Baby Duck Strangling

April 29, 2003 4:20 PM

"Select guests have gathered at a top Paris restaurant to sample the one millionth duck to be snatched from grassy marshland, carefully strangled and ritually cooked with its own blood." The Tour d'Argent seems pretty proud about its baby-duck strangling, even going so far as to use duck images as the navigation icons on its [ridiculously pretentious] website, and gloating about its own hideous brutality within: "On the Eve, in spite of its youth ­or rather because of its very youth (from six to ten weeks) --, the poor bird was unfeelingly smothered then plucked by its assassins." Can we really trust a country capable of such evil with a new military alliance?
posted by mr_crash_davis (32 comments total)

Eight-week old ducklings?!
posted by riffola at 4:21 PM on April 29, 2003

freedom l'orange.
posted by quonsar at 4:26 PM on April 29, 2003

that's not kosher.
posted by eddydamascene at 4:28 PM on April 29, 2003

I'm having a hard time deciding wether veal or baby duck would be tastier. Either way, I now know when I'll be making my trip to paris, if it ever happens.

MMMMmmm. This Person needs to eat some Tasty Animals.
posted by shepd at 4:30 PM on April 29, 2003

I think France needs a regime change.

Vive les canards libre!
posted by Salmonberry at 4:37 PM on April 29, 2003

Lambchops, anyone?
posted by Nauip at 4:37 PM on April 29, 2003

a good recipe for Peking Duck is here

also remember that to prepare the duck, you must "insert a clean bicycle pump under the breast skin, and pump to inflate, causing the skin to separate from the fat. You may need to do this in a number of places since most ducks these days are not completely airtight"

the marginally easier to prepare Anatra all'Arancia is here

if you're into simpler pleasures, check out the excellent Island Pork Tenderloin Salad

for those who feel more like having a lighter fish dinner, well, may I suggest a nice sole, Sogliola alla Mugnaia (scroll down)
posted by matteo at 4:38 PM on April 29, 2003

That's terrible. We should only eat ducks that have died of old age.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 4:39 PM on April 29, 2003

God, that sounds delicious.

I'm going to hell.
posted by padraigin at 4:39 PM on April 29, 2003

I'm appalled that Claude Terrail is transferring ownership of the restaurant to his son though. 22 just seems way too young for such responsibility.

I hope it's in a nice solid trust.
posted by padraigin at 4:43 PM on April 29, 2003

Can we really trust a country capable of such evil with a new military alliance?

That sort of talk is just plumb silly.

At least it gets eaten, which is more than you can say for hunters who don't eat the meat.
posted by linux at 4:45 PM on April 29, 2003

It's metamorphosis: LA TOUR D'ARGENT is a theatre in a theatre! The entertainment is in the dining-room with view on the most beautiful stage in the world: PARIS.

It dinner time, looks like McDonalds is out of the question tonight. Thanks Mr. Crash, I've walked by this restaurant several times & wondered what made it so unique to have its clientele staring at me through the windows.
posted by thomcatspike at 4:51 PM on April 29, 2003

Top French restaurant is not like McDonald's! The French prefer to eat ducklings rather than pamper them as pets! Not everyone is vegetarian! Gosh, I learn so many things from MetaFilter. And can we really trust a poster capable of such an irrelevant last sentence?

Me, I just wish I could afford La Tour d'Argent.
posted by languagehat at 5:09 PM on April 29, 2003

Baby Duck, screw that...
Now Baby Seals those are a delight.
posted by Dreamghost at 5:44 PM on April 29, 2003

...the poor bird was unfeelingly smothered then plucked by its assassins...

...the pantry Chef has pulled two soles meunières out of their tank. The second Chef plunges them in milk, withdraws them, salts and peppers them and into the frying pan they go...


For some reason, I can't help but read sentances like these using a Hannibal Lecter voice.

posted by 4easypayments at 5:44 PM on April 29, 2003

and just before it's strangled, a little voice is heard, asking, "are you my mother?"
posted by amberglow at 5:56 PM on April 29, 2003

Me, I just wish I could afford La Tour d'Argent.

Be content with La Tour d'Epargne, mon ami:
A little game, exquisitely prepared, and the most beautiful stage in the world.
Tres Magnifique!
posted by eddydamascene at 6:00 PM on April 29, 2003

its [ridiculously pretentious] website

A french restaurant you say? I'm shocked, truly I am.

Also hungry.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 6:43 PM on April 29, 2003

...foldy?
posted by Slithy_Tove at 7:12 PM on April 29, 2003

and just before it's strangled, a little voice is heard, asking, "are you my mother?"

*cries*
posted by Ufez Jones at 7:54 PM on April 29, 2003

Why must people play with their food so?

Club the damn thing in the head, carve off a hunk, toss on the grill. Salt advised, pepper optional. Okay, okay.... Hang the thing on a nail in the barn for a few days if you have to. Why all the fuss?
posted by y6y6y6 at 9:29 PM on April 29, 2003

Let's change the wording a bit:

"On the Eve, in spite of its youth ­or rather because of its very youth (from six to ten years old) --, the poor child was unfeelingly smothered then skinned by its assassins."

Now let the jokes begin...because there is nothing more humorous than cruelty.

Club the damn thing in the head, carve off a hunk, toss on the grill. Salt advised, pepper optional. Okay, okay.... Hang the thing on a nail in the barn for a few days if you have to. Why all the fuss?

My hope is that our great-grandchildren will read this and shake their heads in disbelief.
posted by fishbrando at 11:29 PM on April 29, 2003

>Now let the jokes begin...because there is nothing more humorous than cruelty.

Uhhuhh. I mean, it's the cruelty we're talking about here, not really the fact that you're implying people's babies are going to be harmed that'd cause the outrage, right?

I mean, I should feel as bad for eating veal as I would if I dropped a baby on its head.

>My hope is that our great-grandchildren will read this and shake their heads in disbelief.

Bah-humbug!
posted by shepd at 11:51 PM on April 29, 2003

Baby Duck, screw that...

EWWWWWW!

So is there such a newsgroup as alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica.exploding-ducklings
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:32 AM on April 30, 2003

Snuff porn for carnivore brats.
posted by Opus Dark at 2:42 AM on April 30, 2003

and just before it's strangled, a little voice is heard, asking, "are you my mother?"

*shakes with laughter*

because there is nothing more humorous than cruelty.

got that right!
posted by NekulturnY at 5:51 AM on April 30, 2003

and just before it's strangled, a little voice is heard, asking, "are you my mother?"

You misheard. It's actually saying, "You're dethhPICable!!!"
posted by soyjoy at 7:44 AM on April 30, 2003

I'm always amused by French cooking because you can get well heeled trendoids to pay ten times what it's worth just because the menu isn't in English.

Also see: foie gras, truffles, coq au vin (where I'm from, we call it chicken stew), duck confit (swimming in its own rendered grease, yummy), etc.

y6y6y6:

Club the damn thing in the head

Actually, decapitation with a hatchet or strangulation is the traditional way to kill farmed birds. I doubt you or most other Metafilter readers could do it, though my grandmother could. If the average person who buys their conveniently chopped up chicken parts in plastic wrap had to, you'd see a lot more vegetarians. It's messy and a lot of work.
posted by mark13 at 12:41 PM on April 30, 2003

Say what you want about eating strangled duck, but it looks like -- despite the more the recent "enlightenment" of modern veganism --it's more popular than ever.

Based on the tag numbers, diners sucked down about 220,000 of the critters between 1910 and 1955. Then, in the next 48 years, they managed to polish off another 750,000 of 'em. The place is closed Mondays (and Tuesdays for lunch), which means they went from 15 ducks per day to about 50 a day.

By the way, I know most mefites would go with burgundy, but if you're looking for a proper beverage pairing for strangled duck, I'd suggest a nice lambic.
posted by sixpack at 12:47 PM on April 30, 2003

I'd suggest a nice lambic.

The winiest of all the world's beers
Had one then thought did I drink a beer or a wine.
Thanks sixpack.
posted by thomcatspike at 3:03 PM on April 30, 2003

mark13--

so true. part of the reason i don't eat meat is from growing up on a farm. if you can't stomach killing your own dinner, i think you should stick to salad. i stopped eating sausage when i had to hand grind it.

also, sixpack, lambic is very tasty.
posted by nadawi at 7:40 PM on April 30, 2003

sixpack, I'm following PETA's lead and refusing to drink lambic because of the offensive first syllable.
posted by soyjoy at 10:02 AM on May 1, 2003