Confit duck

Recipe uploaded by

John Torode

1 rating

Recipe by John Torode

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1. The day before cooking, put the cumin and coriander seeds in a dry pan and toast until they are slightly coloured and aromatic. Remove to a board and crush them with the blade of a knife. Crush the juniper berries and mix with the spices and the salt. Rub the mixture over the duck, scatter with thyme, rosemary and sliced garlic and chill for 24 hrs, turning two or three times as they marinate.
2. Next day, heat oven to 150C/130C fan/ gas 2. Wipe the duck with kitchen paper and pat dry, but don't wash off the marinade. (The salt extracts the water from the meat cells, which will be reinflated with fat as the duck cooks gently. If you wash it, you will simply reinflate the cells with water.)
3. Put the duck in a cast-iron casserole and cover with the goose fat or duck fat. Add the bay leaves and peppercorns and cook for about 2½ hrs, or until the meat is almost falling away from the bone. You can store the duck very simply by placing it in a pudding bowl, covering it with the fat and keeping it in the fridge: as long as it stays covered with fat it will last for weeks.
4. To cook, remove the confit duck legs from their fat. Put an ovenproof frying pan on the stove until it is hot. Add the duck legs, skin-side down, and cook for 4 mins. Turn the legs and transfer the pan to the oven for 30 mins, until crisp.

Confiting

Confiting, or cooking and preserving in fat, is a classic method of preserving meat, from before the days of refrigeration. The process gives meat the most fabulous texture and flavour. Confit duck legs are particularly worth the wait - cooked long and slow in duck fat flavoured with aromatic herbs until meltingly tender, preserved in that fat, then roasted quickly until crisp and golden. Duck legs are also great value compared to breasts.

Latest comments and suggestions

• bethanyjane

  11 October 2009

  bethanyjane commented on this recipe

  and how much would this cause?

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• bethanyjane

  11 October 2009

  bethanyjane commented on this recipe

  *cost

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• JillB

  11 October 2009

  JillB commented on this recipe

  A heart attack, I suspect. An awful lot of fat. Bet it tastes nice though.

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• loopylady

  11 October 2009

  loopylady commented on this recipe

  The thought of all that saturated fat makes me feel quite ill - I notice there are no calories/grams of fat per serving for this recipe. I wonder how the legs would come out if you cooked them in the oven (without fat) straight from marinading. If someone tries it, please post a note of the results.

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• scrummy

  11 October 2009

  scrummy commented on this recipe

  ewwww what a revolting recipe of the day. no thanks!

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• Whitefiver

  11 October 2009

  Whitefiver commented on this recipe

  Hmmmm, but the point is that you cook the legs a second time to crisp them up - at which time most of the fat comes out. I have cooked confit of duck before, and the final dish is not that fatty, but absolutely delicious. I am sure that with the addition of the marinade suggested, it would be even better, and I shall do this next time. Regards, White.

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• Charlie

  11 October 2009

  Charlie commented on this recipe

  Confit duck is amazing cannot wait to try this out. If you have have never had confit before you should try it!

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• Beetle

  12 October 2009

  Beetle rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Confit duck is absolutely delicious - much less fatty than just cooking it on its own, surprisingly. The crisp skin, melting flesh and delicious flavour are excellent. It is not swimming in fat, or disgusting - quite the reverse. The quick roasting at the end is the secret to removing the fat. The cooking process before that is about infusing the flesh with the flavours of the herbs and spices. Would recommend trying it at least once. Whenever I cook it everyone comes back for more.

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Ingredients

• 6 cumin seeds
• 12 coriander seeds
• 3 juniper berries
• 50g flaky sea salt
• 6 duck leg and thigh joints
• 1 small bunch thyme
• 1 rosemary branch
• 1 unpeeled garlic clove , sliced, plus 1 whole garlic bulb, halved
• about 500g goose or duck fat, or enough to totally submerge the duck legs
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp black peppercorns

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Difficulty and servings

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Prep 15 mins

Cook min 2 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients

• 6 cumin seeds
• 12 coriander seeds
• 3 juniper berries
• 50g flaky sea salt
• 6 duck leg and thigh joints
• 1 small bunch thyme
• 1 rosemary branch
• 1 unpeeled garlic clove , sliced, plus 1 whole garlic bulb, halved
• about 500g goose or duck fat, or enough to totally submerge the duck legs
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp black peppercorns

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