LEESBURG, IND. – Winning duck recipes in the Maple Leaf Farms 2017 Strut Your Duck Recipe Contest captured the adventurous spirit of its theme, “Not-your-average Holiday Duck Recipe.” The competition challenged home cooks to prepare non-traditional duck recipes for any of the major national U.S. holidays, thinking beyond serving whole duck.
This year, Lauren Wyler of Dripping Springs, Texas, won the Grand Prize of $6,000 and free Maple Leaf Farms duck products for a year with her Father’s Day Quack Stacks. Her classy version of Southern corn cakes featured duck bacon inside the cakes and duck confit meat piled on top with a drizzle of spicy chipotle and maple bourbon butter.
Ellen Verdugo of Gloucester, Massachusetts, took the First Runner-Up award of $3,000 with her Spiced Duck Pot Pie full of Thanksgiving flavors. The Second Runner-Up prize of $1,500 was claimed by Sandi Sheppard from Norman, Oklahoma. She created a New Year’s treat of Duck Terrine with ginger-orange honey mustard coulis and spicy black-eyed pea pesto.
All recipes with accompanying final dish photos were evaluated anonymously by a panel of judges from Maple Leaf Farms in two separate judging rounds. The Top 10 finalists' recipes were prepared by staff chefs in the final round of judging, which focused on the taste of the prepared duck dish.
"This was the first year for having a theme for the contest," said Nora Macon-Rauen, director of consumer marketing for Maple Leaf Farms. “Focusing on non-traditional duck recipes to serve for a variety of holidays resulted in some very creative submissions."
The full list of winners and finalists may be viewed on the contest website at http://www.duckrecipecontest.com.
About Maple Leaf Farms
Maple Leaf Farms, Inc. is America's leading producer of quality duck products, supplying retail and foodservice markets throughout the world with innovative, value-added foods. Founded in 1958, Maple Leaf Farms is a fourth generation family-owned company. For more information, contact Maple Leaf Farms at 1-800-348-2812 or visit http://www.mapleleaffarms.com.
Source: Maple Leaf Farms
