Duck Tongue

Image credit: Jayt74/flickr

With little to do because of Covid restrictions, we have been trying to cheer ourselves with a weekly outing. Most recently we drove about an hour north to Stouffville to check out King Cole Ducks, a local family run farm that has for almost 70 years and four generations raised domestic ducks for the wholesale and retail marketplace.

They operate a retail store on the farm open to the public which sells all sorts of duck products including duck tongues. I have to admit, that while I knew ducks had tongues, I wasn’t aware that one could (would?) eat them. There happened to be a large Chinese clientele that day, and I could see from their carts that duck tongue was a very popular item. I figured that what’s good for the goose, is good for the gander, and on a lark bought myself a bag not knowing what I would do with them.

A bag of Duck Tongue, a bargain at only $15.00 / 500gm!

Before I describe what I did with them, a little duck biology may be in order. Unlike mammalian tongues, ducks do not have taste buds. Instead tiny papillae protrude on either side of their approximately 5 cm. long tongue which help them hold their food and direct it towards the esophagus, facilitating swallowing. These can be seen in the photo at top of this post; they are the tiny protuberances on both sides of the tongue.

Even more interesting, unlike mammals whose tongues are all muscle and no bone, ducks have a bone which runs down the middle. These bones form the “hyoid apparatus” and helps support the larynx.

So you know what I am describing, I removed and photographed the bone from four tongues. The two on the left show the top of the tongues, and the two on the right, the bottom. The observant will note that these are made up of two parts; the wide flat part is hard bone, while the whiter round narrower end is softer cartilage. This is important as we will see later.

Note that the tongue is made of both bone (wide and flat) and cartilage (round and thin)

Another characteristic of the duck’s tongue besides the bone and cartilage, is its large proportion of fat relative to muscle. And that is what gives deep fried duck tongue its unique flavour and texture; crispy skin underneath which is found a thin layer of intense duck flavoured meat and abundant flavourful melt in your mouth juicy fat!

For the very curious, there is an interesting article written by Kinga Skieresz-Szewczyk and Hanna Jackowiak in the journal Zoomorphology. In the photo below taken from their article Morphofunctional study of the tongue in the domestic duck, they have magnified a cross section of duck tongue which shows the skin surface stained pink and the abundant fat below stained yellow.

Cross section through the body of domestic duck tongue. Asterisk shows connective tissue septum. Ad adipose tissue; PEp parakeratinized epithelium; Lp lamina propria; LM (from Morphofunctional study of the tongue in the domestic duck.

But I digress! For the Chinese, duck tongue is a delicacy often found at dim sum restaurants where they may be prepared by stir frying, deep frying, or braising. You may be wondering though what about the bone? Some remove the bone before eating, while others eat it whole which adds an interesting textural component complementing the surrounding crispy skin and juicy fat. Chinese gastronomes are not alone in their belief that mouthfeel plays an important role along with aroma and taste in the overall sensory experience of eating.

To prepare I first rinsed the duck tongues.

Rinsed duck tongue

I then deep fried them after a thin wash of egg white and corn starch to help with the crisping process.

Duck tongue washed in egg white and corn starch

In my experimenting with how long to deep fry the tongue, I found that it was best to fry them well done as this softened the bone and cartilage. This made for me a more more enjoyable eating experience if eating whole. On the other hand, I found it easier to strip the “meat” off the bone if it the tongue was still cooked crisp, but not so long so as to soften the bone. I suggest cooking a small batch both ways to see which you prefer.

After cooking I seasoned them lightly with salt, but most often they are combined with spices or sauces.

Deep fried duck tongue!

Source: FatSecret Platform API

Although I intend to cook duck tongue again, my curiosity was piqued by the whole experience and I look forward trying them at a local dim sum restaurant to sample some different preparations. If you are an adventurous foodie, you too may enjoy!