Mulard duck

Canard mulard

What it is

A male Muscovy crossed with a Pekin female gives a bird that cannot breed — the parents are not even the same genus, so every mulard is a dead end that has to be made again. It is raised for the liver, and everything a French cook calls duck — the magret, the confit leg, the jar of fat — is what is left of the carcass afterwards.

In the kitchen

Lattice the magret fat, start it skin down in a cold dry pan, and let ten minutes of fat run out before the heat goes up. Confit the legs in that fat at 85 °C and never hotter, or the meat falls off the bone before it is confit.

Goes with

Duck fat Orange Fig Juniper berry Armagnac Black pepper Turnip Garlic

Same species

Muscovy duck

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