While I have been enamored with chicken tails and been keen on sourcing them, I have not been able to find a reliable supplier for them. In fact, I have not thought of these delicacies since visiting with Sean in June when we hoped to fine tune a dish revolving around these culinary gems.
Tonight we started preparing the dishes for tomorrow, the first is slow roasted and maple glazed ducks. As I was massaging the ducks with the salt and maple syrup I became struck by the duck tails. The meat to fat ratio is great and the size of these tails prompted the idea of utilizing them as starring ingredient for a dish. The tail may be trimmed and the back bone can act as a handle. Really, we are looking at an old idea with new eyes, though I believe with the amount of duck processing which goes on and the by-product of much foie gras being raised someone should be selling these tasty morsels. Imagine chicken fried duck tails with pickled watermelon, tempura battered duck tails with ginger scallion sauce, or cracker crusted duck tails with red pepper jelly...the list goes on and on.
