GOOD DUCK Slices of crispy fried itik Every household in our barrio had pet ducks freely roaming around eating whatever they found edible but without damaging vegetable gardens. They were raised not for meat but for their eggs, which were preferred over chicken eggs, especially for omelets and bibingka (rice cake). One duck can lay 200 eggs before slowing down, at which point the layer is marked for the cooking pot. In the old days the only recipes for duck were adobo and caldereta. Then somebody invented fried itik, which is now sold almost everywhere. Fried itik is an ingenious but labor-intensive way to use duck layers, which have been culled after being past their prime.