Originally a way of both tenderizing and preserving the otherwise tough leg-thigh duck combo in an pre-refrigeration era, duck confit is incredibly easy to make–and it keeps in fridge or freezer.
Salt heavily the clean duck pieces and refrigerate overnight. Knock excess salt off the pieces and then simmer covered in duck fat for about two hours. Add whole garlic cloves, peppercorns, thyme, (rosemary,) and a couple bay leaves to the pot. Other spices may also be used. Cool and refrigerate, being sure the pieces are completely submerged in the fat.
To eat, first gently heat on a pan or in oven skin side down till the skin is crisp and crackling, may turn occasionally, but heat mostly skin side down.
D’Artagnan. Yu can also ask a good butcher for extra duck skin and render it yourself.
I once did the confit of 6 legs in the slow cooker for about 6-8 hours and just let the fat on the actual legs render off. Ended up with enough to keep them submerged.
Lately, I’ve been using sous vide for duck legs. I know it’s not confit and the taste is different, but it sure is easy and delivers a great tasting duck leg.
I heavily season the day before with salt and herbs, rinse the legs, and cook at 180 for 8 hours. No fat added to the bag. Anybody else do anything like this? I’m curious if people have tried different times and temperatures. Based on my results I haven’t seen a need to change it.
I was just about to ask if anybody else did this. There is a chef steps recipe for it but I wasn’t sure how good it would come out. I like the idea because instead of having to purchase a large amount of duck fat you can get away with a much smaller amount and still have all the legs covered. The only reason I would get a large enough amount of fat to do this the traditional way would be if the fat could be reused many times. Anyone know if it can?
I reuse duck fat all of the time. Every time I make duck breast I just add the fat to a container I keep that goes in the freezer. If I make confit, I’ll strain the fat when I am done and back into a container in the freezer. Since I normally only reuse for confit purposes, I have found you can do it over and over. Cooking at low temps doesn;t seem to break it down or adversely effect the fat in my experience. When I use some to saute or roast vegetables like potatoes or Brussels sprouts, there normally is too little left over to worry about. One of these days I am going to use it to fill the deep fat fryer…
If you pour the fat into a tall thin container like a soup container from a Chinese Carry Out and let it settle, any other liquids or solids will collect in the bottom. I just use a turkey baster to remove that from the bottom and it cleans up very nicely. I suppose you could also use one of those gravy boats that pours from the bottom.
At a Chinese or Halal butcher, I can buy 4 ducks, which I break down for confit (wings, legs, offal), breasts (seared or braised Chinese style), stock using the backs, and skin for cracklings and oil to be used in confit – all for the price of 8 legs at the fancy butcher shop.
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