Bloodshed On Father's Day

My family and I had a nice time during Father's Day. The food was good. The conversations were relaxing.

Best of all, was the entertainment after dinner. All of us went outside for the wonderful spectacle that was to begin. My sister and brother-in-law took a duck, one of many, from their barn and placed it on a wooden board. Carefully, the duck's neck was placed between rows of 4 inch nails. Once it's neck was stretched out, my brother-in-law swung the hatchet down and cut the duck's neck almost in half. The duck struggled. I think he was trying to say, "Hey, what are you doing? You've allowed me to gorge on food for months. You petted my little head when I was feeling blue. You guys treated me like a pet. So now you're cutting my head off?" On the second whack, the head came off, releasing a fountain of blood that continued to spurt out of the top of it's torso. The children quickly grabbed the head off the blood soaked ground and began to play with it.

A few moments later, my sister accepted the duck head from her five year old. Moving it's mouth up and down, she made quack-quack noises, causing us to laugh.

It was fascinating to watch. The torso of the bird was on it's back. The decapitated duck's body flapped it's wings while the feet moved as if it were still walking. I thought of that old commercial where the old lady cries out, "I've fallen and I can't get up". I had to laugh. My nine year old niece brought me the duck's head. I was curious and opened it's beak or mouth and pulled on it's tongue. It felt like rubber. It had little bump like thingies on the bottom of it, too.

Then the duck torso was brought to the old wooden table for the de-feathering and slaughter. My sister ripped the feathers from the body for the next few minutes while the knives were brought out from the kitchen. My sister and brother-in-law took turns cutting the skin away from the meat. I worked on the duck, also, delighting in this experience that was new to me.

We had cut and taken as much meat as we could. When the task was complete, my sister bagged up the duck meat and gave it to me. I was grateful. I can't remember the last time I've eaten duck. I do recall enjoying the taste of it, though. I've read where it should be prepared and cooked a certain way or else it has a gamy taste to it.

If anyone reading this post has a simple and tasty recipe for duck, please share it with me.

All in all, we had a great time during Father's Day. And I learned how to kill and skin a duck.