• #1
• Comment by Paul

Bonjour, I was just wondering if the Tour d'Argent will ever have le
cheval à la presse or even better a petit âne à la presse? Merci.Paul

• #2
• Comment by Martin (poo head) Foster

That is SICK!

• #4
• Comment by Michael

Le Banyan in Bangkok has a Presse à Canard and specializes in this dish. A true gastronomical experience.

• #5
• Comment by Robert

FX - thank you for posting these photos and writing this review! While I had heard of Tour D'Argent before (mostly about the view and the price), I recently read about the duck in Larousse Gastronomique, and then went online to see what else I could learn. Thanks for sharing your experience - I look forward to viewing the rest of your site, and one day making it back to Paris for some duck!

• #7
• Comment by Clare

The blood sauce can be a little hard to handle.  I ate it for the first time at Tour D'Argent 12 years ago on my first trip to Paris.  My father insisted he take my brothers and me, and we all ate the canard à la presse (I was 7 years old).  I have since gone back at least once a year, partly because I love the canard, and partly because I love practicing my French with the waiters!

• #8
• Comment by parshu narayanan

Was planning to visit the restaurant as part of my Tourist Visit to Europe, but think I have been put off for life. Can anyone suggest an equally representative and iconic restarant of French cuisine in Paris

• #10
• Comment by parshu.narayanan

Thanks, fx. If you are ever in New Delhi, please make a point to visit Karim's in Chandni chowk, a crowded neighborhood in the shadow of the Red Fort built by the same Mughal king who built the Taj mahal. Their family used to be the Royal cooks till the Mughal dynasty was killed off by the Brits. Their Seekh kababs are among the best in the world. Pl make sure though that your immune system can cope - but since you are so well-traveled I assume it will.

• #13
• Comment by john

One of the most famous dish of France and I will try it this Sunday but in Hong Kong and I will go with my mom. I had read above comments which said the sauce may be a little 'hard to handle', do you mean the smell maybe be too strong for some? Please elaborate more on this.

• #15
• Comment by Deborah

Friday, May 4, 2007 @ 7:15 p.m. we had reservations at "La Tour d'Argent". To be honest eating here was the highlight of my four days in Paris. Everything was perfect. Yes, we tried the Duck (duck number 1056754) in Blood Sauce. We met the executive chef and had a tour of the kitchen. Later on he surprised me with a birthday cake. It was absolutely divine. The only disappointment was that I expected to sign a book with our duck number in the book. That did not happen. Instead we were presented with a cute little card with the number printed on the top.We left with a copy of the menu which I am having framed with my duck numbered card. :)

• #16
• Comment by john

Thanks for the tips, fx.I will have pressed duck this Sunday at Le Parisien, International Financial Centre, Central , HK. The restaurant claims itself one of the 50 most prestigious restaurants in the world.I don't expect too much as HK is not famous for this very French dish but the price is acceptable - 120 euro per duck.

• #17
• Comment by Alex

Parshu, fx; regarding the vegetarian suggestions in your previous messages, I just wanted to let you know that usually, onion soup is made with animal-based stock and covered with cheese. Also, genuine French pastries that require fat are always made with butter. Some vegetarians (purists or vegans) would thus not consider those dishes vegetarian. As for the article and pictures about the Canard à la presse, it is simply the most complete information I could find on the net, good work!

• #18
• Comment by Beth Loggins

To people who are familiar with foods cooked with blood, this isn't anything peculiar. Some dishes such as pork cooked with pig's blood may use vinegar to cut into the richness and earthiness of the blood.

• #19
• Comment by duck lover my friends nickname is a duck

THATS NASTY I CAN'T BELIEVE THE IGNORNESS IN THIS WORLD. IT SHOULDN'T BE A DUCK COOKER IT SHOULD BE A DUCK UP  _ ACTUALLY INSTEAD                                          |-UCK UP!!!!!!!                                   

• #20
• Comment by Marcus

My mouth is watering; I love duck and I like my meat bloody.Though I think the reason the word "barbaric" was used was the method of death (the duck has to be strangled). But that wouldn't stop me eating it.

• #21
• Comment by nicolle

I had duck 1027757 - cooked with plum sauce; it was fabulous!

• #22
• Comment by parshu.narayanan

dear fx, alex - A belated thank you for your advice. Yes, animal stock and rennet-initiated cheese will be a no-no for my wife, though Hindus have no issues with dairy prodicts per se. My vegetarianism is more stretchable so I shall definitely visit both the onion-soup place and L'Arpege, and maybe go and try the Orange sauce duck by myself as fx speaks so well of the T'd'A! I agree with alex that like the rest of this blog, fx brings a very high, mouth-watering quality to his macro food shots, with real food and without the use of a food stylist. I work in advertising so i should know :-)

• #23
• Comment by Louis from Paris

In Paris you can see a presse à canard at l'Escargot, rue Montorgueil.

• #24
• Comment by Liz

So glad I found your article. I have a French Duck Press my father-in-law brought back from France in the 50's. It is in perfect condition. We are actually looking to sell it. Do you know how I might get the word out? anyone interested can email me:EByrdie@aol.comThanks again!

• #25
• Comment by David Cantrell

Cooking with blood isn't that unusual or gruesome - it's the main ingredient in black pudding or blutwurst, for example.

• #27
• Comment by Sally Morrow

An amazing picture story - much more than I expected and the pictures are wonderful.  Looked for pressed duck because Hammacher-Schlemmer catalog lists one in solid brass for a mere $1,999.95.  It has duck feet.  Adorable.

• #28
• Comment by paul johnson

Great  pictures and very informative article!! Thanks,walrus

• #29
• Comment by John Somers

Enjoyed your article and would love to try the recipe.I have found a duck press,solid brass,weighing in at 33 lbs.,made in France,for sale in the Orvis sporting gifts catalogue for $2,900. I have suggested it to my wife as a Christmas present. I look forward to Santa's arrival !

• #30
• Comment by andrew

Thanks for the information.my question goes to the presentation of the duck. After it has been ordered it is presented for inspection at the table prior to preparation. none of the group I have dined with know exactly what we should be looking for at that moment to accept or refuse the duck in question.Could anyone here elaborate on what features we should be examining at that point?Thanks.

• #32
• Comment by Mirja

Awaesome! Can I get one on ebay?Love, Mirja

• #34
• Comment by Sean

Christofle makes a duck press

• #36
• Comment by andre zeidan

The photos are great, well captured and show in details the method of preparation.I will be very thankfull if you can mail me the meyhod of preparation in detail because the one you have in the article is not obvious.thank you

• #37
• Comment by high street bistro nz

We are receiving a presse a canard next week for my restaurant. can you please tell me how many restaurant are doing this dish in the world and where are they?Cheers

• #39
• Comment by dan

Thanks very much, you ended my search with this web recipe and pictures of Presse a Canard. Now I know what kind of an antique I truly possess. Having been in the fine dining business years ago, I had heard of pressed duck, but didn't know the recipe or tradition. Then when I got into the wine business I bought what I thought was a smaller wine/grape press, supposedly over 100 years old, solid brass with nickel plate, clearly made by a family manufacturer in san francisco, perhaps late 1800s. It's a Duck Press! Now we are downsizing and I'm looking to sell it. FX - feel free to give out my email (atlwine@netscape.net) to any chefs or home epicurious types that are looking for a press in good condition. I can email photos. Thanks for your site!

• #41
• Comment by mats Hagstrom

Nice job,I've had the duck at La Tour d'Argent twice.  It's a great old school dish and great with old burgundy.  Thanks for the pictures and fine presentation.BRAVOMats

• #43
• Comment by Philip Abole

Am I understanding this correctly?  ALL of the internal organs are kept intact during the roasting/pressing process? Gastric juices, bile, fecal matter... all of this goes into the sauce?  I can deal with liver and even blood, but this would be tough for me to watch, let alone eat.The guy who invented this dish must have had a serious grudge against ducks.

• #45
• Comment by Tokugawa

In case you can not get to France....there is the Tokyo branch of Tour d'Argent. It was located in the New Otani Hotel....but that was a number of years ago. They do the same pressed duck there as in Paris.

• #46
• Comment by John Parziale

I have an antique french duck press that i'm looking to sell..i can send a picture if you so desire..thanks

• #48
• Comment by AlexFalk

I recently started a new job at an American store called Sur La Table, which carries an unholy amount of kitchen utensils and gadgets at fairly reasonable prices.

We have a duck press, for 2000 USD. Nowhere near as fancy as the one shown however.

• #50
• Comment by Penny

Of course there is no faecal matter, the intestines are removed so it is just the bones liver etc that is pressed.  Sounds lovely and something I would like to try

• #51
• Comment by fabienne devolder

My parrents had a french restaurant in BELGIUM
we still have an antique duck press like on the pictures
We would sell it for the right price do you know where we could sell it
thank you

• #53
• Comment by Gwen

Question,
I have one of the Presse a Canard used for Duck Tour D' Argent.I thought it was used in French cooking, I found this several years ago and bought it because i thought it was a very unique item.Can you tell me if this was made in reproduction and also what it would have been made out of.I have had it in storage for several years and was told it was called a Duck Press untill i saw yours in your article

• #55
• Comment by LauraC

My mother took me to La Tour Dargent on our first trip to Paris. It was my most memorable meal ever, and we did have the pressed duck which was superb. You are so right, the views are amazing and the service was unmatched. I also was on a mission to eat frogs legs and escargot every place that had them. While this trip was more than 20 years ago, I remember  the pastry shell with escargot layered in the bottom of the shell with alternating frogs legs and asparagus spears fanned out of the top. It was amazing.
PS I bounced to this post from your most recent truffle article.

• #57
• Comment by Ivan

What a wonderful story. I've always wanted to visit, and this enhances my desire! Yes, I heard that most of the clients were tourists, not French. While well ranked still, the restaurant is said by old timers that it "has seen its better days" with the retired chefs.

A few years ago I saw a "cheese press" for ~$150 US. After seeing your photo of teh siimple press, I realized teh press I'd seen was a duck press! Missed that deal! I can't believe a simple press goes for $2,000,even if it's plated with jus a couple grams of silver or nickel. Some enterprising Swiss could have them made in Asia, and market them for way less, hint, hint! What a delight to live vicariously through your eyes and palate.
Ivan

• #59
• Comment by Tommy McEvilly

I Have a Duck Press for sale. It is Brass and is located in Pennsylvania, USA my cell is 570-657-0769
perhaps there is some one who would like to experience what this wonderful machine can do.
Tommy McEvilly
Ps: loved the article.

• #61
• Comment by Mami

I too also enjoyed this cult dish a few years ago at Tour d'Argent.  Wine list is also very impressive - one of the biggest & best I've seen.  Though I prefer more casual dining than grand theatric one, I'm happy I've tried it.  

• #63
• Comment by Tommy McEvilly

I wrote to about a press that we have but the return email for you did not work. Sent it three times with photos of the press that we have for sale. mrdealer@ptd.net
Tommy

• #65
• Comment by Don French

    I have an old very very heavy duck press for sale.  It is not so ornate as the one shown in the article.  Can anyone give me some idea of it's worth.  I would like to sell it, if possible.

• #67
• Comment by Stuart Stokell

My partner and I are lucky enough to have a hobby of eating in the best restaurants in Europe.  We've not visited Tour D'Argent as yet but it is top of the list for when we eventually get to Paris.  In a way we daren't go as we know fine well that we'd end up eating every meal there during our break!  We did that in Nice at Chanteclair in Negresco.  Loved it there and will definitely be staying again soon.  When will we be visiting Tour D'Argent???  When the inheritance comes through I think!  lol.

Thanks so much for the article.  My partner, who is a retired Relais Chef regularly talks about the process of duck press and has showed me one in Le Gavroche in London.  VERY MUCH look forward to tasting the contents!  

• #69
• Comment by Boris Khodorkovsky (Gourmet Project)

Hello, FX.

Thank you very much for sharing this recipe.
Would you mind if I translate in into Russian and post it with link to your website at our Restaurant reviews and critique project: Gourmet Project?

Thank you again for that legendary recipe.

Sincerely yours,
Boris

• #71
• Comment by Ricardo

The Plaza Hotel from Buenos Aires has a silver press very similar that the one sees in these pictures. They have been serving Presse à Canard for the last century (next July 2009 the hotel is celebrating its 100 anniversary). The Claridge Hotel, another classical restaurant in Buenos Aires, has a silver press too. Regards,

• #73
• Comment by butch burton

While cleaning my parents basement several years ago, saw this unusual device.  Turns out it is an antique duck - very similar to the one appearing in this article.  This thing has "The Burley Duck Press" on the arms of the device holding the screw mechanism.  It is electroplated as does the device in the picture.  I doubt any of these things were made of silver.

My duck press came out of a local resort hotel and was used in the early 1900's.  Does anyone know anything about "The Burley Duck Press", where it was made and so forth.

I am going to clean it up, have it electroplated and mount it on a fancy walnut platform - it will look great in my kitchen along side my dual wheeled Enterprise antique coffee grinder - the bin on the grinder will match the duck press body.

Thanks   

• #74
• Comment by Tina

Thanks for the article. In your desription of the preparation process, after removal of the liver, you describe the duck being liquified. What part if the duck? The liver?  I probably would not try this dish, because the flavor would be too intense for me, but I find it fascinating.  

• #75
• Comment by Erik

Hi!   I actually do a canard presse at my restaurant in Portland Maine called Evangeline.  We have three of them on the book tonight!

• #77
• Comment by charlene zion

I have the duck press from 'Sur La Table' which retails for $1995, in very good condition.  Anyone interested in buying this?  Even if you don't use it for the purpose intended it's a great decorative conversation piece for your kitchen.  Any ideas on which category to put this under if I go the Ebay route?  Thanks.  cjz1010@aol.com

• #79
• Comment by Martin

Hi fx, I went out to eat at the Pavillon-Restaurant at the hotel Baur-au-Lac in Zürich. Guess what they had on the menu? Duck, prepared with the duck-press. They really do have one of these rare kitchen utensils. They only serve it for at least 2 people, though. Unfortunately none of the my comrades were convinced of this dish... Greetz, Martin-

• #80
• Comment by Jerry

My daughter and I enjoyed Canard Rouennaise (pressed duck prepared in the traditional manner, silver duck press and all that) at La Couronne, in Rouen a few months ago. This is the same restaurant (dates back to 1345!) where Julia Child had her very first meal in France and is where she filmed her Pressed Duck TV episode some thirty years later. The recipe and the story of the TV shoot are to be found in the From Julia Child's Kitchen cookbook. Living near Boston, I'm curious enough to drive up to Portland and try this dish at Evangeline!

• #81
• Comment by laure duval

I enjoyed your article.  At least you have the basic information right, and wonderful pictures.  (Wikipedia tells you to add the skin to the pressings, which is wrong wrong wrong).  I have a duck press, that sits on my kitchen counter. I found it for $150 sitting under a table in an antique show. He didn't want to haul it back home and no one else even knew what it was,  let alone wanted to buy it. But having eaten pressed duck in France I grabbed it.   I made pressesd duck with it once before, about 15 years ago. The hardest part back then was finding a recipe and then finding live ducks, since you have to strangle them yourself.  This  is not something butchers are allowed to do it seems. I grew up on a farm, that was not so hard.  Getting the feathers off the ducks - that was hard. However, although it is not an everyday dish, as you can tell from the long hiatus since my last effort, I am making it again for a very select group of friends this coming Sunday.  By the way, there is a fine restaurant dating back to 1345 in Rouen, La Couronne, which makes this on a regular basis and has a couple of duck presses. They call it Canard a la Rounenaisse. And they do not bother to number the meals.    I have eaten it there, and so did Julia Child, cf. her From Julia Child's Kitchen, page 243 - where she gives a modified recipe. I did not know this when I first tried to use my press.  Instead I found a book called The 100 Glories of French Food and cobbled something together with that and LaRousse Gastronomique. Burgundy, cognac, butter and pressesd juices in  a lucious mahogony colored and delicious stream is what comes out of the press to be  added to the mashed duck liver (your recipe somewhat confuses that issue)and heated below a simmer, lest it curdle, for the sauce. The liver and the blood do indeed thicken this.  PS a few years back Williams-Sonoma had silly duck presses with duck feet for sale.  But the real thing is brass & marine nickel I believe, silver plated, and as you noted, rather hefty.  

• #83
• Comment by fabiennne devolder

I have an antique duckpress for sale realy nice in excellent condition. Do you know where I can sell it ?

• #84
• Comment by Dan P

One duck press can be also seen at Hofburg/Sisi Museum in Vienna, along other items from an impressive silver collection.

• #86
• Comment by dave

I ate their about 4 years ago, I unfortunately did not have the chance to go back last year when I was in Paris.  Once you have tried this duck it becomes the yardstick of which all other duck is compared too.  I have yet to find its equal any place in the world.

• #88
• Comment by Robert

I know of 4 duck presses in Northern Calif. I own one and two of my friends each have one , and one I saw at Quail lodge in Carmel.  I tried to buy it and although they didn't know what it was they did not want to sell it.And asked me how to use it. All four of these presses are heavy and made of nickel and or plated brass..  .. I have a friend that ate at the french rest. and they think my sauce is better.. I use wild duck only (domestic is to fat for my taste). And I do clean the duck before roasting. Rare is the key to wild duck.. Over cooked and you may as well eat liver.. rare it is a fillet. Teal have the best and mildest flavor but sprig are hard to beat..Since I shoot a lot for wild ducks I use the press frequently and the sauce never disappoints.

• #89
• Comment by Argol

Brennan's restaurant in le vieux carré in New Orleans has 2 beautiful duck presses which they use only as decoration. I plan to steal one, and I know they will not miss it.

• #90
• Comment by Randal Oulton

You write: "The duck is liquified in a kitchen mixer, then put on a large metallic dish placed on a flame..."

I think you mean, "The duck *liver* is liquified... etc.

Cheers.

• #91
• Comment by Antonio

Very nice & thanks for the pictures, reminded me of a great dinner. Only comment to the sauce, it should never boil otherwise the blood coagulates and becomes grainy.

• #92
• Comment by Kelly

I have a duck press as well..Checking on it's value.

• #94
• Comment by Mr K K

Dear Sirs,
Enquiry as below:
1. How much the duck for 1?
2. Had booking to eat? How long?
May I hope received your answer.
Thanks,

• #96
• Comment by Dr. Heinrich Backhausen

Hmm, canard rouennais signifies at first the method to kill the duck:she is garotted. So all the juices, blood etc.are kept inside. A duck killed "normally" (nantais) wouldn't give the desired result.
The blood shouldn't coagulate, but the protein is used make the 'liaison' of the sauce (like an egg yolk does for other dishes, eg. Bavaroise (but NOT Sc. hollandais). Blod (or fresh boudin noir mixed up with some vinegar)is common  for liaison in dishes of game, the civets