If you have an Aldi in your neighborhood, they sell ducklings (for about 60 percent of everybody else’s price) from November to January. I’ve never actually cooked a mature duck because the ducklings from Aldi are such a good deal. :) I buy as many as the budget will allow and keep them frozen to roast when we need a treat. They’re usually sold as Pekin ducks. A good Asian market might have them as well.
I don’t exactly do recipes for soup - I’m a throw-it-in kind of cook - but treated about like chicken soup it works pretty well; pick the duck as clean as possible and boil the bones to start your soup broth. Cook some mushrooms and chopped onions in butter or duck fat (SAVE YOUR DUCK FAT, IT IS WONDERFUL), then add them to the broth along with your chopped duck meat. Add white wine as needed for a good chicken-soup-like consistency. Tossing in some cooked brown or wild rice is nice but not mandatory; the mushrooms are mandatory. :) They complement the duck flavor beautifully.
Red lentils do have to soak as far as I can remember - it’s been a while since I cooked with them. I like my lentils tender but whole for texture. For lentils, I saute mushrooms, onion, and garlic in duck fat (seriously, save your duck fat) and then simmer a pound of lentils in half-and-half water and white wine for a couple of hours till they’re tender. A bay leaf or two is also helpful.
Will definitely save duck fat which is another great idea. I don't know why but the few times I've had good duck in a restaurant, I was crazy about the flavor.
Maybe I will try red lentils again, wonder if they make interesting hummus.
After I posted the other night, I went through my Campbell's soup and found some split pea. It is definitely sub par and I had to practically pry it out of the can, mushed some water in it with back of spoon; the peas were in chunks. What to do, didn't want to dirty regular stuff so grabbed my potato masheer. Worked beautifully, don't care if a few chunks are left. I don't recommend the fake bacon they stick in it whatever those pink cubes are. I guess it's still nutritous and good for fiber which I need.
My hand potato masher is top quality and different, got it many years ago for my "hope chest" one of the few things left. The handle is comfortable melamine and the masher is circular stainless with holes cut in it. But the cheaper traditional ones seem to work just as well.
Thanks again, gives me something to look forward to after getting a 10# bag of fresh chicken thighs and legs for 59 cents a pound. Froze it so will have to use it up; might be tough because they were much bigger than the usual pieces I have bought and mangled in processing which is probably why they were so cheap. That bag was heavy and didn't look forward to repackaging it for the freezer but got the job done well.
I'm going to make cheater chicken and noodles from a yt video: Slow Cooker Chicken Noodles channel TT.Scraps. Am not going to put a whole stick of butter in it though; otherwise going to follow her recipe pretty faithfully the first time using the Reames noodles; daughter found some at Walmart they failed to get in their daily data base. I don't buy my meat there though and finding decent produce is pretty iffy.
Sorry I go on so long. Bad habit; one thought leads to another; few to talk to in real life.