Duck Confit

Duck legs salted overnight and cooked slowly submerged in fat, then stored under it, where the salt is rinsed off before cooking.

Duck. Not vegetarian — contains duck.

Ingredients

• 6 duck legs
• 60 g coarse salt
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• a few thyme sprigs
• 4 bay leaves, crumbled
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
• about 1.5 kg duck fat

Method

1. THE SALT IS RINSED OFF BEFORE THE DUCK GOES IN THE FAT. Twelve hours of curing draws water out and seasons the meat; left on, the legs then cook in their own salt for three hours and come out inedible. Rinsed and dried, they keep what the cure gave them and lose what would have ruined them. This is the step most often missed and it cannot be corrected afterwards.
2. IT NEVER SIMMERS. The fat sits at about 85C -- an occasional bubble rising and no more. Fat at a simmer fries the duck: the outside toughens and the meat tightens instead of going slack. If it bubbles steadily the heat is too high.
3. AND THEY MUST BE COMPLETELY SUBMERGED, in the pot and in the jar. Any part standing proud of the fat is exposed to air, and the whole point of confit is that nothing is.
4. Legs laid skin side up in a dish. Salt, garlic, thyme, bay and pepper scattered over and rubbed in.
5. Covered and into the fridge 12 HOURS. Not longer -- 24 makes them salty however well rinsed.
6. Rinsed thoroughly under cold water and patted BONE DRY. Water in the fat spits and will stop it clarifying.
7. Duck fat melted gently in a heavy ovenproof pot.
8. Legs lowered in, completely covered. More fat or a little lard added if they are not.
9. Into a 120C oven for 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours. The meat should give completely when pressed and pull from the bone.
10. Lifted out gently with a slotted spoon and packed into a sterilised jar or a deep dish.
11. The fat STRAINED through muslin and left to stand a few minutes -- a layer of meat juice settles at the bottom and must not go into the jar, because it is water and it spoils.
12. The clear fat poured over to cover by at least 2 cm. Cooled, then kept in the fridge. It keeps a month, and longer in a cold larder.
13. To serve: a leg lifted out, most of the fat wiped off, and put skin down in a hot dry pan 6 to 8 minutes until the skin is crisp. Or straight into a cassoulet as on its own page.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under France · All recipes