Duck Leg Confit アヒルのもも肉のコンフィ

My wife found several packages of frozen duck fat in the freezer which we had used to make confit of duck legs some years ago.  Although we removed any solids from the fat after use and promptly froze it, it was getting old. So my wife issued an edict: “either we use the fat to make duck confit or we throw it away”. Fortuitously I noticed that Weee had frozen duck legs on sale so I ordered them.  They came as a  package of two legs and we were “in business”. As we did before, we used a slow cooker for the confit rather than the more traditional low-temp oven method.  Since there were only two legs, we used a small slow cooker we had and they fit just perfectly and the duck fat just covered them.

The confit process finished in close to 4 hours. Although we read that the confit legs could be stored in the fridge in the congealed fat for up to a month we didn’t have to do that because we ate them that night for dinner. I removed them from the liquid fat and browned the skin just before we ate them. The meat was so tender, flavorful and came off the bone easily. The skin was nicely crisp. I sautéed  green beans and broccoli (both pre-steamed) seasoned with salt and pepper. For carbohydrate, we served a piece of the mini-baguette I baked some days ago (it was frozen and then toasted). With a good Cab, this was nice dinner plate.

There is nothing particularly different from the previous post, I repeat it just for our convenience sake.

Ingredients:
2 duck legs, frozen and thawed
2 cups (or enough to submerge the legs) rendered duck fat
1/2 tsp dried thyme (or sprigs of fresh rosemary or thyme if you have them, (our poor rosemary in the herb garden did not survive the hash winter we had))
1 tps Kosher salt
3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed

Directions:
The night before, season the duck. In a sealable container just snugly fit two legs (or how many legs you are using), sprinkle half of the salt and dried thyme on the bottom, place the legs in the container without over lapping,  add salt and thyme on the skin side add the crushed garlic cloves, cover and refrigerate over night.

Next day, turn on the slow cooker to low and add the duck fat (in our case frozen blocks) until just melted (1 hour or a bit more). 

Remove any excess salt and herbs from the surface of the legs and submerge into the duck fat without overlapping, transfer the garlic to the duck fat and let it cook for 3-4 hours until the meat retracts from the bone

Remove the legs and brown the skin in the frying pan (without oil since the surface of the legs are coated with rendered duck fat) for several minutes and turn over and cook for one more minute. I added the broccoli and green beans in the same pan and seasoned with salt and pepper.

The duct fat was perfectly OK and the confit was perfect but we decided to put the duck fat to a well deserved rest. Next time we make duck leg confit we will have to get fresh duck fat.

Duck leg confit 鴨足のコンフィ

Contemplating Christmas dinner, we decided we weren’t up for Turkey or ham.  Then we saw a video from the Washington post regarding Duck leg confit and thought this would be perfect. We could make it ahead of time and just brown the skin before serving.  Since we were getting some other meat from D'Atagnan, we ordered duck legs and rendered duck fat as well. In addition to the confit duck we served blackened Brussels sprouts and stuffing balls (without the broccoli).

Since I had snow peas, I also cooked them  in the same pan I used for the duck seasoned with salt and black pepper.

Ingredients: (we cooked 4 legs)
4 duck legs (from D'Artagnan, #1 and #2)
Few sprigs of rosemary (or thyme, we used rosemary from our herb garden) (#3)
4 crushed garlic (#3)
Kosher salt
21 oz (3, 7oz containers = 21 oz.) of rendered duck fat

Directions:
In a sealable container which snugly fits 4 legs, salt the bottom, place the duck legs, salt the skin side, add the sprigs of rosemary, and crushed garlic, close the lid and refrigerate overnight (#3)
Next day, remove the rosemary and place the legs in a slow cooker and pour in  the rendered duck fat to cover (#4), transfer the crushed garlic. In a low setting cook the duck legs for 3 hours with a lid on (original recipe used a 250F oven). The meat retracts from the leg bone (#5) indicating it is done. Transfer the duck fat and legs to the sealable container and refrigerate until serving (the recipe said it will keep for a few months and the flavor will improve).

Just before serving:

Dig the leg out from the now congealed duck fat and scrape off excess fat (#6). In a dry frying pan, place the duck leg skin side down on medium low flame (#7), brown the skin until it easily releases  from the pan when moved (7-8 minutes). (If it still sticks don’t force it just let it cook some more until it can be moved easily). Turn over (#8) and cook for a few more minutes.

This was very good but not all skin got crisp since only the center portion had contact with the frying pan. I wonder of we could broil or bake the leg to crisp up the skin. Certainly this is a good dish for festive occasions.