Christmas Duck

My early days of cooking were filled with my fascination of all things French and one of the country’s favorite holiday dishes involved duck prepared in one fashion or another. I love duck served in any fashion still to this day. It is a rich and flavorful bird that can served with various sweet and fruity sauces served with traditional holiday sides. In fact, many French, Danish and German families traditional eat duck for Christmas Eve or Day.

All this month we are serving a half of roasted duck at both Taverns for dinner. It is slow roasted which renders the ample amount of fat that the bird has, resulting in meltingly soft and moist meat with a thin crispy flavorful skin….my favorite part? And you can use the resulting rendered fat to add extra flavor to roasted Brussels Sprouts or potatoes. We are serving it a cornbread stuffing that I have made every Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. I developed it based upon an original Jame’s Beard recipe which is studded with pine nuts, apples and sun-dried cranberries. Being a Michigan native, I had to serve with a brandied cherry sauce as Michigan is known as the ‘Cherry Capital of the World’. It is the perfect compliment to the rich bird.

I invite you to come in and enjoy this delicacy for dinner at either location throughout this month!