobo, kaldereta, or estofado, all gently simmered until tender.

The late Senator a regular at the Thursday lunches at Myther and Friends along Adriatico, always asked for second helpings of my Duck Confit with Peaches, a dish which combines two classic recipes: Duck a L’Orange and Duck Confit, substituting canned peaches for oranges.

Unknown to many, duck fat is considered an ordinary ingredient among housewives in Victoria, a bucolic town along the verdant shores of Laguna de Bay. Victoria is dotted with rice fields, fish pens, and farms, which raise duck for eggs that are processed for and (salted eggs).

Raul Roco,