Victorian farmers team up with local butcher to create ham products from duck meat
As Christmas approaches, ham is on the shopping list of many families. But pork isn’t the only smoked meat available for your fork.
Key points:
- Southwest Victoria Duck Farmers Produce Ham From Their Birds
- The process of flavoring and smoking duck is similar to making ham from pork
- The Clarkes Have Diversified Their Business After Restaurant Orders Dry During COVID-19 Closures
Duck farmers Greg and Jodi Clarke have decided to try creating a new delicacy, duck ham, during Victoria’s COVID lockdowns.
âIt looks like ham, the texture is similar to ham, but you can also taste duck,â Mr. Clarke said.
The Clarke family manages a 16 hectare property in Port Campbell, southwest Victoria.
âFor us it’s always about trying to do something different, to go to the other side of the herd, we’re always looking for something new,â he said.
“And then someone told us about a big butcher in Mortlake and we thought we would give it a try.
Mortlake’s butcher Brendan Bouchier said he had never created ham from a duck before, but was “happy to try.”
âWe put it in the ham and brine mixture and left it there for about 48 hours,â Mr. Bouchier said.
âThen we smoked it with German beech wood and the result is absolutely beautiful.
Mr Bouchier said the main difference between making ham from duck and pork is the difference in the size of the cuts.
âWith a pork being a bigger product, you actually have to inject the ingredients into the meat, whereas with the duck ham I just leave it in the brine to marinate in the meat.
âThe cooking process is exactly the same, except that the duck doesn’t take as long to cook as the ham, which takes 16 hours.
“Ducks only take three or four hours at low heat, so it doesn’t dry out.”
Enhance the flavor
To enhance the flavor of the duck meat, Clarke ducks are raised free-range and spoiled with a fruit-soaked grain that birds love.
“Ducks love [their feed], and that’s another point of difference for our business, âMr. Clarke said.
“They’re ultimately food, but while they waddle, it’s about making them happy.”
But Mr Clarke said simple foods like good quality weed were also important.
âWe had a French chef here a few years ago who said the weed was a really essential part of the flavor,â he said.
“Kind of like having grass-fed beef, versus grain-fed beef.”
Necessity, mother of invention
Clarkes’ business depended on Melbourne’s upscale restaurants for more than 10 years before the pandemic, and when health ordinances shut down hotel businesses in Victoria, Mr Clarke said the effects were shocking.
âIt became a matter of survival, 24 hours after the first lockdown we had no orders,â Mr. Clarke said.
“In the first case, it involved processing a lot of birds, then freezing them, then finding creative ways to move them.”
Mr Clarke said the support of local chefs and butchers enabled them to overcome COVID restrictions.
âThe chefs were preparing food for home deliveries and with the help of the butchers we managed to survive,â he said.
âNow we’re trying to position ourselves to come out of there and be OK.
âWe love it, and we’re really excited that all of the testing and experimentation the company has done to survive COVID, we may have found something that will be a long-term option,â Mr. Clarke said. .
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