By request, for capmikee

To make a decent sized portion you should use the large duck legs from ducks called Moulard. Pekin or Long Island ducks are considerably smaller and the legs will leave your guests hungry.

I buy Moulard legs from Hudson Valley Foie Gras online. The shipping charges initially appear high because lots of insulated packaging and ice packs are required and they only ship overnight. The shipping charge is defrayed by the fact that they include a free 2 pound pack of fatted duck breast (sheer heaven on earth, IMO) worth $18 with your order. They don't advertise this, but I've ordered from them six times and they've done it each time. They also sell big tubs of duck fat.

The flavorings in this recipe can be varied, of course. Thyme is traditional; salt is necessary if you want to store it. I have stored it for as long as five months, covered with duck fat, under refrigeration. It is traditional to store confit without refrigeration, but once you break through the fat it's all over. You then need to use it soon. For this reason I try to store only about 2 - 3 legs together.

I recycle the duck fat. I've kept it for a year and haven't been able to detect a whiff of rancidity. Maybe the salt helps.

Duck Confit

makes 6 confit duck legs and more duck fat than is called for by the recipe

Combine and marinate in the frig overnight:

6 large duck legs (about 5 pounds)
1 tablespoon thyme leaves
1 cup sliced red onion
1 Meyer lemon, sliced
3 bay leaves
2 small dried chiles, crumbled
3 star anise
2 teaspoons cracked black pepper

Take the duck out of the frig 45 minutes before cooking to let it come to room temp. Scrape the seasonings into a 9 x 12 inch baking dish. Season the legs on all sides with 4 teaspoons salt (total) and let them continue to come to room temp. Place them in the baking dish skin side up.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Melt 4 - 5 cups duck fat, but don't let it get hot. Pour over the legs until the legs are just covered. Carefully transfer the dish to the preheated oven. Cook for about 2 1/2 hours, till tender when a knife is inserted.

Store under fat. If they start to float when you try to cover them with fat, then just pour on enough to reach the top of the legs, let that solidify, and then pour on more fat to cover.

To serve, place them on a rimmed baking sheet, and reheat them in a preheated 400 degree oven for 10 - 15 minutes to crisp the skin.

Yum!

I tried the Nourishing Traditions recipe once and I wasn't sure what the point was - they don't poach the legs before storing. I have a feeling they're much more crispy when you do.

If you use smaller ducks, can you do the recipe with more pieces?

Hi Allison,

I made confit once before but I didn't have access at the time to duck so I used chicken hind quarters and used chicken fat to replace the duck fat. I was very good I even used some of the fat to cook potatoes in (this was many years ago before my lc ways) My only problem was getting the chicken out of the fat when you are ready to use it. Is there a trick to get off the excess fat? I scraped off as much as I could and then put in a baking pan and roasted until the skin was nice and crispy. Yet there was a lot of grease in the pan that I had to drain off into the browning. Am I missing something about how to do it? The excess fat was keeping my chicken from browning properly. What do you suggest?

Nanci

PS. one day I will break down and order duck. it is on my to do list for this year. I keep asking my butcher for some and I can't seem to get it local.

I've never seen a recipe where the duck isn't cooked before storing, and I've looked at dozens. That's definitely non-traditional. It sounds like a printing error, maybe you could check the publisher's erratum page for the book? It sounds like a recipe for botulism.


Yes.

Actually, I don't think C. Botulinum cares very much whether the duck is cooked - it can withstand pretty high temperatures, and it's present everywhere, so unless you poach the duck inside an already-sealed canning jar, it doesn't make any difference. There may be other organisms (like salmonella) on raw duck legs, but I think if you use enough lemon juice, neither botulism nor salmonella has a chance. In fact, I believe all of the seasonings have antimicrobial properties.

Nourishing Traditions has some pretty weird ideas of what's traditional, though.

I've always wondered if chicken would work well. I've looked around the web in the past to see if anyone had commented on it but didn't find anything.

Maybe you needed a higher temperature on reheating to get the skin a little crispy? Confit duck isn't really about crispy skin like fried chicken is. It gets a little crispy, but it isn't going to be like Colonel Sanders'. It's more about rich, succulent, profoundly-flavorful, deeply-satisfying duck than it is about texture.

If you want really crispy duck skin buy magrets instead. Magrets are the boneless breasts of fatted duck (huge -- about 1 pound per breast half). First score the fatty skin with a sharp knife making incisions about 3/4 of the way through the skin (it's very thick) at 1/3 inch intervals. Then do the same thing at a 90 degree angle to make a cross-hatch. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Warm a skillet over medium-low heat. You do not need any grease and will soon see why. Place the breasts skin-side down in the pan and let them cook over medium-low, skin-side down, for 18-20 minutes until the skin is brown and crispy. As the breasts cook, you need to continuously spoon the rendered fat out of the pan (save it for other uses, it is precious). When the skin looks spectacular, turn the breasts and cook the meat side for only 2-3 minutes more. Let them rest on a cutting board for 3-5 minutes before cutting into them. To serve, cut them crosswise (against the grain, the short distance across the breast) into slices. They're best with a bit of chutney or sweet pepper jam or something like that. Fischer and Wieser cranberry chipotle sauce is divine, but high carb. Just make something fruity/savory/sweet like that to go with.

Magrets are just about my favorite thing on the planet. I'm slightly obsessed with duck, I eat more of it than anyone I've ever heard of. You can get magrets at the same place I mentioned above (and they always send a couple free ones with my purchase too).

As for getting the confit legs out of the fat, I bring them to room temp first because I don't want to knock off the skin. They're just going to be fatty, it's the nature of confit. But you can save that fat and reuse it -- it's intensely flavorful. I use it for lots of things: eggs, stir-fries, any place that I sautee, since I'm now afraid of canola oil and vegetable oil.

More than you asked.

Oh, I also use the fat for veggies like sauteed celeriac cubes or roasted cauliflower florets. Those bland vegetables really benefit from a dose of duck fat.

Amen on the uses of poultry fat. I save my chicken fat all the time. I did save the fat when I did the chicken confit.....I think I am going to try it again, my mouth is watering. I wish it were duck, but I think it is cost prohibitive...alas.

Thanks for the reply about the fat. I hadn't thought to bring it to room temp and had a horrible time prying the pieces out of the congeeled fat.........

I often wonder about the origin of duck confit - how many ducks did people bring home at once? I suppose if you're out hunting it could be quite a few. When I've bought whole ducks, there's never enough to go around, so I'm not so inclined to store some for later. My wife isn't a big fan, but I really miss having duck - it's my favorite poultry for sure.

I suppose that duck is used for confit because it provides enough of its own fat that you don't need anything else! How about goose confit?