Duck

The history of the domestication of ducks spans continents and epochs: In China they have been domesticated for more than 2,000 years; in Medieval Europe, duck farming became a necessity as the result of a wildfowl scarcity; whereas in New York the arrival of a ship in 1873 containing a family of Peking ducks from China signaled the beginning of the American duck industry. The Long Island duck (a not too distant relative of those four Peking ducks) is now widely enjoyed in the United States for its moist, dark meat. Equally popular in Europe, the Rouen duck (from Rouen, France) has its own distinct flavor because of the method by which it is slaughtered—it is either strangled or suffocated to retain the blood in the muscle. The Aylesbury Gressingham, and Norfolk ducks from Britain and the Barbary and Nantes ducks from France all have their respective qualities in terms of color, texture, and flavor.