The Wild Palate
 As Easy as Duck Soup
By VERNON SUMMERLIN

Duck soup is slang meaning “something easy to do” and it was the title of a 1933 Marx Brothers movie. When Groucho was asked to explain the title, he quipped, “Take two turkeys, one goose, four cabbages, but no duck, and mix them together. After one taste, you'll duck soup for the rest of your life.”
           
We are all familiar with ducks. In Tennessee we have diving ducks and dabbling ducks. Diving ducks forage deep underwater and are able to submerge more easily because they are heavier than dabbling ducks, however, it’s more difficult for them to lift off for flight.
Most ducks have a wide flat beak that works well for dredging.

They exploit a variety of foods that include grasses, aquatic
plants, fish, insects, frogs, salamanders, worms and small mollusks.
           
Dabbling ducks feed on the surface of water or as deep as they can reach by up-ending without completely submerging, and on land. Along the inside of the dabbler’s beak are tiny rows of filtering plates called lamellae that traps food inside the mouth and let the water escape.
The mallard’s tongue is a flat plate and on the back end of the tongue is a short liftable flap with about 18 short spikes for pushing struggling prey and other food down its throat. A few specialized species such as the mergansers, smew, and goosander are able to catch large fish.
           
Duck is the common name for a number of species in the family of Anatidae. Most are aquatic birds and smaller than their relatives geese and swans. Ducks are sometimes confused with several types of water birds such as loons, greebs, gallinules and coots. (I shot a coot once and tried to prepare it so it was palatable – I failed. If you have tasty coot recipe please send it to me.)

Duck Soup

2 duck carcasses
3 chopped onions
3 chopped carrots
1 chopped celery stalk
6 pints water
Bouquet garni
Salt and pepper to taste
4 ounces red wine
Chopped parsley garnish

Remove all skin and fat from carcasses, and reserve. Chop carcasses into small pieces and put into roasting tin with 2 onions, carrots, and celery. Place in preheated oven 450 degrees. Cook for 30 minutes, turning occasionally until brown all over. Remove to stock pot. Add 6 pints cold water, bouquet garni, salt and pepper. Add red wine to roasting pan and stir over heat to loosen the sediment. Add to stock pan. Bring to the boil, skim, and simmer for 4 to 5 hours, skimming the surface occasionally. Strain off the stock into fresh pot; reduce to 1 1/2 pints. Cool and remove all fat. Add the remaining chopped vegetables and cook for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.