...and Wegman's is opening a new store in Harford Co.

Funny - when we were at Annabel Lee on Saturday, my wife noticed the duck fat fries on the menu & asked me about them. We ended up not getting them, though.

"Wegman's has duck fat..."

Road trip!

A friend of mine just told me this past week about the duck fat at Wegman's. I am very anxious to try it on my own. Any good recipes?

Some of the better Superfresh stores have a selection of d'Artagnan products. The one in Hampden has been selling them for years, though all items may not always be in stock. In addition to duck fat I've seen duck leg confit, magret breasts, truffle butter, wild boar roasts and salami's. I will say that Wegman's has a larger variety of d'Artagnan stuff including pheasant, venison and rabbit.

Nicole, here's how I did these. I used Russet potatoes (starchy) and fried twice. There are probably good recipes on the internet that tell you how high to heat the fat, but I do mine According to Grandma, which means I heat the fat as high as I dare (it will shimmer) and then toss in a test fry. If it sizzles appropriately I go for it. Don't put too many in at a time or the oil will cool too much and make greasy fries. Fry for about 5 min. Drain on brown paper - paper towels will stick. When they're cool, after a half hour or so, do them again, and take them out when they're the right shade of brown for you. Salt and eat! I used a saute pan with straight sides to save fat - I only bought one tub of it, but it was only around $6 and I didn't use all of it. I also saved what I used for another time. Hope this helps. I'm going to continue to experiment. It says on the tub you can eat it on bread, which I confess I tried, but that's not really for me!

Excuse my ignorance, but is duck fat somehow better than cow fat? Nutritionally? Does it taste better? I need a little Duck Fat 101. Or maybe it's Remedial Duck Fat. Duck Fat For Dummies.

(All this time, I thought jl was kidding about duck fat fries.)

Duck fat tastes better (IMHO) than cow fat, but cow fat is pretty darned tasty. Both are nutritionally in the toilet. They'll kill you, and you will have a big behind when you die.

Bucky, sit up straight and pay attention. DFFs have been written about by many people many times for the past year including the maximus postus on fries. I fear that they have lost their cachet now that people are making them at home and lesser pubby places are making them. Personally I don't get the hoopla. Maybe we bold East Coast gourmands know when a fad has peaked ... when people in the flyover states take notice. ;-)

Sorry for picking on you B.

btw when I was a girl growing up near Philly, an acme bag was a standard paper grocery bag. That's all we called them. It was a standard unit of measure in West Chester, as in an acme bag of horse chestnuts or an acme bag of laundry. Fast times.

Beef vs duck fat -- on what expertise or data do you base your conclusions, Skewy?

The method I have heard for twice-cooked fries call for cooking first at around 325° F, patting the fries dry, and cooking again at around 375° F. This was for cooking oil. Would this be different for cooking in duck fat?

Amanda C wrote: Maybe we bold East Coast gourmands know when a fad has peaked ... when people in the flyover states take notice. ;-)

That's not as far off base as you might think. While we may be aware of the latest fad, it isn't in our nature to embrace it until nearly everyone else has. We're late adopters, I think is the term.

Somehow, it just went over my head that duck fat fries were made with real duck fat. God, how many ducks have to die to get a pound of duck fat? Or is the duck fat obtained by...uh...some duck liposuction technique?

And why doesn't this topic get the reaction that foie gras gets? It seems pretty damn demeaning to the duck.

Uh oh, I see a classic OMG statistical smackdown heading your way SkewedTom. Run run run...

I've been reserving my own duck fat for years. I take a big ol' duck breast, slice through the skin about 30 times and lay it fat side down on a ridged grill pan on the very lowest heat on the stove. I wrap a frozen cold pack in a wash clothe and put that on the flesh side. Drain the fat every 10 minutes or so into a contained and freeze the golden love for use later. I never get enough to do fries, but I can usually baste two chickens or one small turkey with the melted fat -- way better than butter! The duck breast is now much leaner and has skin which is already on the way to crispy.

I grew up eating chicken fat (fried, in matzoh balls, in chopped liver, etc). The taste is so not better, but different than other fats. Duck fat is so similar I don't think I could pass a blind taste test. But, delicous it is, and yes, Skewed Tomato, if I ate as much of it as I'd like I would die with a big fat behind.

how many ducks have to die to get a pound of duck fat?

Not as many as you might think, Bucky. Ducks have lots of fat. That's how they survive in cold water.

Bucky wrote Somehow, it just went over my head that duck fat fries were made with real duck fat. God, how many ducks have to die to get a pound of duck fat? Or is the duck fat obtained by...uh...some duck liposuction technique? And why doesn't this topic get the reaction that foie gras gets? It seems pretty damn demeaning to the duck.

This has to be the comment of the week--and it's only Tuesday!

I second that, Dahlink.

Dahlink - I'm glad you liked it. Remember on Friday that I wrote one thing good on Tuesday, ok? (No italic observation at the bottom of this comment is required, EL.)

Hal - that makes sense. It's probably why ducks float so good, too. Fish, on the other hand, have almost no fat. That must be why they sink. How on earth did I ever fail Biology?

Also try duck fat roast potatoes, which I think taste more ducky. Par boil the cut potatoes for 5 minutes first, and turn the potatoes about every 20 minutes. Great with any meat.

Crowsonguy - those duck fat potatoes sound amazing! I'm going to have to make them this weekend!

Bucky, I never kid about duck fat. You must try the fries.
Skewed, thanks for the df/wegman's tip.
Bucky, if you can't find duck fat in the square state, lemme know and I'll ship you a couple containers of it.

You're welcome, and I've got to try Crowsonguy's potatoes - they sound great, and a heck of a lot easier than the fries!

Joyce, so duck fat tastes like chicken? I know, I know, that's too shmaltzy.