Duck Tour d'Argent

fx

Wed, 1 Jun 2016 12:20:10 GMT

Thanks for these excellent clarification, very interesting!

Dr. Heinrich Backhausen

Tue, 10 May 2016 19:54:16 GMT

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

fx

Wed, 16 Mar 2016 12:04:57 GMT

You need to call the restaurant up, I was just a visitor there.

fx

Sat, 5 Mar 2016 20:30:23 GMT

Very good talking piece, a duck press!

Mr K K

Fri, 4 Mar 2016 11:10:35 GMT

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,

Kelly

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:54:28 GMT

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

Antonio

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 18:44:03 GMT

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.

Randal Oulton

Wed, 9 Mar 2011 13:03:16 GMT

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.

Argol

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 03:10:04 GMT

Brennan"s restaurant in le vieux carr� 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.

Robert

Fri, 24 Dec 2010 06:45:17 GMT

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.

fx

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 22:30:53 GMT

Yes, the Chinese and Italians also can do ducks a favor, but the decorum at la Tour d"Argent is rather difficult to forget!

dave

Wed, 1 Dec 2010 18:25:26 GMT

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.

fx

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:10:32 GMT

I"ll try to check it out!

Dan P

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:46:13 GMT

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

fx

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:27:59 GMT

Laure, you are really passionate about Canard � la presse and have taken your research very far - congratulations! I find many home fruit presses in flea markets for low prices but never one designed for ducks. Is there much difference besides the duck ornaments? You might want to try the Lobster � la presse for instance at Le Divellec in Paris to take the concept further (also more digestible and no strangulation needed).

fabiennne devolder

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:06:38 GMT

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

laure duval

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 05:37:51 GMT

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.

Jerry

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:29:52 GMT

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!

Martin

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:36:33 GMT

Hi fx, I went out to eat at the Pavillon-Restaurant at the hotel Baur-au-Lac in Z�rich. 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-

fx

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:12:32 GMT

Do you have a picture?

charlene zion

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:55:08 GMT

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

fx

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:36:47 GMT

Great! Do you do the sauce using blood?

Erik

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 19:20:07 GMT

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

Tina

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:04:44 GMT

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.

butch burton

Thu, 7 May 2009 18:28:07 GMT

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

fx

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:52:21 GMT

Ricardo, I would very much love to visit Argentina, my family has a lot of relatives in your country, who emigrated in the 1850s when there was famine in my part of Switzerland.

Ricardo

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:20:56 GMT

The Plaza Hotel from Buenos Aires has a silver press very similar that the one sees in these pictures. They have been serving Presse � 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,

fx

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:37:13 GMT

Boris, OK you can go ahead and translate this to put on your website with a link to FXcuisine.com
Good luck with your project!

Boris Khodorkovsky (Gourmet Project)

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:56:55 GMT

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

fx

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:30:43 GMT

Don, they go for between 500$ and 1500$. What matters is that they are not domestic fruit presses or sausage stuffers but real duck presses, in good condition and with nice ornaments.

fx

Mon, 9 Mar 2009 15:21:58 GMT

Good luck if you visit, you will have plenty of fun!

Stuart Stokell

Sun, 8 Mar 2009 20:02:37 GMT

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!

Don French

Fri, 6 Mar 2009 16:02:59 GMT

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.

fx

Wed, 4 Mar 2009 21:24:20 GMT

Sorry Tommy, my email was down for a couple days, you can send them to Francois@micheloud.com

Tommy McEvilly

Tue, 3 Mar 2009 17:40:51 GMT

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

fx

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:50:29 GMT

Thanks Tommy, send me the pics of your duck press.

fx

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:37:37 GMT

Indeed a rather theatrical dinner!

Mami

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 06:47:08 GMT

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.

Tommy McEvilly

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 13:15:38 GMT

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.

fx

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:21:32 GMT

Ivan, you can buy all sorts of low quality fruit presses on Ebay for 200$. But if you want a handmade press in sterling silver, you"ll have to cough up the 2 large no matter where. If you could get the same quality press made in Asia it would cost you quite a lot. This is not just "a simple press", it looks really awesome from up close. I make it my business to inspect Duck Presses whenever there is one at a restaurant or shop, and although I"ve seen cheap ones, never are they anywhere the same as this. If you allow me, a person that would not know wines as well as you and me could also find a cheaper red wine and think, on the face of it, that it is "just as red as a bottle of Petrus", but we know better, right?

Ivan

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:40:58 GMT

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

fx

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:06:24 GMT

Laura your mother must be quite a discerning foodie to take you to La Tour d"Argent, a most memorable meal indeed! You might want to look at the article called Snails Have Seven Lives at L"Escargot Montorgueil...

LauraC

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:09:03 GMT

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.

fx

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 03:43:35 GMT

Gwen, send me a picture. Most presses I see are fruit presses rather than duck presses.

Gwen

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:49:59 GMT

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

fx

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:46:35 GMT

Fabienne, please send me detailed pictures and your price for your parents" duck press.

fabienne devolder

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:57:34 GMT

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

Penny

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:25:46 GMT

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

fx

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:42:54 GMT

Alex, thanks for visiting, now you can tell your clients all about the mighty Duck press. There is another restaurant in Paris where they use a lobster press to make a sauce from lobster carcasses!

AlexFalk

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:18:14 GMT

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.