Best meat duck ! Muscovy vs Pekin vs Mulard

[razvanM]

Well I want some infos about the best meat duck,as I want to start raising ducks for meat.I am allready raising geese for meat and they do a great job but I want to start raising ducks too so wich breed do you recomand ?
I heard these 3 breeds are the best,so I am making a contest between them.Those are the only large breeds I can find in my region,So I need info about the meat of each of them.
I will updated the contest after you give be some info about the most delicious of them.I am interested in flavor,juicy meat,tenderness and quantity,and I will pick the best after you replies.
So here is the current stage of the contest
muscovy duck - 0
jumbo pekin x exhibition aylesbury - 0
mulard - 0
Soon the winner will be chosen !
I will keep muscovies even if other breed winscuz I dont have an incubator and I prefer hatching eggs natturaly,so I will keep muscovies even I will keep even just for incubating other breeds eggs.
Please give me infos about each breeds meat ! I am esspecially interested in tenderness,flavour,juicy meat and quantity of meat of each of those 3 ducks.
Thanks for the info !

 

[Oregon Blues]

I've raised Pekin and they have amazing feed conversion. Ready to butcher at 8 weeks. You have to watch their feed closely because they put on fat much too easily.

I prefer Appleyards. Ready to butcher at 10 weeks. Leaner and the skin is thinner, so it crisps easier.

I've only eaten Muscovy when I was a dinner guest. It's lovely meat. The Muscovy is much slower growing, so butchering age is considerably older.

I really like the Swedish ducks roasted, but they are noticeably smaller and the feed conversion is not as good. But juicy meat without the thick layer of fat and the skin is very thin and crisps up easily.

 

[Oregon Blues]

By the way, when you roast a duck, save all the melted fat to make duck fries. It's worth roasting the duck just to get the french fries.

 

[Cedarknob]

I haven't eaten duck or owned one since I was a child, but recently obtained three young 'scovie ducks with a drake for a self-sustaining alternative to chicken meat. [They're black capped whites.] I was impressed by a friend's Muscovie's proclivity for eating flies, something he said his other ducks never did. I've heard repeatedly they are far less greasy than Pekin, and I hated the greasy meat of the only Pekin I ever tried as a child, even though it was roasted sitting on a rack to drain the fat off. I like the flavor of roasted Canadian goose, and have been told that 'scovies taste more like Canadian goose than the other breeds of ducks. Add to that their willingness to brood, I think they will suit my needs.

 

[ian4379]

I've raised Pekin and they have amazing feed conversion. Ready to butcher at 8 weeks. You have to watch their feed closely because they put on fat much too easily.

I prefer Appleyards. Ready to butcher at 10 weeks. Leaner and the skin is thinner, so it crisps easier.

I've only eaten Muscovy when I was a dinner guest. It's lovely meat. The Muscovy is much slower growing, so butchering age is considerably older.

I really like the Swedish ducks roasted, but they are noticeably smaller and the feed conversion is not as good. But juicy meat without the thick layer of fat and the skin is very thin and crisps up easily.

i eat my muscovy at 12 to 14 weeks, i prefer it before the testosterone kicks in and reddens the meat, very nice but different to other ducks.

 

[JazminesZoo]

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[zooweemama]

By the way, when you roast a duck, save all the melted fat to make duck fries. It's worth roasting the duck just to get the french fries.

I wonder if goose fat makes good goose fries? What size would you the Appleyards dress out at?

 

[Oregon Blues]

Goose fat is softer and melts at a lower temperature than duck fat does. It tends to melt off of the potatoes before they are crisped. So, you can make goose fries and they are good, but they aren't nearly as good as duck fries.

When I made goose fries, they stuck to the pan. Duck fries don't stick. Either type, you need to stir them a couple of times while they are baking.

Appleyards dress out the same size as the Pekin, it just takes them a couple of weeks longer to get to that size. They have less fat. The body type is really different.

Full grown adult size, the Pekin are bigger, but that is far past the age that they are butchered. My Appleyards were huge, but the Pekins were enormous.