Duck Confit Recipe - Healing Gourmet (2024)

FAQs

What oil is best for confit duck? ›

Select a traditional duck confit recipe and simply use an equal amount of quality extra virgin olive oil in lieu of fat. According to Fat Secret, duck fat and a typical extra virgin olive oil have about the same amount of calories and overall fat, but has less than half the saturated fat found in duck fat.

Crisping skin and finishing Duck:

Pat excess oil off with paper towels. Prepare for roasting: Pour 2.5cm / 1" of boiling water water into the roasting pan (steam keeps flesh moist). Place duck on rack, skin side up. Crisp skin: Roast duck for 40 minutes until the skin is a deep golden and crispy.

Don't throw those out either; they are full of flavor and gelatin, and they are perfect for adding to stews, ragù, roasted vegetables, and more. You should be able to reuse duck fat at least three times for confit before it gets too salty from the duck leg cure and needs to be tossed.

Cook until duck is completely tender and meat shows almost no resistance when pierced with a paring knife, and skin has begun to pull away from bottom of the drumstick, 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Remove from oven and cool duck to room temperature in its cooking vessel, removing lid but keeping it submerged in fat.

Mashed potatoes

The buttery taste of mashed potatoes helps balance out the saltiness of the Duck Confit, making for a well-rounded meal. You could also consider adding some herbs or other seasonings to the mashed potatoes to give them a bit more flavour, such as adding some fresh thyme, chives, or garlic.

To be honest badly done or stringy duck confit is generally the fault of the chef rather than the method. Tough or dry confit is generally either due to way too aggressive cooking temperatures, or leaving it too long in the frying pan when you reheat. Long term cooking doesn't compromise the flavor of the meat.

There are several health advantages to duck confit. Monounsaturated fats, which are excellent for your heart, are abundant in duck fat. A good supply of protein, iron, and amino acids that your body needs to operate correctly is also included in duck confit.

You can render duck fat yourself, or you can substitute lard. Once you make confit, you can keep it in the fridge for months."

However, if you are not a fan of red cabbage, you can go with something else. So what to serve with duck confit? Well, some crispy salad works, an orange sauce, mashed potatoes, grilled veggies, and so on.

Can I mix duck fat with olive oil for confit? ›

Sure, procuring duck fat within which you submerge the duck legs can be expensive and tricky. However, rest assured, you can do this all in olive oil or some combination of duck fat and olive oil if you so desire.

The remaining infused olive oil can be used to add flavor to your dishes for weeks.

The best side dishes to serve with duck confit are creamy mashed potatoes, braised red cabbage, garlic green beans, roasted root vegetables, sautéed Brussels sprouts, mushroom risotto, potatoes au gratin, ratatouille, yellow rice, and French lentil salad.

While confit is most commonly seen with duck or goose legs—it makes sense, considering it's a technique that stems from southwest France—it's ideal for any number of meats that are suitable for low and slow cooking. That is, any meat with a good deal of connective tissue that begs for tenderizing.

Duck confit is best eaten heated. You can eat it cold. But it's really not that good all.

Melt enough duck fat (or warm enough oil) to cover the legs in an ovenproof pan big enough to fit them (but small enough to fit in the oven). Put the legs in, cover with greaseproof paper and bake in the oven for 3 hours.

In order to confit food, it is often necessary to cure it in salt and then slowly cook it in a fat such as duck fat, chicken fat, or olive oil. Sugar syrup is sometimes used to confit fruit or citrus peels.

Strain the liquid fat into an oven-proof container with the duck legs, bay leaf, rosemary and whole garlic clove. The liquid should cover the duck legs completely. If not, add a bit more vegetable oil to it until they do.

Tallow, lard, schmaltz, olive oil, or seed oil will all work for confit, though the more flavorful fats with moderate saturated fat content are my favorites. I prefer traditional duck or goose fat for dark meats and olive oil for lighter meats such as rabbit, squirrel, and upland birds.