We like to highlight beautiful products for you, so we can hopefully inspire you for some new recipes/dishes. This time we’ve selected the “Foie Gras de Canard MITTEAULT” as We Supply Yachts product of the month.
Foie Gras de Canard ‘MITTEAULT’. This is excellent quality duck liver with a distinct taste and pleasant texture. There’s a reason that this is the first choice of foie gras for Albert Adria and Michel Bras. Hof Van Cleve and Hertog Jan also enjoy working with these products. Hubert Mitteault has developed his own and very specific method for the cultivation of his ducks, focussing on the quality of the liver and the welfare of the animals. His production process is precise. It begins with the cultivation of his own grains and maize in order to create the perfect nutritional mix, growing the ducks from hatching up to and including the slaughter, and selecting the perfect maize for the gavage. This attention to detail is what creates this unique product. And the short and stress-free production chain guarantees the welfare of the animals.
Hubert Mitteault has a beautiful farm in Poitiers, France. His farm is surrounded by around 500 hectares of land, where he grows maize and all kinds of crops from oatmeal to wheat, peas, broad beans and more … with which to feed his ducks. By alternating what he plants each year, and dotting insect-repelling plants amongst his crops, he limits the use of fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides. The drying and mixing of the harvested grains takes place locally and he has developed 14 different mixes for his ducks, depending on their weight / age, and the weather / season. The day-old chicks are purchased and placed on straw in 1 of his 2 heated halls. Here they can eat and drink to their heart’s content, and they are monitored constantly. Ducks showing any sign of disease or weakness are immediately isolated and placed on the ‘nursing ward’. This to avoid possible contamination of other ducks, and to take the necessary measures so that the affected animals can heal and regain their strength.
As soon as the chicks are in plume they can go outside, in the mid-season a little sooner than in the winter (too cold) or the summer (too hot). Here they roam freely in a field that has not been used for at least 6 months, to ensure that the herbs and grasses have grown back, ready for the ducks to eat. But before this, they are fed with a custom mix, carefully selected for each specific group of ducks. This is what determines the intense flavour of the liver. After 13 weeks they are brought back inside to receive gavage for 12 days, which fattens the liver. Here the ducks receive only full corn to eat.
This corn is selected for grain size, in order to generate the perfect balance of starch in the diet. After this period they are taken to the on-site slaughterhouse before dawn to ensure the ducks are as calm as possible. The liver is cut out immediately after slaughter (évisceration à chaud) and selected for use. The livers used for escalopes are cut while still warm and immediately placed in a nitrogen tunnel. Similarly, in the case of deveined livers, the hot vein is extracted while the liver is still warm and also immediately placed in the tunnel. This guarantees the freshness of the liver. Every intervention made throughout the production process is designed to enhance both the quality of life of the duck and the quality of the liver itself in taste and structure.
Do you like to know more about this product or any other, feel free to send an email to sales@wesupplyyachts.com or click the button down below!
