The thought of these savory succulent thighs, salted, submerged and cooked in their own delicious fat, can wake me up at night. This is not a 30-minute meal. It takes days to achieve glory, but it is about as easy as it gets, and is well worth the wait. If you are planning a special meal, this will fit the bill (pun kinda intended). And if you really want to gild the lily or prepare a feast, serve seared duck breast too…
If you confit a duck once, you will want to do it again… and again…
Here’s How
Rub leg quarters (thighs and legs) with a generous amount of salt. Add pepper, thyme, and garlic to taste. Season all sides of the meat. I like to be generous with these seasonings, so the flavors infuse the meat as it cures. Sprinkle a little sugar over the meat, if desired.
Place the duck into a dish or bowl and weight it down. I use a plate, lid, or a smaller dish, covered by a food safe heavy object. Seal with a lid or wrap and place in the refrigerator. Allow meat to cure untouched for two days.
Confit cured duck
Preheat oven to 275°.
After two days of curing, pour off any liquid that has gathered in the dish. If you added a ton of salt, you may prefer to remove some of it with a gentle rinse. Also, you may like to add additional seasonings at this point, such as cinnamon, anise, cloves, bay leaves. These are delicious if you will be making salad., but they are optional.
The duck will be very flat. You may notice this duck has minced garlic (I forgot to add it before. As Julia Child says, “Who’s to know!”)
Put seasoned and cured duck into a baking dish, preferably one that is the same size as the amount of duck you have, so as to not need too much cooking fat. Pour duck fat over the leg quarters until it covers them. If you are short on duck fat, add another fat… bacon fat is delicious.
With duck submerged in fat cover with a lid or foil and cook at 275°…
…until the meat is very tender and pulls easily from the bone. This will take about about 2 hours. Remove meat from fat and allow it to rest just a few minutes.
Flavor Town Mmmm
You can enjoy confit immediately, or you can completely cover it in duck fat and keep it in the fridge for months. You will actually have more fat after you confit; the leg quarters will give their fat. As long as the duck is completely covered in the duck fat, it will stay safe for a very long time.
Did I mention Flavor Town?
Duck Confit
Duck leg quarters cooked low and slow in their own fat. Succulent!
Ingredients
- duck thighs and legs (as many as you have)
- salt
- pepper
- dried thyme
- garlic, minced
- optional:sugar
- other optional flavorings: cinnamon, anise, cloves, bay leaves
- rendered duck fat – how to render your own duck fat
- other fat, if needed (bacon fat is less healthful, but delicious)
Method
Rub leg quarters (thighs and legs) with a generous amount of salt. Add pepper, thyme, and garlic to taste. Season all sides of the meat. I like to be generous with these seasonings, so the flavors infuse the meat as it cures. Sprinkle a little sugar over the meat, if desired.
Place the duck into a dish or bowl and weight it down. I use a plate or lid, covered by a food safe heavy object. Seal with a lid or wrap and place in the refrigerator. Allow meat to cure untouched for two days.
When ready to cook, preheat oven to 275°.
After two days of curing, pour off any liquid that has gathered in the dish. If you added a ton of salt, you may prefer to remove some of it with a gentle rinse. Also, you may like to add additional seasonings at this point, such as cinnamon, anise, cloves, bay leaves. These are delicious if you will be making salad., but they are optional.
Put seasoned and cured duck into a baking dish, preferably one that is the same size as the amount of duck you have, so as to not need too much cooking fat. Pour duck fat over the leg quarters until it covers them. If you are short on duck fat, add another fat… bacon fat is delicious. With duck submerged in fat cover with a lid or foil and cook at 275° until the meat is very tender and pulls easily from the bone. This will take about about 2 hours. Remove meat from fat and allow it to rest just a few minutes.
You can enjoy confit immediately, or you can completely cover it in duck and and keep it in the fridge for months. As long as it is completely covered in the fat, it will stay safe for a very long time.
Enjoy!
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