See this existing thread: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=17638

I would recommend calling Gepperths, though I don't know how their prices compare. Note that there is wide variation in price across different breeds of duck.

As a recent data point, Harrison's Poultry in Glenview now seems to carry fresh ducks from Culver Duck Farm in Indiana on a regular basis. I've got one in my fridge right now. At the time of that other thread, it was hit or miss.

Harrison's Poultry
1201 Waukegan Rd
Glenview, IL 60025
(847) 724-0132

Kennyz wrote:

eatchicago wrote:

stevez wrote:Those are the three places that I have found that consistently have fresh duck. Most other places either don't carry it or sell frozen duck.

Also, Fox & Obel.

don't know what the history is, but at least today all the duck sold at F&O has been previously frozen, according to the gentleman at the meat counter.

In search of a Thanksgiving duck, I confirmed this week that Fox & Obel does not currently, and has no plans to ever carry fresh duck again.

As of Saturday afternoon, neither Viet Hoa nor Super H Mart were carrying fresh duck.

Whole Foods in River Forest has some right now. Pretty sure it has not been frozen.

teatpuller wrote:Whole Foods in River Forest has some right now. Pretty sure it has not been frozen.

Whole Foods in the south loop has fresh whole ducks right now, too.

gleam wrote:

teatpuller wrote:Whole Foods in River Forest has some right now. Pretty sure it has not been frozen.

Whole Foods in the south loop has fresh whole ducks right now, too.

interesting, I was just there yesterday and they had only parts, and those had been previously frozen Just called and spoke to the meat department manager too, and he said they do not have fresh duck: only parts, and only frozen or previously frozen. I asked him if he was sure, and if anyone else might know differently, and he said he is in charge of all meat ordering.

Kennyz wrote:

gleam wrote:

teatpuller wrote:Whole Foods in River Forest has some right now. Pretty sure it has not been frozen.

Whole Foods in the south loop has fresh whole ducks right now, too.

interesting, I was just there yesterday and they had only parts, and those had been previously frozen Just called and spoke to the meat department manager too, and he said they do not have fresh duck: only parts, and only frozen or previously frozen. I asked him if he was sure, and if anyone else might know differently, and he said he is in charge of all meat ordering.

The ones I mentioned could have been previously frozen, but thawed. Funny how it is virtually impossible to find such simple items in the U.S.

Kennyz wrote:

gleam wrote:

teatpuller wrote:Whole Foods in River Forest has some right now. Pretty sure it has not been frozen.

Whole Foods in the south loop has fresh whole ducks right now, too.

interesting, I was just there yesterday and they had only parts, and those had been previously frozen Just called and spoke to the meat department manager too, and he said they do not have fresh duck: only parts, and only frozen or previously frozen. I asked him if he was sure, and if anyone else might know differently, and he said he is in charge of all meat ordering.

Huh. This was on Sunday morning, and the ducks were in the cooler opposite the butcher counter. I shouldn't have said fresh, since I don't know for sure -- they might have been thawed.

In better news, I did just confirm that Harrison's has a very limited supply of fresh, never frozen ducks on hand. I've got one on order.

The mega Whole Foods on Kingsbury has whole, unfrozen ducklings in the case across from the butcher counter. Not sure whether they have ever been frozen, but I do not recall seeing anything to suggest they had (or had not, for that matter). They were $3.99 per pound.

Matt wrote:The mega Whole Foods on Kingsbury has whole, unfrozen ducklings in the case across from the butcher counter. Not sure whether they have ever been frozen, but I do not recall seeing anything to suggest they had (or had not, for that matter). They were $3.99 per pound.

Per a call to the meat dept, they are previously frozen.

Having undertaken the fresh (never frozen) duck hunt last Thanksgiving, I can confirm that neither Whole Foods, nor Fox & Obel, nor Gepperth's, nor Paulina carry them. In fact, all of the above carry the exact same brand of frozen duck (Maple Leaf) at widely divergent prices.

My solution was to try one of the live kill poultry joints. I've since gone to Ciales Poultry a few times. They usually have both pekin and muscovy ducks to choose from. So long as you are okay with picking out a bird and being handed a bag of warm meat a few minutes later, this seems to me to be the best local route to relatively inexpensive and obviously fresh duck.

--Rich

Ciales Poultry
2141 W Armitage Ave
Chicago, IL 60647-4515
(773) 278-1118

RAB wrote:Having undertaken the fresh (never frozen) duck hunt last Thanksgiving, I can confirm that neither Whole Foods, nor Fox & Obel, nor Gepperth's, nor Paulina carry them. In fact, all of the above carry the exact same brand of frozen duck (Maple Leaf) at widely divergent prices.

My solution was to try one of the live kill poultry joints. I've since gone to Ciales Poultry a few times. They usually have both pekin and muscovy ducks to choose from. So long as you are okay with picking out a bird and being handed a bag of warm meat a few minutes later, this seems to me to be the best local route to relatively inexpensive and obviously fresh duck.

--Rich

Ciales Poultry
2141 W Armitage Ave
Chicago, IL 60647-4515
(773) 278-1118

problem with Ciales, and a couple of other live poultry places, is that it's easier to make a reservation at Schwa than to reach them by phone.

edit: I did finally reach someone at Ciales who confirmed that they have live Pekin duck. 80 cents per pound more than Harrison's, so I'm still headed to Glenview tomorrow.

Another reason to buy from Harrison's is that they carry Culver duck, the same brand - apparently - that Sun Wah uses. Check out the cool link to Mike G's Sky Full of Bacon #2 on the Culver website. Also of note from that video is the fact that Sun Wah uses frozen duck for its delicious preparation, a fact that lessens my obsession with finding the fresh stuff.

After reading all comments on that thread I finally went to Harrison Poultry last week-end and bought a package of frozen duck breast from Culver Duck Farms in Indiana, that contains 2 half breasts, weighing 12 onces, for around 7 dollars.
After thawing (about 45 minutes) I prepared them the same way I did in the past with the Maple Leaf brand I buy at Fox and Obel for 16.99 dollars a pound.
I pat them dry, cut 2 transversal small incisions in the fat skin, generously salt and coarse black pepper from the mill, and sear each side (skin first) in a tablesponn of olive oil in a very hot (preheated) cast iron skillet for about 4 minutes each side.
Then I put the skillet in the oven, preheated at 375 degrees oven, and bake the breasts for 14 minutes.
Put the breast on a warm serving plate and, after letting it stand for about 3 minues, slice it in 1/8 inch thick slices.
I serve it with a "ragout" (stew) of thinly sliced potatoes, mixed with sliced yellow onions, in water, olive oil, and dry thyme

The result: By far the Culver was smaller, less tender and less tasty, than the Maple Leaf. But it is certainly cheaper.

I wish I could find out where D'Artagnan's duck breasts can be found in Chicago retail stores..

Whatever you do, think twice before you go to the live poultry place on Western just north of Devon! The other birds there may be good, and perhaps they have improved since it has been two years ago that I went there, but at the time I bought two ducks, on the hoof as it were, and I swear they had just caught them in Indian Boundary Park. After we got them home, we realized that two would be insufficient, but I couldn't bear to go back (very smelly and bloody, not perhaps really a criticism, because what do you expect? but not a place I was in a hurry to return to) and we bought a frozen duck at Jewel, and it was the best of the three, by far. Maybe I just didn't know how to pick a duck-- they dragged me into the room with the cages and I had no idea what I was looking for and I just pointed to the first two I saw. To be honest, I would have run away without any ducks if I didn't have my son there, and I was trying to be dignified and adult. Ugh. Who knew I was so squeamish. Anyhow, the squeamish part is a comment on me; but at dinner, the ducks were tough and bony, and that's a comment on them.

Most ducks sold in stores have been previously frozen, its just the economics of the situation. the most reasonable prices are at SuperMercardo's. I skin, render the fat, use the legs thighs wings and carcass for braising and cook the breasts rare, not too bad. For a fresh duck you must go to John's Live Poultry(call ahead), costly but FRESH!
For the best duck breasts, order the aged Margret breasts from Hudson Valley, simply the best available in the USA!-Dick

alain40 wrote:After reading all comments on that thread I finally went to Harrison Poultry last week-end and bought a package of frozen duck breast from Culver Duck Farms in Indiana, that contains 2 half breasts, weighing 12 onces, for around 7 dollars.

Motivated by this thread I pulled a pack of Harrison Poultry duck breasts out of the freezer, defrosted, crisscrossed the skin, salt/pepper, pan sear skin, flip, pan into 400 degree oven to med-rare. Made a quicky pan sauce with a glug of peach juice, juice and rind from an orange, little vinegar/sugar/crushed red pepper and whisked in a bit of butter to finish.

Duck was meaty, tender with crisp skin complimented nicely by the fruity sauce. Boiled baby white potatoes/carrot and the mandatory fresh green pepper made for a quick tasty mid week meal for two.

Chicago Game has an assortment of duck including Peking, Moulard and Muscovy. Mostly wholesale they sell to the public, though oftentimes in minimum quantities larger than the average consumer might wish.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:Chicago Game has an assortment of duck including Peking, Moulard and Muscovy. Mostly wholesale they sell to the public, though oftentimes in minimum quantities larger than the average consumer might wish.

also all frozen.

Thanks for the good news about your Harrison breasts. I'll be picking up my whole duck from them this afternoon.

Kennyz wrote:Thanks for the good news about your Harrison breasts. I'll be picking up my whole duck from them this afternoon.

Kenny,

I've been very happy with poultry from Harrison, ducks, fresh chicken, eggs and butter. I'd suggest picking up a few packs of cryovac/frozen duck legs and breasts, tasty useful items to have in the freezer.

Enjoy,
Gary

A neighbor just reported to me that there are fresh ducks at the Dominick's on Howard St. (whether they are previously frozen, I don't know)

FWIW, I was underwhelmed by the chicken at Harrisons, though I was thrilled to find they are a source for turkey thighs, which are scarce as hen's teeth these days....but I wouldn't make the drive from SE Evanston.

F-You, Harrison's Poultry, for trying to pawn off a defrosted, year-old cryovacked freezer duck as "fresh, never frozen". Really, F-YOU!

Kennyz wrote:F-You, Harrison's Poultry, for trying to pawn off a defrosted, year-old cryovacked freezer duck as "fresh, never frozen". Really, F-YOU!

And all said in under 140 characters. I must say, you're getting mighty good at expressing outrage in Tweet-length prose.

-Dan

dansch wrote:

Kennyz wrote:F-You, Harrison's Poultry, for trying to pawn off a defrosted, year-old cryovacked freezer duck as "fresh, never frozen". Really, F-YOU!

And all said in under 140 characters. I must say, you're getting mighty good at expressing outrage in Tweet-length prose.

-Dan

Yes, twitter has at least tamed me into controlled rage rather than the unabridged, uncensored, full-on postal rage this place deserves. I called Harrison's twice yesterday: first time to ask whether they had fresh, never-frozen duck. The woman didn't know, so she put me on hold to check. When she came back she said yes, so I placed an order for pickup the following day. I called later because I wanted to know what farm it came from. When they told me it was Culver, I asked to speak to a manager, because the Culver website lists lots of products, all of which appear to be distributed in frozen state. I spoke to Jim, owner of Harrison's poultry, who assured me that a fresh, never frozen Culver duck had been set aside with my name on it. I picked it up today, packed it in the cooler, then got set to take off before I decided to take a quick look at it first. The f-er had a date stamp: "Packed on 12/30/08". If that is a never frozen duck, I figured I was about to be dead from the smell alone. I brought my duck back into the store and explained to a counterman that I had ordered a fresh duck, and this one was previously frozen. He took it from me, felt it up, then gave me some lecture about how even fresh duck needs to be cooled to an almost-frozen state per usda regulations, so that's why I mistakenly thought this was frozen. I thanked this idiot for the lecture, then pointed out the date stamp, at which point his face turned bright red before he said he's get the owner. Owner came out and had little to say other than to offer a refund. Mother f-ers. All of them.

Kenny,

I feel your pain. Note: As you have discovered, Fox & Obel no longer carries fresh duck.

stevez wrote:Kenny,

I feel your pain. Note: As you have discovered, Fox & Obel no longer carries fresh duck.

I appreciate the empathy

I ended up returning the Harrison's duck (avoided throwing it at the guy), and bought a thawed Culver duck from WF Sauganash instead. The WF duck was only only one month in the freezer, as opposed to almost a year for the Harrison quacker. I felt a little better about that, but mainly felt better not giving my money to those a-holes. Next time: Ciales or the warm-kill place on Western.

LTH,

First Steve, now Kenny.

Only time I've ever seen Steve Z get worked up verging on angry was when a group went to Lao Beijing with Beijing duck in mind. It was the first few days of operation and they did not have Beijing duck. We had a Khudo at Wing Chan, but Steve was really ticked off and still holds a bit of quiet animosity.

Now Kenny is ready to call in an air strike on Harrison's for crimes against poultry. Moral of the story, never get between a man and his duck.

Enjoy,
Gary

Just noticed that Whole Foods on Ashland has fresh Culver ducks. (That is to say, they're not frozen right now. Can't absolutely say whether they ever were.)

Mike G wrote:Just noticed that Whole Foods on Ashland has fresh Culver ducks. (That is to say, they're not frozen right now. Can't absolutely say whether they ever were.)

I can. They were.