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Anatra, Anitra
Duck
Appears in
By Antonio Carluccio and Priscilla Carluccio
Published 1997
Under these names are grouped all types of domestic or wild ducks. Whatever form it takes, however, duck is very much loved by Italians and it is much used in their cuisine, especially in the winter. Duck flesh is quite dark and gamy, and quite fatty. Always buy fresh duck as the frozen variety loses much of the quality of the meat.
The most popular variety of farmed duck is the anatra muta, because of its free-range lifestyle (its wings are clipped so it can’t fly away, but it is left free to forage for food in ponds and the like). The main farming areas for duck in Italy are Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and the Veneto. In Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna, duck are force-fed to enlarge the liver to make fegato grasso (foie gras), more for export to other countries where this speciality is much more appreciated.