Exploring the flavor of fowl

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Left to right: Chef Dan Sauer of 7a Foods, Randy Ben David of Native Earth Teaching Farm, and Chef Michael Brisson of L'Etoile learn how to process a duck in preparation for the gourmet tasting dinner this Sunday. — Photo by Max King

This coming Sunday evening, after nearly a year of fine, feathered cultivation, Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard and Native Earth Teaching Farm will conduct a gourmet taste experiment: three duck breeds, raised side by side, will be compared for richness, flavor, and overall taste by three Vineyard chefs and a discerning community hungry for sustainable Island cuisine.

Rebecca Gilbert of Native Earth Teaching Farm loves her fowl. The farmer, who raises rare birds such as the flamboyant Silkie chicken, was inspired to raise the heirloom Cayuga Duck after participating in a Slow Food M.V. panel on endangered local foods last February.
At the turn of the 19th century, Ms. Gilbert explained, “the Cayuga was the primary duck raised and eaten in this area. Now, there are only a few thousand breeding pairs left in the world.”

With the advent of commercial refrigeration, consumers wanted a duck already prepared to cook. “The Cayuga has variations of color in its skin, so as a plucked duck, it’s not white,” Ms. Gilbert said. “All of the sudden, what mattered to people was not what looked nice in the backyard, or even on the table, but just in the fridge.”
Ms. Gilbert proposed an eight-month project to Martha’s Vineyard’s Slow Food community. It started with the purchase of 45 two-day-old ducklings of three varieties: the endangered Cayuga, the English Khaki Campbell, and the more common Muscovy. The ducks were raised for the taste test which will happen this weekend.
Of the 45 ducklings that arrived on Island in May, 30 have been sold and processed for consumption. Ms. Gilbert has primed and plumped them with “lots of love, the best Allen Farm organic feed, and let them roam in the same open conditions.”

Ms. Gilbert purchased the ducklings for $7 apiece, but she says it cost nearly $40 each to raise and fatten them for processing. She hopes to reduce the price in the future. “We learned a lot in this first go-round,”  she said.
Sunday’s tasting will be a culinary adventure served fireside at the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury. Ticket holders will be indulging in three courses prepared by Vineyard star chefs: Michael Brisson of L’Étoile, Dan Sauer of 7a Foods, and Noah Kincaide of Atria.

“These ducks are in good hands,” Ms. Gilbert said. “We are all fascinated to see what the birds taste like. Will there even be a difference? Would the Cayuga be a good commercial duck if you could get over that objection of skin color?”
It’s not clear if duck pigmentation prejudice is at the heart of the near extinction of these birds, but Slow Food has elected the Cayuga duck into their “Ark of Taste,” which includes local food gems such as the bay scallop. Ms. Gilbert says the Cayuga “are beautiful just as ornamental birds. We will keep breeding pairs here on the farm, even if we can’t get another project going, just because we love them so much.”
“We hope to generate interest to do another round,” Ms. Gilbert said. “That is, if they taste good.”

“Feathered Fowl: An Evening of Gastronomic Discovery,” Sunday, November 23, Ag Hall, West Tisbury. Includes a talk by Rebecca Gilbert, gourmet sides prepared by Island chefs, grilled breast meat of three duck varieties, and traditional French salad with duck. $37 per person. Tickets and more information are available at slowfoodmarthasvineyard.org.