Confit duck legs

Duck confit sounds like something far too stressful and complicated to make at home, but it’s surprisingly easy. It may take a lot of time (a few days), but it doesn’t take a lot of effort at all. It’s about three simple processes…

  1. curing in salt overnight transforms the texture and flavour of the duck to mind-blowing levels

  2. poaching in duck fat low and slow during the day, being careful not to let the fat get too hot

  3. resting in fat in the fridge for at least a couple of days to let the flavour profile develop

The whole point of the confit process used to be to preserve the meat for as long as possible. The legs can sit in fat in the fridge for months, until you’re ready to crisp them up in a pan in no time at all.

What you end up with is a beautifully rich, wonderfully textured, meaty duck leg packed with truly unbelievable levels of flavour. It’s an absolute treat. Not your every day meal prep, but the whole process is definitely good fun.

You’ll need a meat thermometer.

Serves: 4

Prep time: 15 minutes plus overnight curing

Cook time: around 3 hours plus a couple of days resting

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Ingredients

4 duck legs

30g sea salt flakes or coarse rock salt

1 tbspn black peppercorns (cracked)

4 garlic cloves (peeled and finely sliced)

2 fresh bay leaves (finely sliced)

4 sprigs of thyme (picked)

800g melted duck fat (enough to cover the legs completely)

Meat thermometer

Method

Lay the duck legs on a board or tray, skin side down. Massage in the salt, pepper, garlic, thyme and bay leaves, cover and wrap it all in cling film and place in the fridge overnight (around 12 hours).

Rinse the salty cure off the legs and pat dry with kitchen paper. Turn the oven on to 100’c, place the legs skin side down in a saucepan and cover with the melted duck fat. Place over the lowest heat you can and bring the temperature of the fat to 85’c (around 20-30 minutes).

Place into the oven with the thermometer probe still in the fat and cook for 2 hours. It’s really important you don’t let the fat even start to simmer, so check the temperature occasionally, not letting it get above 90'c. If it gets to 90, turn your oven heat down ever so slightly, by 5-10'c.

Transfer to a container (keeping the legs submerged in the fat) and allow to cool before putting it in the fridge. Leave it for at least two days.

When they’re ready to use turn the oven on to 160’c. Remove from the fat and place skin side down in a dry pan over a medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes to crisp the skin before turning them over and finishing in the oven for 10 minutes.

Serve over puy lentils.

TIPS

  • Keep the duck fat sealed and stored in the fridge. You’ll have enough to use for a month of Sundays for roast potatoes!

  • Make a big batch if you can because they last so long in the fridge. When you come to use them it’s 10-15 minutes of effort free delicious dinner.